There are only a few books that make me cry, and I was wondering if I was alone in this sappiness over books idea.
The books that make me cry are: Bridge to Teribithia Little Women Pastwatch
And there may be more, but I can't remember any.
So what books make you sad?
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
Of Mice and Men Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Anne of Green Gables... I don't remember which particular ones in the series, but one or two.
There are more for me, too, but I have to think about them.
Posted by Vadon (Member # 4561) on :
Only one comes to mind...
Where the Red Fern Grows.
Posted by starlooker (Member # 7495) on :
Bridge to Terebithia will have me in floods
Lost Boys
The Veleveteen Rabbit
Any children's book where a child is left out. One Ramona book in particular will do it, although I don't remember which.
Posted by kaioshin00 (Member # 3740) on :
The Scarlet Letter
And not because it's well written, or has a good story. Because it doesn't.
Posted by Mr.Gumby (Member # 6303) on :
I probably would've cried at Of Mice and Men if I wasn't tired when I finished it
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
I'm afraid to read Lost Boys, because I'm a baul-baby.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Lost Boys The Endless Knot
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
The short in MAPS IN A MIRROR took me a while to get over.
Posted by starlooker (Member # 7495) on :
Anne of Green Gables -- when Matthew dies
Anne's House of Dreams -- when her baby dies
Little Women -- when Beth dies and scenes when Jo mourns
Posted by Desdemona (Member # 7100) on :
The destruction of Narnia in The Last Battle is also pretty heart-wrenching to me.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Gonna be the first to say that I cried from the point that "someone" dies in the end of the most recent Harry Potter book until the end of the Dumbledore scene. SERIOUSLY.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Mr. Gumby, I agree entirely, I was sitting in my grandmother's nursing home room reading Of Mice and Men, so I think I just threw it down and smiled when it was over because I'd finally finished all the school work sent with me while i was missing a week of school.
Bridge to Terebithia made me cry because I was in 5th grade, and we finished it sitting in a circle with our pregnant teacher reading aloud, I think everyone including the boys were in tears, it was just an emotional time.
A Walk to Remember also made me cry, but the movie made me so miserable, not well made.
I can't think what else has, well the 5th Harry Potter did, that was just too much, with someone like sirius dying (hoping that wasn't a spoiler 2 years later).
Posted by Susie Derkins (Member # 7718) on :
The DaVinci Code.
Posted by Astaril (Member # 7440) on :
******LOTR spoiler warning (as if anyone hasn't read it)********
Ummm... the only time I *may* have let a couple tears slip was when Pippin got squashed by the troll in LOTR the first time I read it... but I really thought he was dead!!! And I'd been reading it for hours and hours that day so I was really involved at the time.
And Bridge to Terabithia always made my sister cry too, Desdemona.
Posted by Alcon (Member # 6645) on :
The Harry Potter series has made me cry several times. Beyond that... I don't know, I'm sure there are others. I can't think of them at the moment.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
The Time Traveler's Wife Posted by screechowl (Member # 2651) on :
Got a little misty eyed a time or two over To Kill a Mockingbird , especially the end narration. Both the book and the movie.
I have a couple of passages that are emotional for me in How Green Was My Valley also.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I misted up a bit at the end of Tigana. The Ground Beneath Her Feet also brought me close relatively recently.
Posted by punwit (Member # 6388) on :
Lost Boys The Lovely Bones by Alicia Sebold and not really a book but The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
As a child, I cried the hardest over Old Yeller.
As an adult, I had to hide in the back yard when I finished Gates of Fire by Stephen Pressfield.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Yup. That was another one, Glenn.
Posted by Avatar300 (Member # 5108) on :
Second To Kill a Mockingbird.
Posted by HesterGray (Member # 7384) on :
A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel - fabulous book, her memoir of her childhood. I cried at the beginning and the end.
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - I love this book SO much. I don't even know what to say about it.
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein - not when I was a kid, but now it makes me tear up.
Posted by mimsies (Member # 7418) on :
Warriors Don't Cry (by Melba Patillo Bates) Several of the Harry Potter books have made me cry Both Mean Spirit and Solar Storms by Linda Hogan Lost Boys (OSC) The Lost Boy (Dave Peltzer) A Child Called It A Man Named Dave I Never Told Anyone Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry I Have Lived A Thousand Years Escape From Auschwitz Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Growing Up Native American Heart Of A Chief Where the Cinnamon Winds Blow
... OK I'm a big cry baby Posted by dawnmaria (Member # 4142) on :
My husband came home one night to find me on the couch weeping uncontrollably, I had only moments before finished Lost Boys. He thought someone had died. When my sister read it she got so mad at OSC it took her a year to read anything else by him.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
Hester, I don't think I cried but I read A Girl Named Zippy, and it was wonderful, also great that she grew up about twenty minutes from where my dad did, so I got a few of the little references.
Posted by Miro (Member # 1178) on :
The only one I can remember for sure is The Chosen. I may have also cried when reading Where the Red Fern Grows, but I'm not sure.
