Books that make you cry

[Scimitarsandstars]

I just finished Earth and Heaven by Sue Gee. I first tried to read it about 12 years ago but gave up as I was finding it too upsetting.

I picked it up again a few days ago as I love her writing and this book is so beautifully written. Once again, I was in floods of tears , although this time, I have finished it. I don't remember another book that has made me cry so much. I don't regret reading it though. It is so thoughtful and moving, and so evocative about the post WW1 period (although I am slightly doubtful about the ending).

So I am wondering, has anyone else read a book recently that's made you sob? And did it put you off reading it?

Life on a kitchen door. Not sure of the author. And it’s about a mum and DD who communicate through post its on the kitchen door. It’s a very short book but perfect for when you just need a good sob and need to let it all out.

The Green Ship, Quentin Blake
The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
A book by Primo Levi called The Drowned and the Saved: it's essays on common questions he got about the experience of being in Auschwitz, the working of it etc. I have no idea why I subjected myself to it but it had me in bits.

I have a favourite bench in Oxford Botanic Garden, so at this time of year I often feel Will and Lyra hovering somewhere close to me …

OK - so i've just finished All the Colours of the Dark which I started last week (based on this thread). I REALLY enjoyed it. I didn't cry but I can see how you would. Great book - thanks for suggesting it.

Someone else who was in tears reading Hamnet and Burial Rites.

Sea Defences by Hilary Taylor
Moon Road by Sarah Leipoiger . Both of these books are written from the perspective of mothers whose children die in accidents.

Totally agree with the Dickens examples - and would add to them the end of A Tale of Two Cities. Just devastating.

The death of Aslan in The Lion, The Witch - I can still see the illustration in the book of the children weeping over his body.

A Monster Calls had me in such snotty tears I could barely breath.
Charlotte's Web - even as an adult, knowing what was coming, I still can't read this aloud without tears.

Ithaca by Claire North - Clytemnestra facing her end with such dignity and love for her son... I was not expecting that to move me to tears but it did.

Basically anyone being brave for their friends or loved ones. I can't handle bravery and self sacrifice. It undoes me. Sydney Carlton in A Tale Of Two Cities used to have me in bits when I was in my Dickens phase.

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Ripped my heart out of my arse.

Me too, @elQuintoConyo . I can’t think of a book that upset me more as an adult.

I remember reading Testament of Youth as a sixth former and just being in bits.

I agree on Hamnet and also other Maggie O’Farrell.

A Thousand Splendid Suns cripples me. I tried to reread it recently and had to quit. Beautifully written.

The Grapes of Wrath cuts me up, pretty much any Steinbeck is hard going but this one is like pop up pirate for emotional distress. Again they're all beautifully written.

Many classics distress me actually. Lord of the Flies, Tess, A Room with a View. And weirdly Bridget Jones edge of reason but I was pregnant and very emotional 😂

Matthew’s death in Anne of Green Gables gets me every single time

The Lovely Bones and The Road.

Alan Bennett's A Cream Cracker under the Settee. We read it in GCSE English and I was an absolute mess, fully on snotty sobbing in the middle of the lesson.

Just finished Bee Wilson's book The Heart shaped Tin. She talks very movingly about losing her mum to dementia, and that really set me off.

I cried last week reading Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid.