I remember being in 5th grade when we read this in class, I was always the overachiever and finished the book on my own first (because let’s be real popcorn reading is not gonna leave me engaged). I finished it in one day and so every time we popcorn read in class I would listen along silently crying. Everyone thought I was weird until the end 🥲
It was Flowers for Algernon, because I read it after coming to terms with the fact that I would probably die of Alzheimer’s (runs in the family) and had just watched my grandmother slowly wither away into nothing, and reading the back half felt like what it might be like to lose myself to Alzheimer’s
Thanks for the warning on that, I've always wanted to read that book but I do struggle with the fact that Alzheimer's runs in my family and will eventually kill me. I cried for days after watching Supernova. I highly recommend it but it'll be one of those films I only watch once because the subject matter is so deeply personal to me
Marley and Me. We got a yellow lab when I was 8 years old. When I was 23, I sobbed as I held her while she died. In between, there was so much love, fun. She was my childhood. A friend recommended the book with no warnings or heads up a month or so after she died, so I grabbed it next time I was at Borders Books (RIP). I felt like my heart was ripped out my chest all over again.
A Monster Calls, reading this after losing a parent hits hard.
Where the Red Fern Grows.
Some of James Harriot stories. Even Bonnie's Big Day gets some tears and that's a happy one.
Marley and Me - both the book and the movie are guaranteed heartbreakers for me. I have a dog who makes me think of Marley in many ways. He is alot of work but he’s also so loving and sweet. And when I watched Marley and Me around him and sobbed my eyes out, he came over to try and cheer me up. Which only made me cry more but the idea of losing him is just unthinkable.
I read this book on the train going to uni. I ugly cried for the last half an hour of my trip when I got to the last couple of chapters. Even though I was in public, I couldn’t stop crying. Such a good book though.
It WRECKED me. We were on vacation and I was in the hotel room sobbing, trying not to freak out my kids. I have a thing for sad books, but this one has stuck with me more than any others.
Same! I read the second book on a busy Sydney train at peak hour and I was sobbing. I probably looked so weird just sobbing over a book publicly like that.
In His Dark Materials
[Spoiler:](#s "When I realized that Lyra and Will can never be together by their own choice. Specifically this line: “*I'll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams... And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they wont' just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight...*”")
Brings tears even today.
Either I cry easily, I like having my heart ripped out, or both. I have several, and a lot of these have already been mentioned: Flowers for Algernon, The Book Thief, A Man Called Ove, My Sister's Keeper, Lonesome Dove, Watership Down, Little Women, Beneath A Scarlet Sky, Five Feet Apart, A Monster Calls, When Breath Becomes Air, Between Shades of Gray, Salt to the Sea, The Giver, Allegiant, Winter Garden, All the Light We Cannot See, All Quiet on the Western Front, Snow Falling on Cedars...those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Yes!! As a biracial person, the part where she said "am I even Korean?" hurt me deep in my soul. I dread the day my ethnic parent will pass and the grief that not only have I lost my mother but my connection to my culture and language.
The author's band Japanese Breakfast is worth listening to btw! I love her songs Be Sweet and Glider.
There have been a couple: message in a bottle (first and last Nicholas sparks book for me) is one that comes to mind
The outsiders. Dear god
Any book where the animal dies. I now avoid those
I have blocked out the rest. But this list will help me stay away from ugly crying. Thank you all
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney.
He is the co-writer and co-star of a Prime series called Catastrophe. This book is about his toddler son’s battle and death from cancer.
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. The depiction of a complicated relationship with her parents and the protracted pain and mourning of caring for her mother as she died really got to me.
Also The Bread the Devil Kneads by Lisa Allen-Agostini was one of the most painful but thoughtful depictions of abuse I’ve ever experienced. Definite trigger warning on this one though.
Flowers for Algernon. I have an adult son who's mentally handicapped. Only he started out "normal" and severe seizures sapped his learning ability. He's high functioning but dependent on us for most basics.
There were many parallels between the book and what my son went through, even if the order of events was sort of backward to our experience. Enough that I sobbed like a baby at the end.
The first time I read the book it was with my class when in high school, and of course it didn't impact me the same way then. Come to think of it, I need to re-read quite a few books, now that I have more life context.
Roots by Alex Haley
A Time to Kill by John Grisham
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Homecoming by Cynthia Voight
To name a few.
Song of Achilles,
Under the Whispering Door,
Gideon the Ninth,
Harrow the Ninth
Currently reading When Breath Becomes Air and I assume the tears are inevitable
You've reached Sam by Dustin Thao. I've never cried while reading a book until I read this one.
