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Do you like/hate books that make you cry? Whilst I would go out of my way NOT to see a film that was sad (am I the only person in the world not to have watched Titantic ?) I do like books that tug at the heart strings. I sobbed at the Time Traveller's wife, filled buckets at Ransom by Jay McInerney and soaked a pillow over 'Prince of Thieves' by Chuck Hogan.
I haven't watched Titanic either. The programme Tony Robinson did, diving with the team who have been recording and mapping the remains was moving.
Sometimes things that you wouldn't think would make you cry, does.
That's life.
Joanne Harris's Chocolat makes me cry - one particular bit which, if you haven't read it, I won't reveal. It's a particular character, and the film version was nothing like as moving - I always cry when I read the book - not the film. Though, I watched the film the other night and the end made me cry. But the bit from the book - not a thing... The writing is powerful in every sense of the word, and the film can't possibly convey that.
Terry Pratchett always makes me laugh, often out loud - it's not a good idea to read his books in public, I've found. Hmm.
The book that made me cry the most - for the last 100 or so pages, solid, in fact - was Sharon Penman's The Reckoning. It was about Llewelyn the Last of Wales and how Edward I took over.
I knew the history. I'd even given guided tours of the castle where the last rebellion against the English started (Caergwrle, near Wrexham). So it wasn't as if any of this came as a surprise.
Edward I is the person in history that I most despise.
A book that made me cry, especially in a chapter called 'The woman who waited 45 years' is The Good Women of China by Xinran. I've said this before in another thread, but I really would recommend this book to anyone.
Several books have made me cry, usually when they kill off a character that I really liked. I read a lot of historical adventure fiction - Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow, Steven Pressfield - and have often ended up having a weepie at the end of the great battles when the heroes have died or whatever. I like it if a book is that powerful, it means that it was well written and that I really cared for the characters.
I used to write Buffy The Vampire Slayer fanfic on the internet, and did a six part fiction where I killed a character off at the end. The day it was posted on the net I got absolutely loads of feedback and reviews from people saying they had cried when they read the ending. It felt great to know that my writing was good enough to have had that effect on people.
I can't remember any at the moment. But I've read a few series of books where a character has died, and it's like losing a friend. I get attached to certain characters, some of them feel so real.
I cry at the drop of a hat - I was pretty much a wreck after Titanic...then took my mum to see it and started crying again as soon as the music started. She sobbed her heart out as well and we both came out looking like wrecks, only to bump into her milkman and his wife coming in. 'How are you?' asks the milkman, 'Fine,' says my mum, still gulping and sniffing, with red eyes and a runny nose. Classic.
Books don't often make me cry, but the last one to do so was 'C' by the late John Diamond. You might expect that, as it was about his diagnosis of and subsequent battle with cancer, but what surprised me was that I suddenly started crying some 20-30 pages before the end at a not particularly sad bit. It must have a cumulative effect of the whole book. I quite enjoy being made to cry by a book, but it's frustrating in that it then means I can't see straight to carry on reading.
Ditto, TT and DD. I get easily intimidated by others' work. I also get intimidated by reviews of others' work. I look at my words and doubt very much anyone else will ever use such glowing epithets to describe them, but as DD says, we all have something different to offer. I find it very difficult to be objective about my writing.
Mind you, when I'd finished reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, I reread the review quotes on the front and back covers and wondered if I'd been reading the same book...'uproariously funny' claimed the Economist - I don't think so (then again, compared to The Economist...)
I bought the "tractor" book and Never Let Me Go" to-day. Can't wait to read them! I very rarely cry when reading a book but I cry buckets when listening to music, watching films - and over the news on TV. Only two books have made me cry. The first was Black Beauty and the second was Blackthorn Winter by Susan Challis. The second one upset me so much that I had to get up in the middle of the night and make a cup of tea and then keep on reading until 5am to find out what happened next. Work next day too. How do you explain red puffy eyes etc from reading?
