# So What Stories Or Books Make You Cry? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353 "2003-09-13T05:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/1 "2003-09-13T05:08:28Z")
Inspired (probably obviously) by the “movies that make you cry” thread. For me it’s _A Christmas Story_ by Truman Capote: > [@](#): > > And when that happens, I know it. A message saying so merely confirms a piece of news some secret vein had already recevied, severing from me an irraplaceable part of myself, letting it loose like a kite on a broken string. That is why, walking across a school campus on this particular December morning, I keep searching the sky. As if I expect to see, rather like hearts, a lost pair of kites hurrying toward heaven. Makes me cry every time I read it. And I don’t mean just tear up, I mean bawl. Your picks? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/2 "2003-09-13T10:33:59Z")
Edith Wharton’s _False Dawn_ every time I read it, and _The Old Maid_ sometimes, if I’m in the right mood for it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/3 "2003-09-13T10:37:28Z")
_The Little Match Girl_, Hans Christian Anderson. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/4 "2003-09-13T10:39:48Z")
Here, have yourself a good sniffle: [The Little Match Girl](http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/stories/littlematchgirl.html). ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/5 "2003-09-13T12:27:19Z")
Every year I read the book “Walk Two Moons” to my fifth graders and every time I read the part about Sal’s stillborn baby sister, I can barely get through it. Last year, one of my students asked if I wanted him to that part to the class for me. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/6 "2003-09-13T16:45:45Z")
I bought “The Yearling” last week thinking my sister could read it to my nephew. However he’s only 5 and this book is a tearjerker of such magnitude it makes “Old Yeller” look like a laugh riot, so I guess he won’t be getting a copy for a few more years. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/7 "2003-09-13T16:57:04Z")
“Charlotte’s Web” was the first fictional work of any kind that ever made me cry. Obviously as a child, I cried for just about any reason. But when Charlotte said goodbye to Wilber, this 6-year old had to run for Mommy and cry for a good 20 minutes. In contemporary times, there are two films which always make me cry: “The Joy Luck Club” and “A League of Their Own”. Mainly because both involve the death of a woman who was about the same age as my mother. And the all time weeper in any situation, and it’s come up on threads like this before, is the Japanese anime “Grave of the Fireflies.” If you can watch that without crying, you need to see a psychiatrist for treatment. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/8 "2003-09-13T18:37:10Z")
> [@](#): > > _Balthamos couldn’t tell; he only knew that half his heart had been extinguished. He couldn’t keep still; he flew up again, scouring the sky as if to seek out Baruch in this cloud or that, calling, crying, calling… and then the pressure of his grief would crush him to the ground, and he’d remember every instance of kindness and courage that Baruch had ever shown, and there were thousands, and he’d forgotten none of them; and he’d cry that a nature so gracious could never be snuffed out, and he’d soar into the skies again, casting about in every direction, reckless and wild and stricken, cursing the very air, the clouds, the stars._ ~ Philip Pullman (as if you didn’t know). I bawled like a little child. There is also _The Fionavar Tapestry_, which turns me into a soggy rag. Most embarassingly, [spoiler] there are a few of the _Buffy_ franchise books that have made me cry, especially _Child Of The Hunt_ and the story _Again_ from _Tales Of The Slayers, Vol. II_. The worst offender was _Blood and Fog_ though, which made a fool out of me because I was reading it in public. I’m putting this in a spoiler box because it’s embarassing. > [@](#): > > _Willow swallowed. “I stopped it. I saved you.” > “The portal could only be closed if an enemy spilled my blood,” Buffy said quietly. “Will?” > Willow didn’t answer. Instead, she burst into tears and sank to her knees. > Buffy stood over her. “Willow?” > Wind blew on the battlefield as the corpses of the vanquished winked out and disappeared, one by one. In the distance, the town of Sunnydale still burned. > “I’m not your enemy,” Willow sobbed. “I’m not.” > Spike came up behind Buffy. “Come away for a while,” he murmured. “You deserve it…”_ [/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/9 "2003-09-13T19:56:59Z")
I haven’t cried at a book or story in years. But I remember whenever I read **Where the Red Fern Grows** , I just lost it. ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/10 "2003-09-14T01:48:44Z")
