Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Made Me Cry

Hello! Time for some Top Ten Tuesday:)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely book blog: The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is ... a FREEBIE! It took me forever to choose a topic because there are endless possibilities but I couldn't resist writing a post of books that broke my heart in two...
This powerful and lovely quote by John Green sums up how I feel about most of these books: "Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book." A book doesn't need to be sad to be meaningful or life-changing, but these are examples of books that are well worth the tears and the money the tubs of ice cream will cost you afterwards.

Warning: I cry quite a bit...;)

1. Percy Jackson series (ESPECIALLY the last one) by Rick Riordan: Did I mention this is one of my favourite series ever? No? Because IT IS undeniably so! But it would take me beyond infinite hours to tell you why I want to hug this book for its retelling of entrancing greek myths, its ability to make me give reading a chance and eventually become so very bookish and its array of hilarious, troubled, broken, brave, compassionate and just EVERYTHING characters (and *cough* Percabeth;) *cough*). I want to visit Camp Half Blood (if it were real...) because imagine the strawberry fields, the satyrs, each cabin crafted to fit its God or Goddess and the food (Blue cookies in a drink? yes please!) So many characters in this series have remained in my heart - Percy himself is such a lovingly crafted character that you can't help but love the guy and his story - and when characters have a difficult (to say the least...) path ahead, you go on that path with them. But it's not only the protagonists who are constructed three-dimensionally with insightful and emotional backstories, which leads to a whole lot of loving and crying. So, Rick Riordan basically made me run out of tears from crying so much!
   
2. Harry Potter series (every single word and punctuation mark can make me dissolve into tears - especially from Prisoner of Azkaban and onwards) by JK Rowling: You know, I think that we're all truly waiting for one little letter that can change our lives to come to us one day... via owl perhaps? I think we all know of the emotional turmoil JK Rowling has put us through - in fact, sometimes if I just think about certain parts of the book I want to melt into tears and I do inevitably because JK Rowling is just that wonderful at creating a story that will forever be haunting me and making me smile at the same time! Since this is no spoilers (but if you've read the series I think this one's an obvious pick;)), I'll just say that JK Rowling is not afraid to make you cry - for example with the unexpected depths of the characters, the strong messages on love, family and strength, the characters to look up to (I want to ace my O.W.L.S like HERMIONE!) and the twists in every book that send us to Heartbreak Hotel (metaphorically so). Additionally the sorrow of never receiving an acceptance letter to Hogwarts to become a wizard (Who wouldn't love a wand, meeting animagi, Dumbledore, Wizarding tournaments, enchanted joke stores, magical food and being up to no good?) hurts too.
   
3. The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini: My lovely, lovely best friend got me hooked onto these - they're just heartbreaking in the strangest and most obvious ways. Once I cried because I was so shocked about a happy moment in one of these books - real happy tears! Both books wowed me because of the way every detail of the character's journeys becomes your life. I want to fly beautiful kites with Amir and Hassan and I never want them to grow up, I want to reread the last page of Kite Runner endlessly because of what is says about hope or hopelessness, I want to create a wonderful and hidden place where Tariq and Laila can hide from their problems forever, I want to tell Mariam that she's been braver than brave right from the first word and I want you to experience these life changing books so that you know how it feels to cherish these books like I do!
   
4. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak:  Oh how unexpected a book about WWII... BUT it's unique and wonderful and blew me away. Firstly, it's written by Death, funny thing Death sure knows how to make me cry, who happens to be very funny, poetic, sombre and reflective - some of his lines just stepped on my heart! I didn't know this book was going to make me sob but Zusak taught me I don't know anything. Liesel Meminger is one girl I'd love to meet - she has lost so much but books give her power - they give her the strength to survive and love, which I love. Rudy, the boy with hair the colour of lemons who wants to be just like Jessie Owens, is the best friend Liesel could ever have and he could make me cry just from everything sweet he does with his big blue eyes shining at his Saumensch:P If you want a book you'll always hold close to your heart and that can leave you crying at 2am in the dark of the night then this is it.
   
5. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: I'm pretty sure I put off this book for months because I was not "emotionally ready" as I weirdly said but every tear, every punch in the gut, every slow smile, every hysterical laugh - it's all worth the ride a million times over. I didn't expect to become so attached to this book but John Green's original, quirky, honest, whimsical and intelligent writing pulled me in, only to tear me into pieces. Hazel is a character that is prepared to let life go by despite the humour, love and Hazel-ness she can bring to it while Augustus is someone who can make you smile when you least think you can. I think I just sat by myself crying for a few minutes, hours, or days because of this book - gosh yes the fault is indeed in our stars sometimes, Sorry Shakespeare, but life can be so unfair to lovely characters like the ones in this book.
   
6. The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: This book was the startpoint on my roadmap into fantasy and wow did I surprisingly enjoy Kvothe's journey immensely. I mean, it does start slow but once it gets into the action it gets magical and never turns back. We see Kvothe grow up from a boy who loses his parents, to a courageous teenager looking for a future of adventure, learning and a great and seemingly impossible love and the book is structured so that we also see him in the present as a lonely, sad man with his bright red hair still as bright as ever but his smile dulled. Kvothe just made me want to hug him so many times - so I blame Patrick Rothfuss for making Kvothe so so hurt by tragedy (and playing his lovely tragic songs), as it hurts me too.
   
7. Allegiant by Veronica Roth: Okay, so I didn't like this book to say the least...;) But I did love Divergent - I loved Tris' unusual choices, her bravery which occasionally became dangerously close to recklessness, Four (his strength, his dark blue eyes, his hidden sweetness (for Tris<3), the idea of society being separated according to factions such as Erudite and Dauntless was also intriguing and really well set up in Divergent. But Allegiant lost the plot (in my opinion) - the characters diluted into something else, the plot became less meaningful and got confused in trying to explain the premise - YET what made me cry was reading the end - it wasn't that I particularly enjoyed the ending but that it shocked me to the core - it made me hurt for the characters - the characters in Divergent that I grew to love suffered so much throughout the series so no matter my disappointment in the last book I still feel connected to them and to their sorrow. Veronica Roth created a wonderful book so I'll always respect her choices but I just, personally, felt a bit broken about the end.
   
8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald:  I haven't read as many classics as I would have liked to just yet but this classic would make me read them all because it's truly a golden star on a dark night. It's all about idealism, the destructive nature of love, hope, the American Dream and loss - a perfect combination! Gatsby's story and Fitzgerald's writing (which reminds me of fairy lights, strawberries and cream, stars and salty tears) together is just bound to make you feel something NEW. You feel nostalgic and freshly infused with dreams with Gatsby, confused and unsatisfied with Daisy and curious and entranced with Nick. The end of the story and the build up to it scream tragedy a million times over - they roar it and warn you but this book is too good to stay away:)
   
9. Graceling by Kritsin Cashore:  I didn't expect to cry with this one but one moment near the end just led to tears leaking from my misty eyes because it's a moment centred on loss. When you realise how that character must feel and how alone they feel in their struggle to continue to appear strong to others you just want to give them a cuddle. The characters' interactions in that moment of the book just spill with accepting and undeniable love (not just attraction but compassion) and break you with a shock but build you up again with hope.
   
10. I think that the Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski will make me cry...: I'm about halfway through the Winner's Crime and I already adore it endlessly. It took me out of an exam-induced reading slump because I was instantly transported into this story that I didn't want to leave - that familiar feeling of falling into a book with characters you already know and love is wonderful! I just care for this series so much that I feel like this book has the potential to get a tear out of me - because there are too many decisions and sacrifices made by the characters that feel like my own personal problems - If I went to a counsellor, I'd probably be talking about Kestrel and Arin's problems and how much it all stresses me out!

Thanks for reading! What's your WoW?:)