Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart a Little

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books That Broke My Heart a Little

Top Ten Tuesday post by Kayla

I am an emotional person. I avoid movies that have any sort of dramatic theme or animals in them because I will come out of it looking like Zorro. There have been instances that I would have people come up to me afterward and ask me if I was okay. I am telling you this because books are ten times worse when it comes to the emotion overload. If I think a book will be even slightly sad, I avoid it like the black plague because I know I will suffer from the Ugly Cry. You know – eyes blurring from the onslaught of geyser-like tears; snot dripping onto your pages, making them stick; and the loud, hiccuping sobs that makes everyone in the room confused as to whether they should stare or look very hard at the nearest wall or inanimate object in order to pretend that you are not behaving like that. Man, I hope it’s not just me that does that.

1. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

This was the last book that I ever blindly picked up based on a friend’s recommendation. I was about six months pregnant with my daughter, and I needed something to read. Working in a bookstore gave me a case of indecisiveness (which is a direct result of having too many options). My dear friend, Jackie, suggested that I read this book because it was one of her favorites.

Let’s stop right here for a minute. In case you did not know what this book is about, this family has a daughter who is suffering from leukemia. In order to help her in the battle, they have another child who is conceived to be a perfect bone marrow match for her sister. I do not believe that I have to explain the book any further for you to see how it would have such a profound effect on someone who is pregnant. I bawled like silly, asking myself what I would do while experiencing this horrible situation through the multiple characters’ points of view – and not just at the end.

2. The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

Saying goodbye is always an extremely difficult thing to do. I grew up reading Narnia, but it took me quite a few years to get around to that last novel. I kept rereading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and A Horse and His Boy because I loved the characters so very much. I almost wish that I would have never read The Last Battle. Any of you who have read it understands. It nearly broke me. It was bad enough to say goodbye to the characters, but the way Lewis so definitively ended the series was devastating.

3. Harry Potter and the _______ by J. K. Rowling

No, I am not saying that all seven of the HP books broke my heart a little. You can, however, pick any of the last three books. Rowling decides to become a literary serial killer and systematically slays character after character. The death at the end of The Half-Blood Prince hurt me more than any death in literature until I read The Deathly Hallows. There were two deaths in that one that affected me in particular. I won’t say which two, but I will say that I can never look at Alan Rickman without tearing up since reading it. I have not been able to watch the last movie all the way through, and I did not ever go see it in the theater.*

4. Specials by Scott Westerfeld

I hated almost every character in The Uglies series. I detested Tally, David got on my nerves, and Shay was a bitch (excuse my language, but that is the nicest I can be). I still managed to zip through these books because the story was so fascinating, and I really liked the character Zane. In this book, I full-out hated Tally for her behavior, her choices in the end, and how she treated Zane. When someone died in the middle of the book, it blew me away.

And yes, I cried.

5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The two people that should have ended up together did not. The main character’s best friend kicked the bucket. They both broke my heart, and I cried. A lot.

6. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman

His Dark Materials was a beautifully written, thought-invoking trilogy that I adored reading. This was the second book and probably my favorite of the three. Although each book had a bit of death in them, this one had one so overwhelming to me that I had to wait a few months before reading The Amber Spyglass.

7. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I have already talked to you guys about how much I love this book. I think it is safe to say that any book that teaches you about love and relationships is going to make you cry a little bit. This one made me cry a lot. Why did it break my heart? Saying goodbye always does.

8. The World According to Garp by John Irving

This is a messed up book chock-full of flawed and immoral characters. I could not help but love every single one of them. I have not read this book in at least seven years, so I do not want to say too much about it out of fear of spoiling something. I will say that there are a few characters that die quite horribly. It hurt so much to read it. I would cry and swear that I would  not finish it, but I did. It was like a black hole from which there was no escape.

9. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien

Page two – that says it all.

10. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

When I read this book for the first time, I had never really much interaction with people who had special needs. (I believe I was in my very early teens.) It still broke my heart to see Charlie begin to achieve his dream, only to have it slowly ripped away from him while he was fully cognizant of it happening. In the years since I have read this book, I have come to know people who are mentally disabled. I was blessed to have taught some special education students during my one year of teaching high school. They were all so motivated to do well and be “normal” that when I reread the book as an adult, Charlie’s plight was much more real to me. In a way, this is the most heart-breaking book of all.

*See? There was a point to the introductory paragraph.

Note from Tami/KrazyBookLady - I agree with most of Kayla's Top Ten picks, but one that immediately came to my mind that I just had to add (and I hope Kayla doesn't mind) is Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. It broke my heart when I read it as a teenager, and it still breaks my heart.