Many thanks to everyone who entered our Books That Made Us Cry prize draw! Hopefully the following three people can stanch the flow of their tears with our gift certificate:
Henry Kloostra
Sabine Poiesz
David Swatling
As usual, you had many wonderful book suggestions. See the list below, and every entrant’s reason for crying (warning, some spoilers ahead!).
The Catcher in the Rye – J. D. Salinger
The Cry Lines: One page before the end of Chapter 25, at the carrousel, in the pouring rain. “Then what she did-it damn near killed me-she reached in my coat pocket and took out my red hunting hat and put it on my head”.
Reason: In the gesture that Phoebe makes here, Holden sees, in a flash, how to love, and what to do with the rest of his life. The rain all around is in fact his heart crying. And mine too.
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
It tells a story of boy meets girl, but in such an unconventional escape from time-and-space that you feel the full brunt of the heartache: the sense of inevitability behind what is a beautiful love story but one riddled with impossibilities. The skin of the story is down-to-earth but the book beats with such a romantic heart.
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At his birthday party, the protagonist knows he’s going to die soon, yet he couldn’t prevent it and he couldn’t bear to tell his loved ones about it.
Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
Of Mice And Men is downright comic compared to this tender cautionary tale (no pun intended). Sobbed at 16 and at 60, for the mouse, the man – oh no, I’m tearing up again…
Tuesdays with Morrie – Mitch Albom
I’ve never been so touched by a book. It made me feel so grateful for all the beautiful things in life, even though everything goes by and changes constantly.
A Street Cat Named Bob – James Bowen
It made me bawl like a baby. It’s a story of a man and a cat, both stranded in the streets of London, who one lucky day find each other and become companions. Together these two strays become the Two Musketeers, and life is so much better for it.
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
She uses breathtaking images to paint a terribly strategic story in the most colorful way. It makes you reflect on all the injustice/cruelty out there, yet at the same time, you start appreciating and looking at the smaller things in life.