**Bridge To Terabithia** and **Where the Red Fern Grows.** ---
**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/11 "2003-09-14T01:58:29Z")
Thirding _Where the Red Fern Grows_, and adding _A Time for Dancing_. ---
**Author:** ![HDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@HDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HDS)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/12 "2003-09-14T02:01:12Z")
The Last Unicorn and Black Beauty. _sniffle_ ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/13 "2003-09-14T03:38:26Z")
_The Martian Chronicles_, by Rad Bradbury. _A Wind in the Door_, by Madeleine L’Engle. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/14 "2003-09-14T03:58:31Z")
Wow is it only children’s stories that make us cry? 🙂 The first time I ever cried from reading was Gary Paulsen’s “Winterkill”…I don’t even remember what it was about anymore, really. I just remember feeling really weird that a book made me cry. And I CRIED HARD. Now I have to go find it and read it again 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/15 "2003-09-14T04:38:10Z")
_Gardens of Stone_. The movie sucked big donkey cock. The book, though. . . the bit where the girl knew that letting him go was likely to mean his death? Yeah. Cry like a baby every time I get to that. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/16 "2003-09-14T04:41:00Z")
_The Abandoned_ (aka\* Jenny\*), by Paul Gallico ---
**Author:** ![headshok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@headshok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/headshok)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/17 "2003-09-14T04:50:26Z")
I cried at the end of _Watership Down_. Stupid rabbits. ☹ I also got a bit weepy at the end of Stephen King’s _Bag of Bones_. The little girl in the story reminded me of my niece for some reason, so the ending hit me pretty hard. ---
**Author:** ![WereOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ac91a4/32.png) [@WereOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WereOtter)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/18 "2003-09-14T06:27:11Z")
**Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang** by Kate Wilhelm. It’s a Hugo Award-winning (1977) post-apocalyptic SF novel that left me in a funk for days afterwards. Which is probably why it isn’t more widely read. It’s very well written, incredibly poignant, and has been a major influence on my views about humanity and our role in the Earth’s ecology. I have yet to be convinced that Wilhelm’s scenario isn’t going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Hot\_Buttered\_Toast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b38774/32.png) [@Hot\_Buttered\_Toast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hot_Buttered_Toast)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/19 "2003-09-14T11:34:27Z")
“The Swan” by Roald Dahl. I cry every time I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobaltblu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/77aa72/32.png) [@Kobaltblu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobaltblu)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353/20 "2003-09-14T14:46:08Z")
**"Stones for Ibarra" by Harriet Doerr.** This short novel is a series of interconnected stories about the experiences of a married couple from San Francisco who go to Mexico to manage a silver mine that the husband has inherited. After settling there, the husband discovers he is dying of cancer, and the wife learns to cope from what she has learned from the people of the village. There was a TV movie made with Glenn Close and Keith Carradine, but none of the poignancy of the novel made it to screen. **"JT" by Jane Wagner** I posted this on another thread. This is a children’s story about a troubled young African-American boy who starts caring for an injured cat. His mother has almost given up on him because he’s started stealing, and he’s harassed at school, but he starts to lavish the love missing from his life onto this cat, making a nest for it in an abandoned oven, and stealing cans of tuna fish to feed it. One day, when he is visiting his cat, the two boys find him, and scare the cat into the street, where it is run over and killed. Instead of making him bitter and angry, he starts to take control of his life, and those around him begin to pay attention and care for him more. The grocer who he stole from gives him a kitten for Christmas Just remembering the part where his grandmother asks “What you want for Christmas, boy?” “A cat. I want me this cat I found,” has made me well up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-stories-or-books-make-you-cry/201353.md?page=2)