4 Books That Made Me Cry

Greetings, and happy October to you all! I can’t say I’m exactly thrilled about the onset of cold, dreary and drizzly weather… But hey, when you live in England, you don’t exactly have a choice, haha! 😀 One good thing about this weather is that it has set me thinking about books. You see, when you can’t go out of the house because it’s tipping it down, what else is there to do except read?? Well there is that whole do school like 24/7 because life is crazy busy and it’s Senior year thing but anyways. Now I haven’t been doing a whole lot of reading in the past day or two, but I was thinking yesterday about all the good books I’ve read this year, and I realized something… I have actually broken my track record of not crying in books like three times in the past ten months. Crazy I know.

Now let me just say that I’m not the type of person that you will come across sobbing in a corner holding a book to my chest and wailing over the beauty and pathos contained within its pages. Nope. I feel very deeply when I read emotional books, but I hardly ever cry over them. In fact, until this past year, I can only remember one book that I’ve cried over. But somehow this year something has changed – perhaps it’s part of getting old or something. 😀 Anyways, today I thought I would share with you the only four books that have made me cry. Not cry like sobbing for hours in my bedroom, but rather cry like choking over a huge lump in my throat at 1 am while my heart constricts painfully, my eyes leak and I reel with emotion… Because let me tell you, these are good books. 

~

// The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis //

“The rising of the sun had made everything look so different – all the colours and shadows were changed – that for a moment they didn’t see the important thing. Then they did. The Stone Table was broken into two pieces by a great crack that ran down it from end to end; and there was no Aslan.”

You might be suprised to hear that I actually cried while reading this children’s classic. Yes, I did. This is the first book that I ever remember crying at. It was during Chapter XV: A Deeper Magic Before Time – The utter despair of the children and the darkness of the night was heartrending, but then to have it followed by the golden rise of the dawn and of Aslan was just so beautiful and such a beautiful demonstration of hope – well, I couldn’t help myself. This book still holds a special place in my heart because of the beautiful truths it conveys through the story. 

~

// Safely Home – Randy Alcorn // 

“When men know they cannot hope in a country, in a political belief, or in themselves, they become free to hope in God.”

This book rocked my world. And I’m pretty sure it will rock yours too. It opened my eyes, it challenged me, it squeezed my heart with empathy and sorrow. Ultimately, it made me look at God in a totally different way. I read this book in about 24 hours, absolutely enamoured with the story and the ending…. ohhhh the ending. It is gorgeous and heart-tugging and I read it sniffing back tears. Read my full review here.

~

// A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman //

“We always think there’s enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding onto words like ‘if'”

There are some books that just surprise you out of nowhere with their charm – this book is one of them. The characters are impossible not to love, even if one is the most grumpy old man you’ll probably ever meet. This book’s writing style won’t blow you out of the water, but the characters and their stories will. I loved them like they were real by the end of it and thoroughly wished I could meet them in real life. This is a book charged with emotion, and I cried happy tears at the end. Read my full review here.

~

// A Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman //

“When he wakes sometimes from dark dreams of broken cradles, and compasses without bearings, he pushes the unease down, lets the daylight contradict it. And isolation lulls him with the music of the lie.”

This book is possibly the most intense book I’ve read this past year – maybe even in my whole life. Just remembering the story now is bringing up such a huge swell of emotions for me. It was incredibly, painfully beautiful. The writing is absolutely stunning, and the plot was… I don’t even have words to describe how beautiful and sad it was. I finished this book at 1 am by the light of a flashlight with tears slipping down my cheeks as I struggled to take in the intensity of the emotions this book brought up in me. It took me a while to recover from this book, it was that good.  Read my full review on Goodreads here.

~

Let’s chat! Are you the type to cry while reading emotional books, or are you more of the type to read dry eyed while dying inside? What books, if any, have made you cry?