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
It would probably be easier for me to list the books (movies, tv shows, songs, and so forth) that don't make me cry.
Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
quote: and not really a book but The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Wow... do I ever have to disagree with this statement. Not about The Giving Tree being a tear jerker, but about it not being a book. I really hope that this is one of those times that this what you typed is not what you had in mind. Because I would argue that The Giving Tree is everything a good book should be... Moving, Heartfelt, Emotionally captivating and when read by Mr. Russell, with all his wonderful voice work, absolutely riviting. And I just have to add that Mr. Russell was a college proffesor of mine, not a elementary teacher!
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Man, I bawled when I read Where The Red Fern Grows. Granted that was in 7th grade, but when my son and I read it aloud, we had to stop because I could read because I was crying so hard.
I also cried like a baby when I read The Lost Boys, which I had forever before even trying to read it because it seemed like a horror story and those creep me out.
I remember crying when I read A Time To Love, A Time To Mourn, but now I don't know if that is because it was a sad book or because I was a hormonal teenager. (Apparently, it was originally called May I Cross Your Golden River? (Maybe I was hormonal, because I believe that was the same year as Where The Red Fern Grows. Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Lost Boys made me cry the last time I read it. Several parts of Elf Quest. And a few others... It's so embarassing. Posted by Ophelia (Member # 653) on :
I cried when reading so many of my favorite books, but I can't remember which ones anymore. Except for Dogsbody, by Diana Wynne Jones, because my brothers made fun of me so much.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
So many, I'm not even going to list them, although many of them have been mentioned already.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I am almost physically incapable of crying. There are many times when I feel like doing it, but the most that happens is that my eyes get a little moist. However, there is always an unmistakable feeling I get in my chest, and whenever I feel it I consider myself to be crying, despite the absence of tears rolling down my cheeks.
So, for the above definition of "cry", the Fellowship of the Ring does it to me, at the end of the council at Rivendell, when Frodo says that he will take the ring, although he does not know the way.
Posted by HesterGray (Member # 7384) on :
quote: Hester, I don't think I cried but I read A Girl Named Zippy, and it was wonderful, also great that she grew up about twenty minutes from where my dad did, so I got a few of the little references.
How cool! (Both that you read it and that you got some of the references.) The beginning didn't make me cry the first time, but now all I have to do is think about the story her mother wrote in her baby book and I almost lose it. The end, when I finished it the first time, I was stunned for about a second, and then without warning the tears started flowing. It wasn't even sad, just really beautiful.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Ah, yes, there are certain scenes in Lord of the Rings (particularly the final farewell between Arwen and Aragorn) which make me cry.
And yeah, Lost Boys made me sob uncontrollably. It was a good book, but it hurt so much I never want to read it again.
Posted by Desdemona (Member # 7100) on :
I remembered another one:
The Amber Spyglass. I didn't like it as much as the first two, but when Will and Lyra had to leave each other forever...
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
I came to tears at the end of The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb; and again at the end of The Tawny Man Trilogy by the same author.
[ April 13, 2005, 08:19 PM: Message edited by: Little_Doctor ]
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
I very rarely cry over books or movies. But I do remember at least two books that I cried over. A Walk to Remember and Arthur. Not that I really cried over Arthur, but I was really depressed afterwards.
(edit: I have not read Lost Boys yet, it sounds like a really sad book. )
[ April 13, 2005, 08:45 PM: Message edited by: Eruve Nandiriel ]
Posted by HesterGray (Member # 7384) on :
When people refer to Lost Boys, I assume they mean the book? I haven't read the book yet, but the short story made me cry.
"Unaccompanied Sonata" also made me cry.
Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
I finished "Lost Boys" at Honolulu Airport while waiting to board our plane home. The tears were rolling down my cheeks, and my kids were looking at me funny! As I recall I was crying over how beautiful the ending was, as opposed to the sadness. That's the only book I've ever really cried over, although William Horwood's "Skallagrigg", and also his "The Stonor Eagles" I've found incredibly moving, especially "Skallagrigg".
Posted by EndofEternity (Member # 7466) on :
i second Bridge to Teribithia.
Posted by dawnmaria (Member # 4142) on :
Little_Doctor I forgot about the Farseer books! I know I cried happily a the end of the Tawny Man series too! I only wish I could get her other series that are out of print in this country. It's going to take like $50 to get them from England!
Posted by beatnix19 (Member # 5836) on :
Oh... I know this isn't a book, but I totally cried during Snoopy Come Home. Snoopy left Charlie Brown to go find his original owner. I was totally torn up over it. I was also like five years old at the time but still... how can Snoopy ever think about leaving Chrlie brown?
Posted by arevoj (Member # 7347) on :
Charlotte's Web
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
I cried the second time I read the fifth HP book. I also cried during Rent, which isn't a book, but I still cried. It is notable because I don't often cry about things, but when I was listening to the second CD of Rent for the first time, I cried from the beginning of "I'll Cover You: Reprise" until the end of the CD. Loser me.
