The Next Best Book Club discussion

My most shocking cry: "At Risk" by Alice Hoffman....I read it in high school and my tears stained the book.

I cried quite a bit at:

A Walk to Remember: Nicholas Sparks
My Sister's Keeper: Jodi Piccoult
The Notebook: Nicholas Sparks

I have cried at others too, but those ones stick out.

Marley and Me made me weep, I remembered every childhood pet and had a good sobfest after finishing that book.

The Friday Night Knitting Club. Mother/child relationships seem to be the chink in my armor.

I don't really cry, but I get really watery eyes! The following books were the culprits:

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close AND Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving
The Host, Stephenie Meyer
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
Night, Elie Wiesel
Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Of Mice & Men, John Steinbeck

OK I didn't realize I was such a wuss! I'm going to stop listing books now before I embarrass myself too much!

The only two books I have EVER cried over are:

The Sweet Far Thing
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

My list would be PAGES. I am a weeper by nature (LOL) and give me a sad ending or storyline and the waterworks just start. I think I cried for the last 8 chapters of "Half-Blood Prince"...only because I started to get a glimmer of what was going to happen (I have that annoying habit of guessing stuff....so annoying) AND because it was 3AM!!

I spent a couple hours crying yesterday over a book..."Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time" by Rob Sheffield. EXCELLENT read, but sad.

The Pearl made we weep IN SCHOOL. How embarrassing. As did "Of Mice and Men" and "Lord of the Flies" (which I never really cared for). And I cried when I read "The Outsiders".

Sigh. See what I mean. Maybe I should only read happy books?? :-)

I don't cry at books. I sometimes cry at movies.

You're no wuss Cheri! It just means you are compassionate.

That being said, I'm more like Mirela except I tear up quite frequently with movies. Although I did come close with Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

I remember crying during Where the Red Fern Grows . I cried when I read Click Here, but I was in sixth grade. I might have been a little emotional back then.

Book Thief
Where the Red Fern Grows
Little Women
Of mice & Men
Night
Diary of Anne Frank
The Hiding Place
One Tattered Angel

I know there are more but that is what I can come up with for now.

The only books to have made me tear up but not outright cry is the first and fifth Harry Potter books. I have never cried when reading a book. However, if you want to talk about movies...well that's a whole other conversation.

(Sheepishly looking at the ground....)

"Big Russ and Me" by Tim Russert- I read this after Tim died. I lost it when I read anything that referenced his son Luke and his hopes for Luke's future and his relationship with Luke.

"The Art of Racing in the Rain"- I cried buckets at this one.

"The Book Thief"- Buckets and buckets for this one, probably should have mentioned it first since it made me cry the most

Many, many books make me shed a tear or two. But these three made me weep.

I'm a crier, I couldn't possibly list all of the books but the one that really tore me up was Marley & Me, I cried like a baby for about the last hour and then also after I'd finished, I could barely talk!!

I cry at everything. MY SISTER'S KEEPER is one I really remember loosing it with. I was reading it while my Mom was going through chemo. It was so sad. Also, when I was very pregnant with my youngest, my then 3 year old wanted me to read I LOVE YOU FOREVER every night. I weeped!! The latest book to make me cry was THE BOOK THIEF.

My boyfriend got a huge kick out of how sappy I got over The Time Traveler's wife; I never cried but I certainly choked up quite often.

I think the saddest book I've ever read is Death Be Not Proud. That nasty little piece of work put me in a funk for weeks and I still think of it at times. If you're looking to take a stroll through a man's unmitigated grief at the slow and grueling death of his child, this is the book for you.

The worst ones for me are the devastatingly beautiful variety. I would put Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson in that category.

The People of Paper by Salvador Plasencia left me in a euphoric, pseudo-melancholic trance. It's so beautiful and crushing and hopeful; one of my favorite books of the last few years.

I cry at the drop of a hat, but usually can maintain my composure when in public. But I was reading One True Thing while eating out and I started crying at the table. I couldn't stop. I had seen the movie (cried buckets at that too) and knew what was coming. You'd think I would have known better. Anyway, it was most embarrassing! I'm quite sure everyone put their forks down to stare. I felt everyones eyes on me. Needless to say, I haven't taken that one with me again when dining out.

Let's see -- I tend to cry more at tv shows and movies, but I know of a few books that made me shed a tear or two.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
Three Weeks With My Brother by Nicholas Sparks
Bridge to Terabithia
Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (this one MIGHT have made me cry -- I'm thinking it did)

Im not a big cryer with novels, but "The Gift" by Evans, and "A Child Called It" sure did a number on me! I have a hard time reading anything that deals with children getting sick or dying, and animals being abused or dying....

