GET OUT THE TISSUES…
Today we are talking about books that make us cry. I don’t mean the watery eyes, tearing up kind of cry, I mean the kind of cry where you are actually having trouble seeing the pages of the book. Also, I am talking about my very favorite kind of book.
This came up when my colleague asked me if I had ever read, Flowers for Algernon, and I said that I hadn’t, and he said, “Really? But it is a crying book, I can’t believe you never read it.”
So that being said, Flowers for Algernon is now on my TBR pile, but I wanted to put a few of these books on everyone else’s TBR pile as well, because I believe a good story should actually break your heart into a million little pieces, don’t you?
Here are a few of my selections, and if you want, please email me your favorite heartbreaking book @ Library@RandomHouse.com and I will add it to our “Beyond Sad Edelweiss Collection.” (where possible.)
These are in no particular order, and are solely based on my own tears:
The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (I dare you to find a better love story set in Burma or anywhere else!)
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Listened to this one on audio, and almost crashed 100 times because I couldn’t see the road and cry at the same time.)
The Book Thief (A book narrated by death- what was I expecting? But everyone should have Hans Hubermann as their accordian-playing foster father.)
Among the Wonderful: A Novel (You will NEVER look at the circus the same again, nor will you ever forget the giantess Anna Swift.)
A Partial History of Lost Causes: A Novel (The review on the cover of this book says, “Hilarious and heartbreaking…” I dare you to laugh once- it is all heartbreak, but it is absolutely perfect!)
The Garden of Burning Sand (You will want to sob and become a human rights activist at the same time.)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Really? I think this book was just written to put people over the edge.)
A Marker to Measure Drift ( Jen Childs, said this book “actually made her heart hurt.”)
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel (I’m not sure I read one page of this book without crying, honestly.)
World of Trouble: The Last Policeman Book III (OK, this one is Sci-Fi, but the world actually ends, and the love that the one father shows for his children…I can’t talk about it.)
The Risk Pool (Some books just remind you of actual people that have broken or will break your heart at some point in your life.)
I take no responsibility for how much you, your book club, or your library patrons cry during these books, I only seek to advise. In all honesty, if a book can truly break your heart, then you know it has done its work!
Happy Crying- and again, please let me know what books make you weep openly, and I will add them to our “Beyond Sad Edelweiss Collection.”