Ever cry at a passage in a novel or short story?

The bit in St. Mungo’s with Neville’s parents tore me right up.

Yep. Haven’t watched it in a while*; time to break out the tissues!

*I love the Depardieu film version of this.

As far as books go, I bawl all the time. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that would be recognizable to most folks, but there’s a series by Robin Hobb that I adore. The fourth book in the 6-part series has a scene that slays me every time.

[spoiler]Fitz is a man, and Nighteyes is the wolf he has bonded with. They have been together for several books, for many years, have grown and learned together, are slightly aging now, and their connection has been explored from both sides, extensively. After a battle in which both have been injured, they fall asleep together, and Fitz dreams he is running with Nighteyes, as he often has. Nighteyes is playful and bounding around, Fitz is still tired after the injury and asks Nighteyes to wait up. Nighteyes playfully runs off, exclaiming something along the lines of ‘Never! I was always the one to go ahead’. Fitz wakes to find Nighteyes has died, and the dream was his last communication with his wolf partner. I am tearing up already just trying to type this, haha.

What made it hit especially hard the first time I read it was that I didn’t get it until several sentences after it should have been obvious what was happening. Dang, need tissue now.[/spoiler]

Me too. There’s a scene towards the end of The Last Unicorn where they’ve finally found a way down to the Red Bull’s lair. They’re on the beach below Haggard’s castle. Prince Lir has already been knocked down by the Bull once and lost his sword and shield. But he stands up with just his hands up, and the tip of his tongue out in concentration. Just him, between the unicorn and the Bull.

I have lost count of the number of times I have read this book, and that scene still gets me Every. Single. Time.

The most recent books I’ve cried at was at the end of “I Shall Wear Midnight” by Terry Pratchett. Not so much that the STORY was said, but at the kind of wrapping up of different threads that seemed to be going on. I loves me some Terry Pratchett and it’s just going to destroy me when he’s gone.

ZOMG, I know that book. I cry every time I read the words. I don’t even have to see the pictures.

The short story The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov. Choke up everytime I get to the end.

For some reason this reminded me of maybe my first: The Little Matchstick Girl, by H.C. Andersen. <sniffles>

Heck, it’s short enough…here it is.

http://hca.gilead.org.il/li_match.html

I’ll echo the same two that have appeared a number of times so far -

A Prayer for Owen Meany - I was in college at the time, flopped on my couch, when I got to “that part”. When it dawned on me that what was happening at that moment was the whole reason for THE SHOT, I started crying and ended up a mess… and I’m a DUDE! :slight_smile:

And also, as has been mentioned before, in Time Traveller’s Wife, when Henry’s daughter runs up to him in the museum, that makes a wreck of me. In fact, as great as I think that book is, I’ve refused to re-read it because the last third of the book is such a slow descent into misery for all involved.

I thought I’d replied to this thread in the past, but if I did I can’t find it.

I always cry, at least a little, when I read Robert Heinlein’s short story “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants”.

The protagonist, Johnny, is watching a fantastic parade, and at one point there are veterans passing in review.

“Johnny thought back to '44 when he had first seen them march, old men and young boys, because the proper “shooters” were away to war. And of something that should not be on Broad Street in Philadelphia on the first day of January, men riding in the parade because, merciful Heaven forgive us, they could not walk.”

Damn, it took me a while to type that, I was tearing up so much.