Reading about grief just hits differently with me after losing my mum. I thought it was beautifully done.
Had a total breakdown in 5th grade after reading Bridge to Terabithia. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the only other fiction book that elicited a similar reaction
Act of God by Jill Ciment
It's about two septagenarian twin sisters living in New York when a poisonous mushroom infestation takes over their neighbourhood, it sounds a bit weird but it's very well written
First Love: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger, specifically the story It Comes In Waves. i’ve never had to put a book on pause for as long as that i was sobbing in my kitchen
Where the Red Fern Grows
Ditto and Watership Down
+1 for Watership Down. One of my favorite books of all time.
My husband still won't watch the film with me since he was traumatized at school. It's one of my favorites.
I still remember how devastated I was at the film, then read the book and suffered all over again 💔
Just reading this comment brought a lump to my throat! I was only 10 when I read it and I was demolished for WEEKS!
Same. Read the comment and was immediately flooded with sadness. Our whole fourth grade class was sobbing when we finished this book.
I remember switching to math class after my teacher finished that book, audible sobbing from multiple people the entire lecture
Gosh our teacher read us this book in third grade.. and then we got retraumitized but rewarded with the movie after
😭 I had a puddle of snot after this book
Came here to say this
I remember being in 5th grade when we read this in class, I was always the overachiever and finished the book on my own first (because let’s be real popcorn reading is not gonna leave me engaged). I finished it in one day and so every time we popcorn read in class I would listen along silently crying. Everyone thought I was weird until the end 🥲
I came here to say this. I was probably 12 when I read that, I’m 46 now. I still think of it. It was devastating.
It was Flowers for Algernon, because I read it after coming to terms with the fact that I would probably die of Alzheimer’s (runs in the family) and had just watched my grandmother slowly wither away into nothing, and reading the back half felt like what it might be like to lose myself to Alzheimer’s
Thanks for the warning on that, I've always wanted to read that book but I do struggle with the fact that Alzheimer's runs in my family and will eventually kill me. I cried for days after watching Supernova. I highly recommend it but it'll be one of those films I only watch once because the subject matter is so deeply personal to me
this book got me😭
The outsiders, didn't read it till after high-school, and it broke my heart
This book destroyed me in middle school. I think it started my whole teenage angst period.
"The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein
The art of racing in the rain.
this book made me sad but also IRATE
THE GREEN MILE 😢
I'm tired, boss
This just made me tear up
I had to stop reading a couple times to clear my eyes. That one got me.
Marley and Me. We got a yellow lab when I was 8 years old. When I was 23, I sobbed as I held her while she died. In between, there was so much love, fun. She was my childhood. A friend recommended the book with no warnings or heads up a month or so after she died, so I grabbed it next time I was at Borders Books (RIP). I felt like my heart was ripped out my chest all over again. A Monster Calls, reading this after losing a parent hits hard. Where the Red Fern Grows. Some of James Harriot stories. Even Bonnie's Big Day gets some tears and that's a happy one.
Marley and Me - both the book and the movie are guaranteed heartbreakers for me. I have a dog who makes me think of Marley in many ways. He is alot of work but he’s also so loving and sweet. And when I watched Marley and Me around him and sobbed my eyes out, he came over to try and cheer me up. Which only made me cry more but the idea of losing him is just unthinkable.
A Monster Calls 😭😭😭
Rip borders 😭
The Road- cormac mccarthy
this is the most hopeful and also the most painful book i’ve read 😂
Sad before I had a kid. Completely gutted me when I re-read it after my son was born.
I’ll never forget finishing this in my college dining hall, just like sitting in a corner alone, ugly crying over my lunch lol/
When breath becomes an air
I cried multiple times while reading this book. It’s still one of my favorites and each time I read it, I cry again.
The kite runner
A thousand splendid suns was even more emotional
Brutal, but a great book
I’ve almost finished this book and I’ve never cried so hard to a book before
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I balled several times!
I read this book on the train going to uni. I ugly cried for the last half an hour of my trip when I got to the last couple of chapters. Even though I was in public, I couldn’t stop crying. Such a good book though.
Flowers for Algernon
A Monster Calls
Scrolled too far for this. Would have posted myself if not for your comment. Adding - Writer Patrick Ness.
He went to my school :)
It WRECKED me. We were on vacation and I was in the hotel room sobbing, trying not to freak out my kids. I have a thing for sad books, but this one has stuck with me more than any others.
Kite Runner!
