Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books That Will Make You Cry.
Here are the books that caused the biggest waterworks for me in recent years:
1) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
(I feel pretty confident in predicting that this book will be at the top of every single list this week:)
2) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
3) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
4) A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
5) Before I Die by Jenny Downham
6) Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick
7) Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
8) The Pact by Jodi Picoult
9) Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson
10) The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Plus a few that I couldn’t squeeze into my top ten, but really do belong on a list of tear-soaked books:
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans
Cloud Nine by Luanne Rice
… and pretty much any teen tragedy by Lurlene McDaniel
Three of my top ten have to do with time travel — what does that say about me? I swear, I never (well, almost never) cry during Doctor Who episodes!
Have you cried over any of the books on my list? What books leave you in tears?
Now that we’ve talked about all the sad, I wish you all a day filled with rainbows and kitties. And lots of hugs.
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
Ooh, sorry I’m a bit different this week. The Fault In Our Stars didn’t make me cry. It did make me emotional, but I didn’t full on bawl. I promise my heart isn’t made of stone! Fab list.
I think we all have our own triggers for the tears! There are definitely some books I’ve seen on lists this week that leave me cold… Interesting to see how differently we all respond!
I there with you on Lurlene Mcdonald.
*I’m
My daughter went through a big Lurlene McDonald phase — tears galore! But how many books can you read about teens dying tragically? I was glad when she moved on to happier books. 🙂
The Fault in Our Stars, definitely. ;_; The Pact is a good one, too. I keep meaning to read Eleanor & Park – I really need to get around to it.
Such a good one! I’m worried about TFiOS movie — it looks amazing from the trailer, but I’m afraid I’ll be a big soggy mess if I go see it.
Oh The Time Travelers Wife. *sigh* That book was definitely a tear jerker. And I think TFIOS is on just about every list. I’m currently reading it now. :o) TTT
Oh, TFIOS is such a hard one, and it definitely pushes my auto-cry buttons!
LOVE your list! Most of these I’ve either read, seen the film, or they’re high on my list to read! I haven’t thought about Lurlene McDaniel novels for years, but they were all I read when I was kid–and yes, totally wept about! How did you like The Pact? It’s a book I picked up years ago, but never finished because I didn’t have time. I’ve just never picked it up again, though I want to.
My TTT
I loved The Pact, although it’s been years… and can I admit that I initially picked it up because I fell in love with the cover? (Yeah, I’m shallow…) It was my first Jodi Picoult book, and it made me so weepy. As a mom, anything in books that involves bad things happening to kids pretty much guarantees tears, and in particular, this book’s main character has the same name as my daughter, and that just left me a big mess. Sigh.
I have A Monster Calls and TFIOS, but I’ve been avoiding them like the plague (regretfully so). I dunno, but I have a REALLY hard time handling tearjerkers so I tend to avoid them at all costs.
I know what you mean. There are books I’ve avoided over the years because I just know I’m not in the right emotional place to want to be subjected to the subject or the degree of sadness. The book has to fit the mood, definitely.
TFIOS is on everyone’s list. It’s one I definitely intend on getting to this year so we’ll see if it can produce tears. Code Name Verity definitely produced the tears! So many others I haven’t read, will definitely check those out. 🙂
Have you read Rose Under Fire as well? I think it hasn’t gotten quite as much attention as Code Name Verity, but I loved it too.
I had The Time Traveler’s Wife on my list too. I was getting a bit tired of the story, mostly growing weary of how it was being told, up until the last fifth of the book. And then it killed me. So sad and it ended so sweet.
I think I’ve read TTW at least 3 or 4 times by now. It’s one of the few books that I started again from the beginning as soon as I finished it, just to see how all the time pieces fit together once I knew the whole story — and that made it even sadder to read, knowing how it would all turn out! Loved it (but the movie — not so much…)
I’ve seen the movie Somewhere in Time but haven’t read the book, but being from Michigan we get to see the Grand Hotel up close from time to time. The annual Somewhere in Time conventions they have there are kinda neat.
Oh wow, they have conventions? That sounds amazing. I was always a big softie for that movie, and finally read the book about a year ago. I’d never realized it was by Richard Matheson! I’m so glad I finally picked it up, and that even though it’s different in some ways from the movie, it definitely didn’t disappoint.
Yeah they have the Somewhere in Time weekend every year in October at the Grand on Mackinac Island. People come and dress up, I think Jane Seymour has attended once or twice. It’s a neat place. No cars allowed on the island, carriages and bikes only. Funny, I didn’t know Matheson wrote that either -I knew him from I Am Legend but never knew he wrote the book this movie was based on. I learned something today! 🙂
Isn’t that funny? I always just associated him with I Am Legend as well and thought of him primarily as a horror writer, but Somewhere in Time is so very romantic!
Great picks. The Time Traveller’s Wife made my list too, such a emotional and beautiful book.My TTT 🙂
Thanks. That’s one that really made a big emotional impact on me, and I’ve read it several times since.
Eleanor & Park was indeed a very emotional read. The intensity of the story plus those last few chapters broke my heart and was really touching on so many levels. Thanks for sharing Lisa.
Here’s my TTT post 🙂
Camille @ Girl meets Books
Oh, I agree, the entire story was very emotional, and I really felt so moved and shaken up by the end. Thanks!
Great list Lisa! I see a lot of familiar titles that I’ve seen on other people’s lists this week–and Atonement and The Time Traveller’s Wife definitely made my list this week! xD
My TTT
Green and Ness make suck sobby books. I still have to read Monster but I look forward to it. I loved first book in Chaos Walking.
Happy reading!