THE
NOTEBOOK
THE
NOTEBOOK
Nicholas Sparks
WANER BOOKS
A Time Warner Company
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either
the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright ©1996 by Nicholas Sparks All rights reserved.
Warner Books, Inc., 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
A Time Warner Company
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing: October 1996
10 9 8 7 6 $ 4 3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sparks, Nicholas.
The notebook / Nicholas Sparks.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-446-52080-2
1. Man-woman relationships--North Carolina--Fiction. 2. Oral reading--Fiction. 3.
Aged--Fiction. I. Title. PS3569.P363N68 1996
813'.54--dc2096-33815CIP
Book design and composition by L & G McRee
This book is dedicated with love to Cathy, my wife and
my friend.
Acknowledgments
This story is what it is today because of two special people, and I would like to
thank them for everything they've done.
To Theresa Park, the agent who plucked me from obscurity. Thank you for your
kindness,your patience, and the many hours you have spent working with me.
I will be forever grateful for everything you've done.
To Jamie Raab , my editor. Thank you for your wisdom , your humor , and your
good-hearted nature. You made this a wonderful experience for me, and I'm glad
to call you my Friend.
THE NOTEBOOK
Electronic Copy Is Edited By MAZ
Egypt - 2005
Miracles
Who am I? And how, I wonder, will this story end?
The sun has come up and I am sitting by a window that is foggy with the breath of
a life,,,. gone by. I'm a sight this morning: two shirts,heavy pants, a scarf wrapped
twice around my neck and tucked into a thick sweater knitted by my daughter
thirty birthdays ago. The thermostat in my room is set as high as it will go , and a
smaller space heater sits directly behind me. It clicks and groans and spews hot air
like a fairy-tale dragon , and still my body shivers with a cold that will never go
away, a cold that has been eighty years in the making.
Eighty years, I think sometimes, and despite my own acceptance of my age, it still
amazes me that I haven't been warm since George Bush was president.
I wonder if this is how it is for everyone my age.
My life ? It isn't easy to explain . It has not been the rip-roaring spectacular I
fancied it would be , but neither have I burrowed around with the gophers.

I suppose it has most resembled a blue-chip stock: fairly stable , more ups
than downs , and gradually trending upward over time . A good buy , a lucky
Buy , and I've learned that not everyone can say this about his life . But do
not be misled . I am nothing special ; of this I am sure . I am a common man
...

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