Books that brought you to tears

[Mudhammam]

I'm almost finished with my second book by Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund, and like the first book I read by him, Siddhartha, there are moments when his prose literally brings me to tears. He has a way of describing life in his characters' journeys that evoke a nostalgic sense of joy, discovery, pain, and loss. I'd highly recommend him. Another book that comes to mind is Orwell's 1984. What books played on your heart strings?

[vorlon13]

Randy Shilts book on the early years of the AIDS crisis; And the Band Played On.

Cleve Jones book about the NAMES Project Quilt.

[Ravenshire]

I dropped a couple tears for Eddie in Stephen King's "It" (but not in the horribly bad mini-series).

I blubbered like a baby when Dobby was killed in "The Deathly Hallows." Again when the Weasly boy got it. I also cried at Dumbledore's passing, but not as much as I was expecting it.

I don't just read books. I climb right inside and experience them. In a sense, I make the characters my friends, so I guess I should expect to be emotional when bad things happen to them. I sometimes do the same thing with particularly good movies and even, sometimes, TV shows. When Sarah Manning's daughter (BBC America's Orphan Black) is hit by a car, all I could no is repeat no,no,no,no,no,no,no over and over while tears streamed down my cheeks. I spent the second half of "How to Train Your Dragon" (both of them) scrubbing my cheeks, not because they are terribly sad but because they are (at least to me) emotionally powerful films.

I've cried over fictional characters too many times to count, including Darth Vader's funeral pyre and Captain Kirk's death in that horribly bad "Next Generation" film. Hell, I cried the first time I saw the Enterprise getting shot to shit in "Star Trek II" and if I'm drunk while watching it, I still do. I probably get wayyyyyy to emotionally invested in my fiction.

[Jenny A]

There are so, so many good books:

I read most of Hermann Hesse during college. I recommend The Glass Bead Game and Steppenwolf next.

Just about anything by A.S. Byatt but The Virgin in the Bower and the rest of that series (two very intellectual girls in a militantly atheist family in the late 50s and sixties, Oxford, sex, religion) are very fine as are the novellas in Angels and Insects (Victorian and psycosexual) , and Possession about academic life, mysteries, Victorian sensibilities, mystery and modern romance.

If you like black humor and tear jerkers John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is the best antidote to bad cancer novels I've every read.

George Elliot was a closet atheist and it comes out beautifully in Middlemarche.

[SteelCurtain]

All three of Khaled Hosseini's books have brought me to tears.

As far as prose being moving, Michael Chabon's Wonderboys, Johnathan Franzen's Freedom, and literally anything John Steinbeck ever wrote.

[Minimalist]

My college math text.

[Jenny A]

My college math text.

[Aroura]

Almost any author with talent can make me cry.I've read a lot of books, some of them were terrible, but many of those that were worth reading made me cry.
Of course almost everything makes me cry, including many movies, especially musicals.
Notable books that really got to me includes Game of Thrones, books 6 and seven of Harry Potter, Swansong, Childhoods End by Arthur C Clarke, and a less well known book titled Brightness Falls from the Air.


As a side note, Les Miserables almost caused me to "ugly cry" in the theater.

Isn't it strange how much some of us enjoy engaging in novels that move us to tears.

[Mudhammam]

I forgot to add Irvin Yalom, the "existential psychologist," to the list. His books Love's Executioner and Staring At The Sun had some pretty emotional moments for me.

Now that I just finished Narcissus and Goldmund, I have to admit, the tears came hard. Crying over a book is always a good experience for me though, it makes me feel as though I've somehow grown just slightly in connecting with an author that way.

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All three of Khaled Hosseini's books have brought me to tears.

As far as prose being moving, Michael Chabon's Wonderboys, Johnathan Franzen's Freedom, and literally anything John Steinbeck ever wrote.

From Steinbeck I've read Travels With Charlie, The Pearl, and Of Mice and Men, the latter of which I think may have moistened me up a bit. I don't remember the others moving me to that extent but I do recall Travels evoking tons of nostalgic emotions. That's probably my favorite of the three Steinbeck I've read.

[BrokenQuill92]

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson