Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks

This is the novel I would name as an ideal romantic novel. Sparks has beautifully portrayed the depth of emotions.

Some of my favorite parts from the letters to the ocean:

"I miss you, my darling, as I always do, but today is especially hard because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together."

"At night when I am alone, I call for you, and whenever my ache seems to be the greatest, you still seem to find a way to return to me. Last night, in my dreams, I saw you on the pier near Wrightsville Beach. The wind was blowing through your hair, and your eyes held the fading sunlight. I am struck as I see you leaning against the rail. You are beautiful, I think as I see you, a vision that I can never find in anyone else. I slowly begin to walk toward you, and when you finally turn to me, I notice that others have been watching you as well.

“Do you know her?” they ask me in jealous whispers, and as you smile at me, I simply answer with the truth.

“Better than my own heart.""

"But now, alone in my house, I have come to realize that destiny can hurt a person as much as it can bless him, and I find myself wondering why—out of all the people in all the world I could ever have loved—I had to fall in love with someone who was taken away from me"

"Life passes by now like the scenery outside a car window. I breathe and eat and sleep as I always did, but there seems to be no great purpose in my life that requires active participation on my part. I simply drift along like the messages I write you. I do not know where I am going or when I will get there. Even work does not take the pain away."

The story has its own uniqueness although the characters are entirely common people. The male protagonist Garrett is deeply aggrieved at his wife's accidental death. He writes letters addressed to his late wife for his own catharsis and throws them, enclosed in bottles , into the ocean. Now Theresa, a column writer living in another city, discovers one of these bottles and is deeply moved by the depth of Garrett's love. She has some serious trust issues with men after having to endure her husband's infidelity. So she is automatically attracted to Garrett who is faithful to his wife even after her death. And she decides to find him. In this way, they enter into a relationship.

As Theresa gets to know him more closely, she feels emotionally conflicted about his love for his late wife. And eventually it leads to their breakup. Later, Garrett realizes that he has to move on but here destiny comes into play.

The best part is the beautiful message conveyed by the story as Theresa writes in a final letter.

"Because of you, I am hopeful that there will come a day when my sadness is replaced by something beautiful. Because of you, I have the strength to go on"

She is not left depressed forever but finds strength from her love for Garrett.

 True love is that which gives you hope and strength instead of leaving you dejected that happens in all the famous classic love stories. And that is why it has that uniqueness and likability. 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

When you like the first book in a series, two things happen: you are already biased in favor of the second and at the same time you are a little too demanding. Well, I liked The Hunger Games , mainly because it was a different kind of story compared to those I had been reading lately (actually I read this book in October last year).

Catching Fire has a depressing tone from the beginning as opposed to the furious one in The Hunger Games, which suits the story perfectly. Katniss Everdeen, now a 'Victor', has come back to live with her mother and sister and the Victor's previlleges. But the oppressions from the capitol are not yet over, in fact they are far from being over than they appear at first. After becoming a killer against her wish, she now has to actually boast about it in front of the families of those who were killed. But for better or worse, she has somebody to share the pain with. Peeta and Katniss are both having nightmares and have difficulty in adjusting with the new life in which they both have to live with themselves.

I must say Suzanne Collins has got quite an imagination when it comes to emotional cruelty, that is inflicted upon the Victors continuously. As it turns out that it was only a delusion that being a victor will mean anything good. Most of all, they were forced to live artificial lives and their services to the Capitol were far from over.
Meanwhile, there is some kind of rebellion against the buiding among other districts.

Some time ago I had a discussion about the first book and somebody said that the first one was good enough. Why did the author feel the need to continue with the story for two more novels. Well, I think the story was moving towards this rebellion from the very first page of the first book. I mean if Katniss was just another Victor among so many others, why would anybody bother to tell her story. All Victors must have passed through the same conditions, more or less, to win that is to say that upto the first book, there was not much difference created in the world. True, there were two Victors for the first time but the Capitol has ways of making that far worse than good.

While boasting for being killer, Katniss is also at cold war with President Snow. The description of President Snow made me actually fear that this was turning into a vampire novel. Thank God it did not. I wouldn't be writing this review. Suzanne Collins has painted such vivid images of each character that their very names speak for what they are. But the good thing is that the story is still so unpredictable. I mean who would think the Capitol would avenge Katniss's mere signs of rebellion by pulling her once again into another Hunger Games. Though it turns out that there were not just signs of rebellion but a whole conspiracy. Another thrilling and even more dangerous Hunger Games begin to demonstrate Collins imagination. 

I was torn between giving it 4 or 5 stars. 5 because its a good and innovative story. 4 because it was depressing. But then if it can leave an impact, depressing or not, it has to be good. So 5 stars be it.

Normally I would end by saying that I am going to read the next in series but I have already read it. So I end by saying that I shall write a review for the third book some time later.