Jen
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
quote: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving - I love this book SO much. I don't even know what to say about it.
Me too.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
I second The Amber Spyglass.
I'd like to add The Green Mile and Children of the Mind.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Never read the Green Mile, but I cried at the movie.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"The Amber Spyglass. I didn't like it as much as the first two, but when Will and Lyra had to leave each other forever... "
Oh my, yes. Bawled my eyes out. Basically, I cry reading many books. The ones I mentioned were the ones that I remember the most, though.
The other night, I watched "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood," which was not the greatest movie. However, it spurred memories of the book, and by gum, that was all it took to get me bawling. And laughing, too. Funny, I hated the book and almost put it down after the first fifty or so pages. I did not like the character of Sidda at first. Then the whole story just plain knocked me to my knees.
Posted by WigginWinning (Member # 7811) on :
Watership Down
Posted by Emily W (Member # 7504) on :
Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
I am the Cheese by Robert Cormier
I was not expecting that ending at all. I just felt so bad for the poor kid.
Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card
Again, the ending took me by suprise. I thought I had most of the mystery figured out and then, WHAM!
Didn't see it coming.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett. Ender's Game and Pastwatch both.
Posted by mimsies (Member # 7418) on :
OH The Power Of One. I'll have to read that. The movie had me bawling, especially during the Southland Concerto because it was so powerful, and then at the end (of the concerto), the guy dies in the boy's arms... made me cry harder.
[ April 14, 2005, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: mimsies ]
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Oh! I second "Charlotte's Web." That definitely makes me cry.
But so do many of the others mentioned here (the ones I've actually read, anyway).
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
The Scarlet Letter is a good book, I say! Posted by ReikoDemosthenes (Member # 6218) on :
I can't do much more than second things, but The Last Battle and The Amber Spyglass definately did...right at the ends
Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
Kayla, I'm not sure it's a hormone thing...I still cry at the end of Where the Red Fern Grows.
And at the very end of LotR.
Oddly enough, I cried somewhere in the middle of A Prayer for Owen Meany, but never finished the book.
That's my list.
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
I actually got pretty misty at the end of Shadow of the Giant, during the last two pages and especially after the last paragraph.
Posted by starlooker (Member # 7495) on :
Oh, I have to agree with whomever mentioned "A Time to Love, A Time to Mourn." I'd completely forgotten about that book, but it made me bawl.
And, of course, Old Yeller.
"The Hundred Dresses" (another children's book) will bring tears to my eyes.
"Flowers for Algernon" -- this might be the biggest tear jerker of all time.
"Same Sweet Girls" made me cry, which actually annoyed me a lot because I felt manipulated into crying. A quote from a friend's livejournal about The Notebook which I think applies: "I believe I meantioned it molesting my eye sockets, and reaching deep into my lacrimea glands with it's vicious clawed hands, yanking the tears right out of me. It was traumatizing. I still twinge every time I blink."
"The Chosen," "The Promise," and "Davita's Harp" all make me tear up.
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
I had to choke back some serious sobs when Oy said goodbye to Jake.
Damn....
Posted by Sartorius (Member # 7696) on :
quote: Gonna be the first to say that I cried from the point that "someone" dies in the end of the most recent Harry Potter book until the end of the Dumbledore scene. SERIOUSLY.
I cried first when I thought is was someone else dead. Heartbreaking.
Ender's Game: When Ender discover's it isn't a game. Lost Boys: The Christmas scene (obviously). There were other points I cried, but it was years ago and I can't bring myself to read it again to refresh my memory. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffery: In the beginning when Mavi heal's Menolly's hand wrong and she thinks she'll never play again. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis: The stone table. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen: When we learn why only the princess survives the end of the fairy tale. The Here and the Crown by Robin McKinley: When the dragon's head talks to Aerin in the banquet hall. Peace Like a River by Lief Enger: The whole thing.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
I generally don't cry so much as get a little misty eyed (and I'm also familiar with the tight-chest sensation mentioned by UofUlawguy).
That being said, some books that I remember making me misty-eyed were:
The Sword of Shannara (I was like ten the first time I read it) The Black Cauldron (ditto) Shadow of the Giant (the email from Graff to Bean at the end was a killer for me)
One book in particular makes me misty-eyed every time I read, and I'm not sure why. That book is: A Wish for Wings that Work. Every single time.
Posted by sarahdipity (Member # 3254) on :
I cried at the end of the Fionavar Trilogy and at the end of The Lions of Al-Rassan both are by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Some of you have already mentioned my tearjerkers.
Rilla of Ingleside bawled like a baby when...well, just read it. Lord of the Rings The whole thing had me teary just because I got so darned attached to the characters. When they were heroic, I cried. When they were sad, I cried. If someone died, I cried. If they helped each other, I cried. Terrible. Earthborn The end transformed me to slop. Wonderful stuff.