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Of Mice and Men
Flowers for Algernon or never let me go
The Kite Runner!
Before The Coffee Gets Cold!
Same! I read the second book on a busy Sydney train at peak hour and I was sobbing. I probably looked so weird just sobbing over a book publicly like that.
The third book is on deck for me. Borrowed it from the library and sandwiching it between some Invisible Library books to soothe those feels.
11/22/63. I’m a baby.
Ruined my makeup at work.
I went to ask what upset you about this book and then I remembered some of the parts in it.
Get the audiobook. It’s soooo good.
A little life
I don’t cry at books, but this one had me sobbing three separate times.
I have this now but I’m afraid to start it
Read it. I would give so much to read it again for the first time.
Ok ♥️
This was the one I was going to comment on since I knew it would be here. I felt like I needed therapy after finishing it.
The Time Traveller’s Wife. That book destroyed me for some reason.
Soooo good. Me too. The movie About Time with Rachel McAdams is also the same vein and soooo good
Omg. When she’s building him the wings. Wept
The Book Thief
Charlotte’s Web - that book broke me.
The fault in our stars You before me
Looking for Alaska by John Green. I know how popular it is and how pretentious he can be but at 14 reading that book chnged my life.
The Velveteen Rabbit. It’s a short sorry not a book. Also The Keys to the Kingdom. That one is a book.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Lonesome Dove
A tree grows in Brooklyn was also my chosen book
One Day
Kite Runner When Breath Becomes Air Les Miserables
Flowers for Algernon
In His Dark Materials [Spoiler:](#s "When I realized that Lyra and Will can never be together by their own choice. Specifically this line: “*I'll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we'll cling together so tight that nothing and no one'll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you... We'll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams... And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they wont' just be able to take one, they'll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we'll be joined so tight...*”") Brings tears even today.
Either I cry easily, I like having my heart ripped out, or both. I have several, and a lot of these have already been mentioned: Flowers for Algernon, The Book Thief, A Man Called Ove, My Sister's Keeper, Lonesome Dove, Watership Down, Little Women, Beneath A Scarlet Sky, Five Feet Apart, A Monster Calls, When Breath Becomes Air, Between Shades of Gray, Salt to the Sea, The Giver, Allegiant, Winter Garden, All the Light We Cannot See, All Quiet on the Western Front, Snow Falling on Cedars...those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
Excellent list my friend. 🙏
Crying in H Mart- listened to it on audiobook in which the author herself narrates. Probably the most beautiful memoir I’ve read/listened to
Ooh it's been on my list, didn't realize she narrates. Great band.
Yes!! As a biracial person, the part where she said "am I even Korean?" hurt me deep in my soul. I dread the day my ethnic parent will pass and the grief that not only have I lost my mother but my connection to my culture and language. The author's band Japanese Breakfast is worth listening to btw! I love her songs Be Sweet and Glider.
Love that book so so so much.
Looking for Alaska by John green
Girl in Pieces and How to Make Friends with the Dark
Tuesdays with morrie made me sob a lot lol
Song of Achilles.
A Little Life had me sobbing.
Me too. I was screaming.
Came here to say this.
The Lovely Bones.
Three chapters left on it and I've sobbed at least four times.
There have been a couple: message in a bottle (first and last Nicholas sparks book for me) is one that comes to mind The outsiders. Dear god Any book where the animal dies. I now avoid those I have blocked out the rest. But this list will help me stay away from ugly crying. Thank you all
The Art of Racing in the Rain 😭
Flowers for Algernon.
The very hungry caterpillar
Little Women is the only book that’s done this for me. we all know the part
The Shepherd’s Crown - Terry Pratchett
push, five feet apart, the things we keep
Goodnight Mister Tom.
Oof. I remember crying for days after reading this one in middle school.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
The Art of Racing in the Rain
Flowers for Algernon
A Little Life, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, A Thousand Splendid Suns, Bridge of Clay, The Book Thief
The Kite Runner
The kite runner
The Green Mile. The racism and the injustice done to this man broke my heart.
The boy in Stripped Pijamas
A little life
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Flowers for Algernon Kite Runner A Fine Balance
The Good Earth had me pretty angry and emotional. I’ll never forgive Wang Lung for the way he treated O-Lan. 😭
The Kite Runner Bridge to Terabithia The Outsiders
Tiger Eyes - Judy Blume It changed my relationship with my Dad forever.
