what book have you read and you have felt sad when you have finished it...

The Girl At The Lion D'Or. Wasn't sure about it until halfway through, but grew quite attached just before the end.

The Girls, Lori Lansen, just loved it!

The Time Travellers Wife.

notcitrus - I felt the same about Cryptonomicon. Amazing book.

I'm another one who reads the Secret History every year. I always rediscover parts I'd completely forgotten and it's a sheer pleasure to read.
On a more lowbrow note I would love to start Jilly Cooper's series (Riders, Rivals, Polo etc) right at the beginning again! They sucker me right in every time- I must have read each one at least five times.

Hi draggedthrooabush, wasn't it just amazing, not many people over here seem to have heard of it but it's been a bestseller in the US, in my opinion every bit as good as To Kill a Mockingbird. Dreamworks have bought the rights and are making a film, though I really hope they don't do a "Lovely Bones" on it. Kathryn Stockett is writing a new book at the minute, I can't wait so hope it doesn't disappoint and that she's not one of these authors who only have one good book in them.Great to find someone else who's read it!

drivingmissdaisy - me too. Loved "The Help".

Hope they make this brilliant book into a film.
It was fantastic!

have just finished harry thompson's this thing of darkness a fictionalised account of the beagle's voyages and those involved with her eg Darwin, Fitroy and many other sailors, missionaries and islanders...it really sparked my interest and left me wanting to dig out further biographies/maps etc

(btw thanks janeite for reccomending it...i wouldn't have been naturally drawn to it)

Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon.
Luckily I could then embark on the Baroque Trilogy... and felt totally bereft once I'd finished that. Nearly started back at the beginning again.
Hoping his new one is as good.

The Jonathan Stroud Bartimaus Trilogy. So much fun, I keep wishing for another one so still sad and I finished them a couple of years ago.

The Lord of the Rings and the Greenwitch trilogy when I was an early teen / child, more recently I loved all the Joanne Harris books and was sad when they were over, Harry Potters go in this category too. It's odd because I wouldn't pick these if I was asked what my favourite reads were but they are the ones that spring to mind when you ask this question! The one that made me blub, totally irrationally, at the end was the time travellers wife, but that was because I am a sucker and blub at anything remotely sad and / or uplifting

Birdsong, The Thorn Birds, The Poisonwood Bible, 100 Years of Solitude, She Comes Undone. Just a few that I wish had never ended!

Stephen Fry, 'Making History'. Was gradually more and more as the pages to go bit got smaller than the pages already read bit IYKWIM. Tried to read 'The Liar' thinking that all his books might be that good, but couldn't get into it and found it really hard to follow.

me too, Twilight books. really enjoyed them even slowed down towards the end of the last book.

Angelas ashes, so read it again another 5 times...

Ummmm Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, LOTR, Twilight Saga & Harry Potter too. I also get obsessed with books - can't put them down and I don't hear when someone's talking to me. Reading a great book for the first time is one of the best things ever.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and better still, O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker. Cutting, quirky, charming, poetic, funny, nostalgic. Bit like mumsnet

I have just finished the Twilight saga. 4 books in 4 days. I just need a leetle break and I'll start them again.

SOmetimes I just get a bit....obsessed with books. I also had the Flowers in the Attic thing (although I saw how awful they really were when I reread them as an adult).

Another one was Diana Gabaldon's Cross Stitch series. I really am an absolute sucker for a larger-than-life love story with supernatural/mythical connections.

Half a Yellow Sun. I adored that book.

And I second A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Also Fingersmith.

So many books have made me feel that way but the ones to stand out are The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb.

Recently - Wolf Hall; huge and satisfying. Sequel on the way, apparently.

The Secret History...ok, so it is sad at the end, but really I was sad to leave the characters whom I had come to love. I re-read it once a year as a treat.

Homeboy by Seth Morgan...absolute corker of a novel, set on the mean streets of San Francisco featuring a cast of characters including pimps, prostitutes, gangsters, criminals, who each have a story to tell that interlinks. Dialogue is killer. Tons of twists. Felt sad and empty at the end.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I didn't want it to end.

Pride and Prejudice - I wanted it to go on a bit more and find out more about them! Ditto several of the Georgette Heyer books - I don't like them stopping dead at the hero/heroine finally getting together.

And I'm not really a romantic person at all!

Anything by Michael 'The Hours' Cunningham -
The Home at the End of the World
Flesh and Blood

He has a wonderful way with characters that makes you feel bereaved when you part from them.
And one of the few writers who makes me cry -
in a good way, of course.

A Fine Balance
That too would be my choice. I was bereft when I finished it. Not a joyful read, however!