I hate to cry. HATE it. So if I feel a tear-fest coming on, I sort of twist it around and get angry at this book/author for making me almost cry! I think the Half-blood Prince got thrown onto the table! I do think there were a couple of books that did get me all misty-eyed, but I seem to have blocked them out. Oh, Anne of Green Gables got me one time. And I don't even think it was the first time I read it! Weird.

I usually cry at movies and tv shows, not books. As a matter of fact, I only remember one book I cried over. I cried waterfalls over the movie. I just cried bushels over the book.

Old Yeller

I tend to get weepy reading many books but some of the ones that made me really cry were:
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Of mice and men
Where the Red Fern Grows
My sister's Keeper

Would you believe "Good in Bed" made me cry?

Any book that makes me cry automatically gets a 5!

I'm a cry baby and usually try to stay away from books that I know will turn on the tears. The ones that really got me:

Half Blood Prince
Marley & Me
5 People You Meet in Heaven

I knew Marley & Me would be a crier but was told it would be worth it - I still tear up when I think about it.

Thank you to Spudsie for mentioning The Art of Racing in the Rain! I've not heard anything about it but it's caught my eye in the stores - I was afraid it was a tear jerker.

I actually have a “made-me-cry” shelf set up, which is sort of fun to keep track of. But to copy my list here:

Atonement (Ian McEdwin - saddest book ever, and the way it ties in with the beginning made it a lot more potent)

The Return of the King (JRR Tolkien - the bit about the members of the Fellowship never all being together again in the same place)

The Subtle Knife (Philip Pullman - a certain three pages in this can make me cry literally every time I read it)

Courage of Falcons (Holly Lisle)

The Secret History

The Book Thief

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (This one is up there with Atonement, but I think it's as much because I'd been so attached to the series and characters for so long as because of any actual events in the book. And I hated some of the so-called "happy" resolutions; even the epilogue made me cry.)

I Capture the Castle (I think; it's been a while)

The Evening News

Only cried once when reading and that was The Time Traveler's Wife.

Hm the last 2 books I remembered crying was the Time Traveler's Wife (and it seems quite a few people did too :)) and last night too when I was finishing Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. Wasn't expecting that one...

I cried like crazy when I read:

The Book Thief

and

Marley and Me

I read Marley and Me, shortly after my big yellow Labrador Retriever had suddenly died of cancer. Needless to say, I wept openly and uncontrollably for hours, to the point of having to put the book down several times.

I usually find myself laughing-out-loud while reading Martin Millar's novels, however, when I read Lux the Poet I sobbed for an hour. Martin's words always stir my emotions.

Dee Marie

Well, I don't cry when I read since I'm a guy. It is my allergies.
Books that triggered my "allergies" Were:

Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince: At the end, when I thought the trio was going ot break up, and Harry wasn't going to get to be with Ginny.

Flowers For Algernon: :( Just a sad book.

Bridge to Terribithia- I had really bad allergies when I read that book.

Number the Stars- My allergies had a field day.
That is it for now, but if my allergies start acting up again, I will post it here.

The PACT by Jodi Picoult.

LMAO...Andrew you sound like my boyfriend.

First, Andrew LMAO.

I read a lot of books that choke me up, but weeping like a 2 year old would be:

Marley and Me (but TOTALLY worth it!)
Bridge to Terabithia
A Walk to Remember
Message in a Bottle (but I hated this book)
Love You Forever (thanks for the reminder, Anne!)

All Nicholas Sparks books make me well over, though by the end I'm usually pissed at him. James Patterson can shock you and make you teary-eyed in the same novel, but I wouldn't put him first in the tear-jerker category.

I try to avoid books which blatantly pull your heart strings without having much story (that's why I've sworn off N. Sparks, and I have 8 Jodi Picoult novels on my TBR that I haven't touched--just not sure if I'm gonna be more mad at her than sad, or glad I read at the end).

If you can make me cry but still like the story, you're a good writer. Congrats

Andrew...You sound like my 13 year old. Tough guy! When he gets choked up, he says its hayfever!! Too funny.

It's funny everyone mentions Bridge to Terabithea. I don't know how the book would affect me (haven't read it since childhood) but the movie DOES have me in tears EVERY time. My daughters make fun of me.