I'm also the kind of person that cries at a good All-State commercial, so if there's some good writing and good characters, I'll usually shed a tear or two. Or 500.
Posted by Altáriël of Dorthonion (Member # 6473) on :
Watership Down, A tree grows in Brooklyn, Children of the mind, The Women of Genensis Trilogy (I couldn't cope with the idea that these women were no longer the protagonists in the next book), and Shadow of the Hegemon. Peter is one of my fav. characters, I hated the fact that he was dead.
Posted by solo (Member # 3148) on :
The High King by Lloyd Alexander
The part where Fflewdur burns his harp to keep the companions alive a little longer when they are freezing.
Posted by amira tharani (Member # 182) on :
The bit in Merlin by Stephen Lawhead when Ganieda dies. More recently, the last scene of Anne of Ingleside when she's been thinking all those silly things about Gilbert (but those are happy tears, really). Lots more, but those are all I can think of at the moment... I used to pride myself on never crying at books, but that all changed when I grew up lol
Posted by Lucky4 (Member # 1420) on :
How is it that this thread is on page two and Love Story has not yet been mentioned?
Posted by 0range7Penguin (Member # 7337) on :
I have never cried from a book but their have been two that made huge lumps in my throat and I got pretty choaked up. They were: Bridge to Tarabithia and Where the red fern grows Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
Lost Boys Bridge to Terabithia Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
quote:The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley: When the dragon's head talks to Aerin in the banquet hall.
Gives me the shivers every danged time. A beautiful example of good writing.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Although it has been probably nearly 30 years since I read it....but I still remember how it made me feel.
FG
Posted by mimsies (Member # 7418) on :
A second for Jane Yolen's Briar Rose Posted by Alucard... (Member # 4924) on :
I am a bit surprised to not have seen Speaker for the Dead yet, especially since I cry every time I read it!
Thanks again, OSC! I just had to also chime in that SFTD is my all-time favorite book as well, so I might be a bit biased.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I find that the scences that make me misty aren't the ones where something sad or tragic happens. They're the ones where someone does something incredibly selfless, noble and brave -- where someone makes incredible personal sacrifices for someone else. Like Sidney Carton at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. Or Spock in The Wrath of Khan. Or, yes, Old Yeller. (Although, strangely, I don't remember any of the above actually making me misty at the time.)
Posted by Tater (Member # 7035) on :
Hmm, I love reading, and I've been in kind of a rut (I guess you could call it that) lately because I can't find books that keep me interested. This thread has given me quite a list to look for
My tear-jerker list: 1. A Walk to Remember 2. The Notebook 3. If You Come Softly 4. The Elephant Man 5. Peace Like a River 6. Gone With the Wind 7. All Quiet on the Western Front
There's probably a million more. I cry a lot when I read. Not always from sadness, though.
I forgot the book that just made me weep recently. A Separate Peace by John Knowles.
[ April 17, 2005, 12:16 AM: Message edited by: Tater ]
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Oh I forgot about Gone With the Wind. When she got back to Tara and her mother was dead? I thought I would die. Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. Posted by Choobak (Member # 7083) on :
One book made me cry. It is last night when i was finishing it. This book is Les Travailleurs de la mer by Victor Hugo.
The story let me in a sadness because the principal character is like me. I have a perticular empathy with Gilliatt (the hero). His suffering is my suffering. I still have difficulties to speak about. I can't developp more.
My favorite book.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
David Copperfield made me cry this morning.
Posted by JaneX (Member # 2026) on :
Pretty much all of my favorite books have made me cry at some point. A partial list:
- The Amber Spyglass (the entire ending... ) - Harry Potter 5 (from the point where a certain character dies, straight through to the end of the book. And for about ten minutes afterwards. ) - Abhorsen (from the Ninth Gate chapter on. The ending of that book is so poignantly beautiful...) - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (at multiple points in both the First and Second Chronicles - God, those books are an emotional roller-coaster ) - LOTR (at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm and especially at The Choices of Master Samwise) - Children of the Mind (when all the ansibles were shut off, because Jane's my favorite character. Never would've guessed that, would you? )
That's far from everything, but it's the main ones, I think...
~Jane~
Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
quote:I had to choke back some serious sobs when Oy said goodbye to Jake.
Posted by Book (Member # 5500) on :
It still gets to me.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
The Silmarillion makes me cry.
Posted by punwit (Member # 6388) on :
Those had to be tears of boredom.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Bad Punwit!
hehe.. it does read like the bible...
But for real...the Silmarillion is so powerful. I love it.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Lots of books make me cry. Seems like all the best ones do, doesn't it?
I second The Giving Tree, Charlotte's Web, Old Yeller, Little Women, and Of Mice and Men, Watership Down.
Heidi is a big one for me. When I would read it to my nieces, I'd cry so hard and that they'd pat me to comfort me.
Requiem for a Wren by Nevil Shute is one that I had to put down and sob for a while before I could pick it up and finish it. It wins the prize for me as the saddest book ever.
