Nicholas Sparks -- the author of The Notebook , Nights in Rodanthe and other weepy romance novels -- said something interesting last week. It may surprise you to learn that the author of The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe is capable of saying something interesting, but it's true. According to New York magazine's Vulture column, Sparks said : "I write a dramatic epic love story, I write modern-day Greek tragedies, and there's a big difference between that and romance. ... You have romance ...