Jeremy--it is just an emotional movie, and an allergetic book. That is just how it goes, but it is amazing.

Jeremy, I so agree about the Bridge to Terabithia, the book and the movie get me every time.

This is an oddball crying book, but The Wishsong of Shannara. I get so attached to one of the characters and even though I know its coming.. can't stop it.

House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (the title is veeeery deceptive), the movie kills me every time too. Make that everything I've read of hers so far... she's not the happiest writer in the world..

ANDREW LOL.

I wasn't going to post here. I'm a crier, but I don't usually cry while reading. Usually. Catch me in the right mood, or with just the right topic and I become a basket case.

The book I'm reading now has me weepy...The Potluck Club.

And Linda Howard's Cry No More left me dehydrated from crying. What a stupid title!

Prince of Tides...well, after I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach I started crying.

I'm sure there are more that I've read over the years but have managed to forget...luckily.

LOL, Andrew, that cracked me up.

I cry really easily at books and TV and movies (I even cry at commercials!).

The ones I can remember that had me weeping buckets were:

My Sisters Keeper
The Book Thief
Animal Farm
Of Mice and Men

There are loads more but I have made myself upset thinking about Animal Farm now.......:o( (poor Boxer).

As everyone knows, men don't cry... but this one made me very sad.

House of Bush, House of Saud: The Secret Relationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties.

The book that made me cry is "Restavec" by Robert Cadet. A true story of a man in the US recounting his life in Haiti as a slave boy. I was reading it on the train and just could not stop crying.

Okay there are a few that made me cry
I love You Forever - made me tear everytime i read the thing which was alot because my dd's lovd it.
Harry Potter 6 and 7
My Sister's Keeper
the book by Scott Smith he wrote about his wife Susan who killed there kids by drowning them in the car.Cried for days during reading that one.

The first time I remember crying over a book was "A Walk to Remember" by Nicholas Sparks. And I was reading it during "Silent Reading time" in my classroom, so about 30 8th graders got to see me cry. :)

I cried a LOT while reading "Time Traveler's Wife."

And I think I got a little choked up at the end of "The Book of Lost Things."

Oh dear,.. crying in the 8th grade in front of people.. did that scar you for along time?

Oh, dear. I cry over everything so I'll have to stick with the ones that made me cry the MOST:

A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)- what a sad, sad tale.

The Diary of Anne Frank

The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls)

...okay, now I'm drawing a blank but I know there are tons more.

Pieces of My Sister's Life (Elizabeth Joy Arnold) had me in hysterics. I was just expecting some chick-lit beach read so perhaps I was just caught off guard. About the last third I was bawling like a baby.

I also got real teared up at the end of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Jane Eyre got to me a couple times, too. Mainly at the end.

I'm truly a bawl-baby - crying when reading a book is not terribly unusual for me, so I probably don't remember most of them, but most recently:

In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson - it's really touching.

The Shack

And some I can remember:

Flowers For Algernon (for sure!)
I Am Third (also cry at the movie Brian's Song based on this book every time I see it)
Les Miserables
Love Story (the book, but not the movie)

Hi, I'm new! I always think it's a sign of a good book if it makes me cry, if it affects me not just on a cerebral level. Two recent reads that did that are 'What was lost' by Catherine O'Flynn and 'The thirteenth tale' by Diane Setterfield - with that one I started about 3/4 of the way through and didn't stop until well after I'd finished!

I'm not a cryer, I mean I am a sap when it comes to movies but I have a really short attention span when I read so I've never really gotten to that point where I tear up and cry.

Or maybe I haven't read the right book yet

I am a crier. I can't help it. However, I can only think of three books that I cried at...

Lonesome Dove
Power of One
Book Thief

Here are a few that wrung some boo-hooing out of me:

Made me cry as a kid/teen:
The Outsiders (when Johnny dies)
Where the Red Fern Grows
To Kill a Mockingbird

Made me cry as a grown-up:
The Road
The Magician's Nephew (the two spots where Diggory and Aslan talk about saving his mother with the apple of life)
Choke (the opening section, where this poor kid is standing topless in the snow while his nutso mom traces his silhouette)
Birthday Letters (one poem, The Blue Flannel Suit is just such a powerful portrait of an old man's understanding of events past, and deep regret)

Made me cry after I had children:
Love You Forever
The Velveteen Rabbit (my kids always ask me why my voice gets all funny when I'm reading the bit where the little bunny gets discarded in the garbage heap and the last paragraph)
The Lorax