Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

I keep a note of all the books that have made me cry:

Loyalty in Death by J.D. Robb
A Long Long WayA Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
An Imperfect Lens: A Novel by Anne Roiphe
Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan
Katherine by Anya Seton
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Passion: A Novel of the Romantic Poets by Jude Morgan
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Lady Macbeth by Susan Fraser King
The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz
The Host by Stephenie Meyer
What was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Lover Avenged by J.R. Ward
Small Wars by Sadie Jones
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
Battle Cry by Leon Uris
Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
How to Be an American Housewife by Margaret Dilloway
Reaper by Rachel Vincent
The School of Night by Louis Bayard
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein
On the Beach by Nevil Shute
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
The Dogs of Christmas by W. Bruce Cameron
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Jim Henson: The Biography by Brian Jay Jones
The Honor of the Queen by David Weber
Survivor In Death by J.D. Robb
Suspect by Robert Crais

@Kirsten

Very impressive list!

I wish that I had thought of keeping a list.

I have separate "shelves" on GoodReads for books that made me cry or made me laugh out loud.

I love the 44 Scotland Street series, especially that boy that lives in the building with the crazy mom!

what comes to my mind is...
and that was my last nicholas sparks books... too heartttbreaking....

Oh dear, a lot had made me cry. I used to collect a bunch of Harlequins and I remember they used to make me cry. I don't remember their titles, sadly.
These are the ones that made me cry the most, if I can remember.

To Kill A Mockingbird

The story "Pop Art" in 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. It's one of the most beautiful short stories I've ever read. It really caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting to find something so sad and touching in a collection of horror stories.

Now that I'm re-reading Harry Potter's and I know what happens and who dies, it's very sad and I have been crying in some parts.

One other which made me cry was The Fault in Our Stars of course, but not as much as the movie did.

The Nightingale and The Book Thief.

I remember my first book cry. I wasn't 20 yet, and it was The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
I don't often blubber over books. I cried intermittently for days after finishing a biography of Lincoln. Anyone else cry over non-fiction? Lol.
I cried over The Time Traveller's Wife.
In a brilliant stroke of writing, I found myself laughing out loud while there were still tears in my eyes from a touching section. The book? Wives & Daughters by Gaskell.

I cry over non-fiction if it's a particularly harrowing story, such as holocaust memoirs, in depth autobiographies, or unjust human rights issues. At the other end of the scale I sometimes get teary over fiction, but I'm not a big fan of modern day love stories and heartbreak that try to pull on your heartstrings.

Ok, I know crying is not supposed to be manly, but I must be honest. I get so involved in a story it's almost like I'm a part of it. Once I was reading before homeroom and the teacher had to tap me because everyone was standing for the pledge of allegiance (I wonder if they still do that?) At any rate, I was home sick for a couple of days and, looking for something to read, picked up my older sister's copy of "Love Story," by Erich Segal. And yes, truth be told, it did make me cry. If any have never read it, I would recommend it. But keep a box of kleenex handy.

Is that the story made into a famous movie and song?
I don't think the repressive cultural belief that tries to dehumanize men is any help at all to society. It's not a gender issue, in my book, it's whether or not you have a human heart. I'd be wary of a man who doesn't ever cry.
I personally find it moving and admirable to know a man has deep feelings.

Pink wrote: "I cry over non-fiction if it's a particularly harrowing story, such as holocaust memoirs, in depth autobiographies, or unjust human rights issues. At the other end of the scale I sometimes get tear..."

Not a fan of contemporary romance either, I think it rather cliche for my tastes.

I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane in the park the summer it came out. It made me cry so much a stranger stopped to ask if I was okay!

Over the years I know several books have made me cry but at the moment I can only remember for sure The House of the Spirits and Bless Me, Ultima.

Umm... well, being a big burly biker dude, I'll only admit to a few; one in particular that caused me to explain to my cats that I had something in my eye was Mark Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War.

Shhhh... don't tell anyone.

~Eric

I read Edward's Eyes to my class, and they all cried which made me cry. It was an over the top scene that led to extra recess. I didn't cry in the preview read!

Eric, I won't tell about the tears, but I might add that book to my tbr :)

Sonya, seeing other people cry is the worst, I think that makes us cry more than the actual event!

Pink wrote: "Eric, I won't tell about the tears, but I might add that book to my tbr :)"

Different strokes, er... books for different folks. You may not even like it, Pink. You can read my review of that book here if you'd like to --> https://noctslackv2.wordpress.com/201...

Sounder

Eric, I might not like it, but I do enjoy (if that's the right word) WW1 novels or memoirs and that one gets a lot of good reviews from other friends on here too. I hadn't heard of it before, so thanks for bringing it to my attention. It's on the tbr long list now :)

@Pink... it's a poignant human story. Anyone should like it. :)

Years ago I used to love books that made me cry, but now I hate that. Move me emotionally, make me a little misty or shed a tear or two, great. But make me grossly sob, no - I have enough to deal with in real life, I don't need that kind of stress and manipulation from books too! ;-)

I am the same, Christine, except I have never liked books or movies that were designed to make me cry. Of course I can get emotional sometimes but usually it has to be somehow connected to the real world (history). I don't understand reviews that say that the book made them cry 5 times...