Lots of things by Dostoyevsky. Crime and Punishment, the Brothers Karamazov, and especially The Idiot. I just finished recording me reading "White Nights" one of my favorite stories of his, for Sasha my son. I was crying so hard by the end that I could barely get the last few words out, and as soon as I hit the stop-record button I burst into loud sobbing. Dostoyevsky makes me feel like he's telling the deepest secrets of my heart, you know? He does that to everyone, touching on things you didn't even realize you felt. I love him so much! Anyone reading this please try him. I think he's the best writer ever!
If ordinary writers are 120 volts, and Uncle Orson is 460 volts, then Dostoyevsky is 35kV. Honestly, you have to try him. I might even send you a copy of me reading that story, if you ask nicely. Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
quote: I'm also the kind of person that cries at a good All-State commercial
Oh Narnia! Me too! Supermarket Grand Openings!
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
The other day I was reading (for the umpteenth time) RotK in a restaurant and when I read the scene where Eowyn offs the Witch King, wow that was so powerful, I sat there in public with tears running down my face. I'm sure those people thought I was silly.
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
quote:I second The Giving Tree
oh MAN... I cry every time I read that.
I remember reading the last of the Prydain series back in high school... SOBBING... wow.
Posted by TheClone (Member # 6141) on :
Lets see..
Well, I guess I'll go in order starting with the most recent.
Shadow of the Giant Ender's Shadow (Am I the only one who always cries at what Bean says in the end?) Amber Spyglass Dogsbody The Homeward Bounders
That's all I can remember, right now.
Oh yes, Bridge to Terebithia and Tuck Everlasting? How could I have forgotten those two peices of my childhood?
[ April 23, 2005, 12:10 AM: Message edited by: TheClone ]
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
(((Tatiana))) It's SO good to see you dear. Posted by Cashew (Member # 6023) on :
I just finished reading "The Boy With No Shoes", by William Horwood after I first posted here. Then lo and behold, tears at the scene where Jimmy finally comes across someone who understands and who believes in him. That's the second book I've cried over.
Posted by mimsies (Member # 7418) on :
Just finished Shadow of the Giant. I cried in three different places.
I also just re-finished The Stand (By Stephen King). It makes me cry every time.
I read I'll Love You Forever to my son tonight, and it made me pretty misty.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
<<<<Narnia>>>> You too!
Posted by K.K. Slyder (Member # 7416) on :
I don't cry much from books, I don't think I ever have (although sometimes reading the Bible I will) but here's some that are particularly emotional
A Child Called It- saddest book I've ever read Lost Boys- the end where it talks about how the Fletchers not leaving because they were tied by the living and the dead. The Giving Tree- I've never read it- but when I was in the 3rd grade- a student in the grade above me died in a car wreck, and this was her favorite book- and they built a memorial for her in the library with a painting of the Giving Tree and books dedicated in her memory. So that makes me sad
Bridge to Terabithia- that didn't leave me sad at all. I was just like- oh, she's dead. Maybe if I read it now- I was in the 8th grade- right at the age I got excited over the climactic stuff.
Where the Red Fern Grows- this book, while its ending is horrible does not depress me at all. It actually makes me feel better- I don't see it as an ending about death- but rather I see the whole story about how love can come and bring joy to people's life that they would have never known- even if that love has an end. And the end where they find the Red Fern- that doesn't make me sad- it makes me feel like everything was worth it.
Posted by babager (Member # 6700) on :
Charlottes Web Clan of the Cave Bear Mammoth Hunters Children of the Mind The Pearl Of Mice and Men The Notebook Little Women Pink and Say Love You Forever
*some of these are childrens books.. but still made me cry
Posted by sweetbaboo (Member # 8845) on :
SPOILER ALERT* For Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand
Call me a baby but I cried when Nighteyes died (leaky eyes, not heaving sobs). SO sad. The bonds of their friendship were so beautiful to me.
I have seen her books recommended many times on this website but apparently didn't pay attention to which to read first. I began with Tawney Man Trilogy, is that going to mess up the other series for me?
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
I remember finishing Where the Red Fern Grows on the bus in middle school and crying my eyes out. And I didn't care who saw me, because it was just so sad!
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
i read Where the Red Fern Grows for the first time in like the 6th grade and cried like nobodies business, then i read it a couple of months ago (i'm 23) and cried even harder. i'm such a wuss.
and A Light in the Forest, good god that is a sad book. at least it was 12 years ago when i read it.
Posted by Vamp96 (Member # 9030) on :
Most if not all of these have already been mentioned: Anne of Green Gables, Anne's House of Dreams, Rilla of Ingleside, Mistress Pat, Emily of New Moon, Little WOmen, Diary of Anne Frank, Where the Red Fern Grows & Night.
Posted by JLM (Member # 7800) on :
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince when Dumbledore died.
And oh, yes Xenocide. (Well, actually Xenocide bored me to tears.)
