How does he feel about the film versions of Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember and The Notebook?

He is very pleased with both films on a number of levels. It's important to understand that films and novels are different mediums and tell stories in different ways. What works well in novels doesn't work well on film and vice versa. For example, introspection works well in books but not in film. A car chase works well on film and uses only two minutes to show what might take twenty pages to write. Also, a typical novel runs 350 pages while a screenplay runs 120. In other words, two-thirds of any novel is automatically eliminated before the first page of a screenplay is even written.

With that in mind, he tends to look for the following: Did the film follow the basic outline of the novel? Did the film capture the major theme of the novel? Were the characters consistent with those described in the novel? Was the film satisfying when compared to other films? Was the film successful?

In the case of Message in a Bottle, the answers to those questions were, in his opinion, yes. The film was true to the novel in outline, theme and the characters. He thought the film was well done and entertaining, and after opening number one at the box office, the worldwide gross approached $120 million, successful in anyone's judgment.

As for A Walk to Remember, the answer is also yes. He loves the film and believes it is a wonderful adaptation. It was released in January, 2002.

The Notebook was also a wonderful adaptation. The performances were spectacular, the cinematography was vivid, and the director crafted the film with care. Nicholas loved the film version.