Ask virtually any woman over the age of 14 what her favorite movie is, and she’ll likely say “The Notebook”. For some inexplicable reason, the story of Noah and Allie has become one of the most revered in our culture, a perfect example of what lasting love is supposed to look like. Women commiserate together about their tear-soaked copies of the book, or bond over how much they love the performances of Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling in the movie. And with “The Notebook”, Nicholas Sparks struck gold. It became the equation he used for virtually every book he would write in the future. Attractive white couple meets, fallw in love, overcomes tragedy, only for the book to end with more tragedy — Sparks apparently loves his tearjerkers. The books are formulaic to the extreme (how else could he churn out so many, so quickly?), yet they’ve become synonymous with romance today. But what are the lessons that Sparks imparts to his readers? They’re not good, according to a column written by Gracy Olmstead that perfectly eviscerates the Sparks brand of romance.