Posted by katdog42 (Member # 4773) on :
Lost Boys Charlotte's Web A Ring of Endless Light The Acorn People A Child Called It With You and Without You
I got a little teary-eyed with all of these, but not much more than that. Only one book has ever had me really crying and that is The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
I agree with Bridge to Terabithia, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Giving Tree, and I'll Love You Forever, The Five People You Meet In Heaven, and Shadow of the Giant (first OSC book that made me cry).
Add these to the list: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg The Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya Mandy by Julie Andrews The Messenger by Lois Lowry (if you haven't read that trilogy, you are really missing out) Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts A Painted House by John Grisham Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison The Red Suit Diaries by Ed Butchart (sweet stories from a man who makes his living playing Santa Claus)
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
I just hated The Good Earth that much. I couldn't stand it.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
*sigh* Stupid spoilers in this thread.
I could have sworn I posted in this thread, but I'm not seeing it. Oh well:
The Talisman
If you've read it, then you probably know when.
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
quote:Originally posted by sweetbaboo: SPOILER ALERT* For Robin Hobb's Fool's Errand
Call me a baby but I cried when Nighteyes died (leaky eyes, not heaving sobs). SO sad. The bonds of their friendship were so beautiful to me.
I have seen her books recommended many times on this website but apparently didn't pay attention to which to read first. I began with Tawney Man Trilogy, is that going to mess up the other series for me?
Nighteyes' death is a lot sadder if you've read the other series. As is the Fool's departure at the end of the trilogy. I think reading Tawny Man won't mess you up as far as the Liveship Traders trilogy goes, but The Farseer trilogy is a little better if you read it first. You'll understand Tawny Man a lot better afterwards..
Posted by Mirrored Shades (Member # 8957) on :
This is kind of embarrassing... but the one book that can always, without fail, make me cry -- I mean every time -- is 'Dark Lord of Derkholm' by Dianna Wynne Jones. It's a cheesy kids book with a happy ending, but -- well, every single time.
Also: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Where the Red Fern Grows, and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Among others.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
I like Dark Lord of Derkholm . I bought it from the privately owned bookstore that used to be here in town and read it in fourth grade. And then I read it again in sixth grade. And then again in eighth grade. I like it a lot.
But it didn't make me cry. Its still a good book though.
Posted by sweetbaboo (Member # 8845) on :
Thanks Little_Doctor, I think I will go back now to the other trilogies before moving onto the second Tawny Man book. That's what I wanted to know.
Sorry Icarus, I labeled it in hopes people would skip it!?
[ March 18, 2006, 03:19 PM: Message edited by: sweetbaboo ]
Posted by Earendil18 (Member # 3180) on :
quote:Originally posted by Vadon: Only one comes to mind...
Where the Red Fern Grows.
Hear, hear.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Barefoot Gen
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
It's okay, sweetbaboo, I wasn't talking about you. Posted by K.T. (Member # 8665) on :
The first book that made me cry was Go Toward the Light. I bawled my eyes out! It was amazing, I never knew a book could do that to me...
I'm not much of a cryer, so this didn't make me cry, but if I was...Rachel and Leah by OSC. I was so sad for Leah, and knowing what's ahead for her really didn't help.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
quote:Originally posted by JLM: Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince when Dumbledore died.
I think I only teared up the first time I read the book, and that was at the funeral (and even then it may have been because Harry "broke up" with Ginny...). Every subsequent time reading the book, I've not even gotten misty. It's the story-type, ya know? It's just... expected. It'd be like crying when Obi-Wan dies.
I cry when faithful pets die. And when my own faithful pet dies, I'll be inconsolable for weeks. Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
Grrrr . . .
Posted by Damien.m (Member # 8462) on :
Naughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman(not to tears but lets just say i was almost there in numerous places) Harry Potter and The half Blood Prince(not out of sadness i was just so goddam angry at Snape!!!) The Amber Spyglass had me bawling like a baby.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
So, I was looking for something to read last week, and noticed To Kill a Mockingbird hiding on my shelf between the single volume Hitchhikers series and the dictionary. I hadn't read it since it was required reading in high school and decided to give it another go.
I loved it. I definitely did not understand or appreciate even a portion of the novel the first read through. I almost wish that they wouldn't assign good books as required reading in school, so that I would have an opportunity to actually appreciate them earlier.
Bu the reason I posted in this thread is because I cried harder during this book than I have ever cried from a book, movie or any media. (SPOILERS, if for some reason you haven't read this book yet) At the end of the chapter where Scout, Jem and Dill save Atticus at the jail house, I was racked with sobs. There was snot in my mustache and my beard was soaked with tears. I don't know if I've ever cried this hard for any reason. And I'm not even sure why I reacted so strongly.
It started when Scout was watching Jem and Atticus face off with arms crossed. I just smiled and felt my eyes glistening. Then when Scout starts talking for no reason, and her thought process was so innocent, and she looks around and all of the men have their mouths dropped open. Then she's talking Mr. Cunningham and he finally breaks out of the mob mentality and talks to her... Man, I was gone by this point. Then she goes back to her dad and brother and I was sobbing. And the icing on the cake: when Dill asked if he could carry Atticus's chair. I think I actually said out loud, "Oh Dill.." and smiled through my tears. Then I just put the book down and sobbed for five minutes. Really, it struck a cord with me, but I'm not sure which cord, it was a little surprising.
Anyways, that was a very significant moment for me, as I've never reacted that way to anything, as far as I know. And that's not the type of thing I feel comfortable telling my friends about. Yet another reason I'm glad Hatrack is here.
Posted by Uindy (Member # 9743) on :
I cried durring To Kill A Mockingbird, and The HP Order of the Phenoix and HP Half blood Prince. There are a few others, I just won't list them
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
I cried during Hop on Pop.
********SPOILERS********
It was so sad, the way they hopped on Pop.
******END SPOILERS******
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
There's one book that makes me cry no matter what and no matter where I am, and strangely enough it's the very ending paragraph of the book that does it to me. So that if I ever feel the need to be reduced into an emotionally wrecked puddle I just walk onto my bookshelf, flip open the last page of that book, and read that last paragraph.
First is a book called Tanguy by a French/Spanish writer called Michel del Castillo. (I have no idea what this book is called in English but mayhap you'll recognize it from the description...) It was written in the 50's when the author was in his late 20's and it's semi-autobiographical even if all the actual characters in it are fictional, though some of them do have real life counterparts (and the writer himself was never sent to a German concentration camp, only to a French interment camp).
The book details the life of a boy called Tanguy who is born to a communist mother in the midst of the Spanish civil war. The boy's father identifies the mother and the boy to the fascists, and so they escape to France, and from that on the boy is basically escaping from one place to another all his life. (The book starts at the Spanish civil war and ends somewhere in the early 50's.) He ends up on a Nazi concentration camp by a cruel change (he's gotten separated from his mother a few months previously) and is enlisted there as a political prisoner at age 10 or so. This is perhaps the most famous part of the book, as he befriends a German jazz pianist there, another political prisoner, and with the realistic portrayal of the brutality of concentration camps. After the war the authorities don't really know what to do with Tanguy as no one really knows where his parents or indeed any relatives are, and so he gets sent back to Spain onto an orphanage managed by Jesuit monks who treat their boys almost as brutally as the Nazis treated their prisoners.
Anyway, it goes on after that too, basically cataloging every ill a child/adolescent could have fallen prey to in the 30's/40's Europe. What makes me cry about the book, however, and especially about that last paragraph, is not the brutality of Tanguy's circumstances but the terrible hope he keeps throughout that one day things are going to turn better. Due the course of the book as things turn all the more horrible and horrible it's the kindness of the people who wouldn't really have to be kind that touches the most - such as a Frenchwoman that takes care of Tanguy at the interment camp, a Jewish boy who is nice to him on the way to the concentration camp, the aforementioned jazz pianist, a Catholic priest who tries to nurture him back to shape after all the horror he's experienced, an 80-year old grandma who kind of falls in love with him, a boy with whom he escapes from the Jesuits... Despite all the horror Tanguy is, in the end, a book that makes you believe in good people.
I'm really bothered now that I can't seem to locate an English version of this book... maybe it just was never published in English. Here's some info on it in French, and here's the author's biography.
Other books... well, the Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, of course. And H. C. Andersen's original Ugly Duckling. In fact my Mum used to read the latter one aloud to me when I was a child, and then I'd start crying uncontrollably and this'd upset her too and then she'd start hugging me like there was no tomorrow. And then obviously I'd ask her to read it to me the following day too so she'd get all upset and motherly and protective and hug me again. The things children will do for a hug. (I'm not the only one, either, we were just recently discussing this with some of my friends and there were at least two others who'd loved Ugly Duckling as children for the same reason.)
Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :
So many, and so many that have already been mentioned. Ender's Shadow gets me when Bean whispers the line about Absalom.
Most recently, re-reading Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher. That was yesterday. I LOVE that book.
We have a sustained silent reading time at school, & teachers & kids read at the same time. I haven't actually put down a book and sobbed, but more than once I've had tears rolling down my face while I read. I'm also always laughing out loud. Kids always want to know what I'm reading.
Colony by Anne Rivers Siddons had me putting the book down to cry BOTH times I read it.
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
Rememberance of Things Past -- Proust.
Posted by Todoni (Member # 10460) on :
Lost Boys - I cired in frustration and despair....guess I was looking for a happier ending
Pastwatch-made me cry in hope
Lovelock- cried at the end and have been crying ever since waiting for the sequel....making my hubby cry cause he has to listen to my whining
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
For the Love of a Donkey (a child's book from Germany about a little girl who has no family, and refuses to leave her donkey behind when she is offered placement in a child's home in Switzerland, so they walk across Germany 1945-1946.)
