Books That Made Me Cry!

I don’t often cry when reading books, but there have been a few notable ones over the last few years that have made me shed a tear. I thought I would share these books, as they are some of my favorite ones, and who doesn’t need a good tear jerker now and then?

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

This book is set during the Second World War and follows two young women who both work in the war effort. Somehow they end up behind enemy lines and they must each try to get out of trouble in their own way. The thing that got to my cold cynical heart was the relationship between these two women and the sheer bravery of especially one of them. The lengths she was willing to go to were amazing and it wrung a tear from my eye. 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Another book set during World War II this one follows a young German girl, who is left with foster parents due to various circumstances. We follow her struggles finding a place for herself in the new family and the new town, but she soon develops a relationship with a young boy and finds certain hobbies to keep her occupied. This is a very bittersweet book, and it warmed my cold heart.  



All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

This is one of my absolute most favorite books ever! It is set during the First World War, and follows a young German soldier as he and his comrades try to survive through a war that none of them believe in anymore. We follow his moral struggles and the hardships that they all live through, physically and mentally, and the sheer futility of it all, and my heart breaks at the exact same spot every single time I read this book. 


Atonement by Ian McEwan

Yet another book set during the Second World War. This setting just does something to me! This is about a young couple who have only just realized they love each other, when the man is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. When war rolls around he is released on the condition that he joins the army as a private. He does and the two of them struggle through, hanging on to the moment when the war will finish and they can finally be together. This book made me cry, because it was just so UNFAIR!! In every single aspect!

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This story follows a young man who possesses the gift (or more correctly, curse) of time travel. During his travels he meets a young girl whom he eventually meets “in real life” and marries. Their love story just touched me, and the fact that he does not control his time traveling meant that there were constantly high stakes and intensity. 

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

This is quite a long book, but it was a very specific moment that made me cry, beaches it was just so UNFAIR!! Clearly this is my undoing, when it comes to shedding tears. The book itself is about…a lot of things, as usual with Dickens. Essentially we follow a whole host of characters, all centered around a court case in Victorian London. There is mystery, hardship, lost family members found again, love and heartbreak, and at one point my eyes water for one poor soul, who is steamrolled by mean men just because they think he will get in their way and they have no qualms about getting him out of their way. See? SO UNFAIR! 


Well, that’s the books that have made me shed a tear in recent years. An exclusive club with an overrepresentation of war settings. Apparently war and unfairness are my weak spots. 

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