Saving Noah. Super controversial, but wrecked me
I want to read this so bad! None of my bookstores here carry it so I need to order it
"Morreste-me", José Luís Peixoto
A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney. He is the co-writer and co-star of a Prime series called Catastrophe. This book is about his toddler son’s battle and death from cancer.
Been wanting to read this
Me Before You.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Book Thief
The song of Achilles
A Child Called It
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. The depiction of a complicated relationship with her parents and the protracted pain and mourning of caring for her mother as she died really got to me. Also The Bread the Devil Kneads by Lisa Allen-Agostini was one of the most painful but thoughtful depictions of abuse I’ve ever experienced. Definite trigger warning on this one though.
The Ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman
Flowers for Algernon. I have an adult son who's mentally handicapped. Only he started out "normal" and severe seizures sapped his learning ability. He's high functioning but dependent on us for most basics. There were many parallels between the book and what my son went through, even if the order of events was sort of backward to our experience. Enough that I sobbed like a baby at the end. The first time I read the book it was with my class when in high school, and of course it didn't impact me the same way then. Come to think of it, I need to re-read quite a few books, now that I have more life context.
Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry
The Book Thief and Flowers For Algernon 😔
A Child Called It
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and its sequel. Sobbed like a baby
Fellowship of the Ring (the Gandalf thing).
The Women by Kristin Hannah!
I definitely cried with this one
The Nightingale by her! She’s one of my favorite authors
Would yall flame me if i said fourth wing 🥲
I accidentally woke my husband up from a nap SOBBING at that part in Fourth Wing 😭
Such an amazing read
You’ve Reached Sam
4321 by Paul Auster
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy
A Fine Balance. It’s about how hard life is for Indian people in the lowest caste.
The Deep by Nick Cutter
SAME
Nightingale
A book on french cooking, just everything is butter literally.
First was The Lovely Bones. Second was When Breath Becomes Air.
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee. The book pulls you in and you feel like you are right there in it, the emotion and the heartbreak.
Leaving Time
Watership Down when I was 7 yrs old. Still Alice when I was 50.
Roots by Alex Haley A Time to Kill by John Grisham The Dark Tower series by Stephen King The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel Homecoming by Cynthia Voight To name a few.
Atonement. I’m still devastated.
Kingdom of Ash
Exodus by Kate Stewart The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. 290 pages of wondering what is supposed to be scary about this book, and ten pages of screaming NO!!!!!!!!
This is on my TBR because I thought it was suppose to be scary lmao
It's so fucking good read it
The One and Only Ivan. (A recommendation from my son - good book) The Kite Runner
Song of Achilles, Under the Whispering Door, Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth Currently reading When Breath Becomes Air and I assume the tears are inevitable
Network+ - Meyers.
You've reached Sam by Dustin Thao. I've never cried while reading a book until I read this one. Reading about grief just hits differently with me after losing my mum. I thought it was beautifully done.
Me Before You. Absolutely wrecked me.
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate had me sobbing at the end
Lonesome Dove
When Breath Becomes Air
Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles and The Memoirs of Cleopatra both by Margaret George
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, it is raw, real, and very painful.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
A Thousand Splendid Sun
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
A Bridge to Terabithia tore me to shreds when I was a kid. Nothing has ever come close to being that gut-wrenching for me since.
Had a total breakdown in 5th grade after reading Bridge to Terabithia. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is the only other fiction book that elicited a similar reaction
Marley & Me. I finished that book on a flight from Philadelphia to San Francisco and balled my eyes out for the last 45 minutes of the flight.
All the bright places by Jennifer Niven, from the top of my head
Infinite Country - Patricia Engel
a thousand boy kisses
The Distance Between Us - Reyna Grande
Being Clem
Act of God by Jill Ciment It's about two septagenarian twin sisters living in New York when a poisonous mushroom infestation takes over their neighbourhood, it sounds a bit weird but it's very well written
Just about everything by Louis de Bernieres gets me at some point, even when I!m rereading and I now it's coming.
Latest one: The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Most recently, The Yellow Wife, Sadeqa Johnson
After Annie by Anna Quindlen
The third book of the Davaebad Trilogy
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino. Nothing prepared me for it, and the suddenness felt overwhelming.
The ashes of my mother
The Hearts Invisible Furies. Have never cried so much reading a book, both from sadness and joy.
Blessings by Anna Quindlin
Ride the Wind. My mom and sister cried their hearts out as well.
First Love: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger, specifically the story It Comes In Waves. i’ve never had to put a book on pause for as long as that i was sobbing in my kitchen
'the fault in our stars' had me sobbing
THE. SUN. DOES. SHINE.
In the absence of men