Posted by Perplexity'sDaughter (Member # 9668) on :
*Lost Boys Come to think of it, I get teary-eyed at the end of almost every book I read by OSC. The guy is just too good at evoking emotion.
*The Notebook
*The end of the Animorphs series ( I was 13, okay. I'd been reading the series for a couple of years and suddenly it was over.)
Those are the few I can name.
Posted by Kelly (Member # 9576) on :
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Anyone else here read it?
Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
The Time Traveler's Wife always makes me cry, also. The first time I read it, I was crying desperately for most of the latter half of the book. I've chilled out a little since then, but I still burst into tears every time I read the scene where Henry meets Alba for the first time.
Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kelly: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Anyone else here read it?
Yeah, excellent book. Didn't make me cry, but it got very close.
Posted by RunningBear (Member # 8477) on :
Flaming Toad, Homer Simpson will find you.
Posted by gsim1337 (Member # 10168) on :
Children of the Mind, when Ender stops 'being'.
Posted by Liaison (Member # 6873) on :
I don't recall exactly when it is, but the part in Ender's Shadow where Bean puts together that it's not a game and will have to carry that knowledge secretly.
Bridge to Terabithia
Goblet of Fire: Any part related to Cedric. Especially the interaction between Harry and Cedric's parents later on.
Eomer coming across Eowyn's body and running anguished back into battle believing her to be dead.
I'm not apt to cry, but basically anything with young death, parents burying their children, or siblings losing siblings. Those are my triggers.
Posted by Eduardo St. Elmo (Member # 9566) on :
Not being a very emotional person, there is one specific scene in a book that has made my eyes water twice. The second time around I knew there was no real reason to be sad and still couldn't stop the tears from appearing. The scene in question is out of Feist's A Darkness At Sethanon where Jimmy kneels at the side of his friend prince Arutha, who has just been shot by an assassin. I can't really explain why that particular scene has such an impact on me, but must have something to do with the singular friendship between the two characters.
Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
Worthing Saga at the cliff.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
The Kite Runner
I defy anyone to read that book and not be bawling by the end. Just thinking of the line "for you, a thousand times over..." makes me tear up.
Posted by Kelly (Member # 9576) on :
The Green Mile by Stephen King
As good as the movie was, it has nothing on the book.
Posted by landybraine (Member # 10807) on :
Kelly, I just read your post on The Sparrow. What an amazing book. Have you read the sequel? I think it's called Children of God.
Posted by Kelly (Member # 9576) on :
quote:Originally posted by landybraine: Kelly, I just read your post on The Sparrow. What an amazing book. Have you read the sequel? I think it's called Children of God.
No, I haven't had a chance to read the sequel yet, but I definitely plan on it.
I don't know if this is going to happen or how true it is, but I read somewhere that Warner Bros has purchased rights to The Sparrow with Brad Pitt as Sandoz (groan).
Posted by Brontes (Member # 10974) on :
Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas Harry Potter (bk5, bk6 & bk7) JK Rowling
Posted by dean (Member # 167) on :
Tonight I was watching the movie version of Anne of Green Gables, and despite the travesty that they made of Anne and Gilbert's relationship-- to make it more dramatic, I suppose-- I still cried over Matthew. I always do.
But many, many, many books make me cry. I remember that I was reading the latest Harry Potter book a couple of months ago while my skeptical roommate was sitting at his computer playing a video game. Abruptly, he turned around and said, "Are you crying?"
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
I cried for Fili and Kili at the end of The Hobbit the first time I read it (or, more accurately, had it read to me).
The book that brought me closest to tears in recent memory was The Road by Cormic McCarthy. It's probably the most harrowing story I've ever read.
Posted by Kelly (Member # 9576) on :
Oh, and Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
Posted by Tara (Member # 10030) on :
quote:Originally posted by His Savageness: The Kite Runner
I defy anyone to read that book and not be bawling by the end. Just thinking of the line "for you, a thousand times over..." makes me tear up.
OMG I just read that! It didn't make me cry, but it was still cool to hear that someone else has read it...because I LOVED it!
Posted by DevilDreamt (Member # 10242) on :
The manga, Berserk.
It took me about a year to start reading Song of Susannah (The sixth book in Steven King's Dark Tower series) because what happens to Susannah reminded me so strongly of what happens to Caska in Berserk that I really didn't want to go through it all again.
Of course, it turns out that I was mistaken. The similarities are still there, and strongly, but the way King handles the story makes it much more bearable than I expected.
Bridge to Teribithia
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
I just read an article about the Afghan boy who played the main character in the movie version of The Kite Runner. It seems his family was not aware of the rape scene, and they are afraid that he will not be accepted by the Afghan people if they see the scene. They say it won't be possible to explain what it means to act the part in the movie, so they want the scene cut out.
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hehe.. it does read like the bible...![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
Dostoyevsky makes me feel like he's telling the deepest secrets of my heart, you know? He does that to everyone, touching on things you didn't even realize you felt. I love him so much! Anyone reading this please try him. I think he's the best writer ever!![[Frown]](frown.gif)