I can only recall three books that have ever made me cry.. and by cry, I mean sob. I'm sure there have been more, but these are the only ones I can remember.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Where the Red Fern Grows
Old Yeller

Uncle Tom's Cabin - flat out.

This is going to make me sound stupid but because I just loved Victoria Nox and I felt sorry for her and the way people treated her

For me, which I just finished recently, it was "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman.

Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog

And really any puppy story :)

Loretta wrote: "For me, which I just finished recently, it was "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman."

I am absolutely with you on that one! I laughed AND I cried reading "A Man Called Ove"

Oh yea, I laughed too because Ove was such a character but I was really surprised when I started to cry! Have you read Fredrik Backman's new book, "my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry"? I've started it.

Loretta wrote: "Oh yea, I laughed too because Ove was such a character but I was really surprised when I started to cry! Have you read Fredrik Backman's new book, "my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry"..."
ohhh no I haven't, but thanks for the heads up about the new book :)

Any book in which animals are hurt or abused. Unfortunately most books don't give any warning that they will contain these types of scenes, and it is the only thing which really upsets me.

Pretty much anytime i read about anyone being abused or hurt in any way. I am a very emotional reader though. I cry often for books. Right now I'm working on A Thousand Splendid Suns and that's definitely making me cry.

Dumbledore and Sirius's death did make me cry.

And
is very good Eric.my heart broke.
And so was
and and

Very emotional.

I admit that I very rarely cry when I read a book and I can't remember any book right now that has made me cry recently. Sure I get sad/upset while reading but I'm not the crying type for books (or even movies for that fact, though I more often may shed a few tears while watching some of them, but not really cry). I laugh or chuggle at books more often, though, so I'm not emotionaless by any means.

I only cry when I'm really hormonal, and then I'll cry at anything. :P
I'll laugh out loud, or I'll feel outrage or melancholy, but I don't really cry.
But I did recently shed non-pms tears over The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

The only book that has made me sob is The Plague Dogs. I was about 9 or 10 and dissolved in tears. My mother came to tell me it was bedtime, looked at me, looked at what I was reading, took the book away, told my father off for recommending it to me, and told me I could stay up another half hour to read something nice. I can't remember what I read to ward off nightmares, but to this day I have never picked Plague Dogs back up. I haven't attempted Watership Down either, though I have watched the movie.

most recently "filled up" while reading Dune, which caught me by surprise as I've read it before and didn't remember any such effect. It was the bit right at the end of the middle section when Paul and Chani "see" their future together - all the more remarkable as a piece of writing because it is not a "standard" falling-in-love type scene, but made strange because of their unusual situation and their prescient abilities which enable them to realise that their best "way ahead" is to cling to/rely on each other.

Marley and Me, Kristen Lavransdatter

Like others here, any dog book, like The Art of Racing in the Rain. Recently, Good Dog. Stay. certainly made me cry, and Brokeback Mountain.

But I have to say the biggest emotional impact I think I ever had from a book was the end of The Age of Innocence. I didn't cry but I literally felt my heart in my throat, and had to set the book down in the middle of that scene and just breathe.

For me it was A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I thoroughly enjoyed it and although it was sad, in parts, it was quite funny too.

I made the mistake of reading Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred Taylor (the sequel to the excellent Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry) to the 7th grade English class I taught without reading it on my own first. We found out the result of what happened to one of the characters early in the book. As I read it, I kept having to stop and take a breath so I wouldn't start crying. I also taught the book of poetry called I Never Saw Another Butterfly, which is a collection of poems written by children who were in a Nazi Concentration Camp. I started crying as we analyzed the poem, since I researched the child who had written one of the poems and knew he didn't live through the end of the Holocaust. Awful. I'm sure Charlottes Web, Bridge to Terebithia, and Where the Red Fern Grows made me cry, but I read those as a child. I think The Yearling did too.

I cried a lot when I was reading as a kid, , , . I read the Greek tragedies before I was 13, and I had very strong impressions from them. Other books that made me cry were , , . Maybe there are others more but it sometimes depended on the mood. :)

This book touched my tender side.

I brought The Book Thief out to dinner with me once and ended up finishing it that night sitting in my car, silently crying for like, the last fifty pages. Not long after that, I reread A Little Princess for the first time in a decade and ended up crying over that book, too. Those two are particularly memorable to me because I usually don't do much more than tear up around a lump in my throat, but both books had me actually crying.

Also, the first time I read Little Women I was sick in bed and basically read through it in one long sitting punctuated by naps and when I got to the end I was sobbing.

Gary wrote: "This book touched my tender side. "

Oh yes, most definitely this one! Also Ender's Game!

I have never fully cried at a book, but I have come close in three cases.

The Catcher in the Rye- The ending to me was so full of heart and sweet that it was amazing to me. Holden's character came full circle here. It was the perfect ending to my favorite book of all time.

Of Mice and Men- The ending. Enough said.

Flowers for Algernon- OH MY GOD. I never expected this book to be this deep, depressing, and overall great. The ending of this book was the closest I ever gotten to crying. PERIOD. It truly shows that intelligence isn't everything. It was pure beauty, what else do I have to say?