Recently I have had a strange experience because one of my own short stories made me cry!!! I thought that that was a bad sign and I had probably written total rubbish so I put it away for three months and then read it again. Same reaction. Now I have sent it off to a competition. The weird thing is that I can't make any decision about this story. I honestly don't know whether I've written something that is horribly mawkish - or not. I am an inexperienced writer. Is it possible for your own writing to move you to tears? And is this a good sign or does it mean that you are writing garbage? I usually write with a touch of humour!!Do professional writers cry over their own work?
My mum used to say my bladder was too near my eyes!
If a book doesn't move me in some way (tears, dislike, laughter, etc) I don't think it is any good.
I cried all the way home, years ago, after seeing 'Love Story' - if only we'd known then what we know now!
Tilly, I've cried at times over what I've written - not just with frustration and fury either! Sometimes as I'm editing my work I feel an adrenaline rush because I feel so sorry for my character. It's a strange feeling but a thrilling one.
Laughed out loud - The Polkerton Giant by Ian Ogilvy
Biggest cry - Goodbye Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian or Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Does anyone like sad endings? A recent poll concluded that most readers prefer happy ones. Which books with sad endings have you enjoyed - are they books that have a sequel which suggests happy ending to come?
I did a scriptwriting course for a couple of terms and read a lot of film scripts as a result. For some reason the end of The Sixth Sense sent me off into a fit of sobbing. I never did see the film, because when it came out I somehow guessed the ending from the trailers on the radio (I hadn't read the script at that point, but a friend confirmed my guess).
I also read the script for The Green Mile and found it so distressing I haven't been able to face watching the film.
Incidentally, has anyone seen Dancer in the Dark, the film with Bjork in it? I was in bits at the end. It was so shocking and distressing.
When I was still living with my parents, my mum, my sister and I would watch sad films together - mum always started the crying, closely followed by me and, eventually, by my sister, who always grumbled 'you two set me off, I'd have been all right otherwise.' At which point dad would look up from behind his paper and say 'Are you all enjoying this, then?' Err, yeah, dad, the crying's the best bit. Clearly this has influenced my behaviour ever since!
Last recorded instance of sobbing with mum was while watching Goodbye Mr Chips, the recentish Martin Clunes' version, on the Christmas before last, I think. Watched it thinking it would be a nice period drama for a Christmas afternoon and ended up in floods of tears. Might as well have watched Eastenders and got really depressed.
The following verse has just brought a few tears to my eyes. I came across it in the book Flying Colours, Laddie Lucass biography of Douglas Bader.
Biggin Hill, July 1947
On Weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
Though men grow old, they stay the same
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
I believe that is what books are really written for. To grab at your heart with a smile or a cry of tears. If it does that to you then it means it is a great story.
If you don't have any change of feelings when reading a book then it means the story must be pretty boring!
Alana
I found the opening scene of the original film of 'The Lion King,' very moving. I also cried and handed out tissues to others during 'Evita.' I've also actually cried writing events in my own fiction. (Although,I guess the editors did too)
Comments
Sometimes things that you wouldn't think would make you cry, does.
That's life.
Terry Pratchett always makes me laugh, often out loud - it's not a good idea to read his books in public, I've found. Hmm.
I knew the history. I'd even given guided tours of the castle where the last rebellion against the English started (Caergwrle, near Wrexham). So it wasn't as if any of this came as a surprise.
Edward I is the person in history that I most despise.
I used to write Buffy The Vampire Slayer fanfic on the internet, and did a six part fiction where I killed a character off at the end. The day it was posted on the net I got absolutely loads of feedback and reviews from people saying they had cried when they read the ending. It felt great to know that my writing was good enough to have had that effect on people.
Books don't often make me cry, but the last one to do so was 'C' by the late John Diamond. You might expect that, as it was about his diagnosis of and subsequent battle with cancer, but what surprised me was that I suddenly started crying some 20-30 pages before the end at a not particularly sad bit. It must have a cumulative effect of the whole book. I quite enjoy being made to cry by a book, but it's frustrating in that it then means I can't see straight to carry on reading.
Mind you, when I'd finished reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, I reread the review quotes on the front and back covers and wondered if I'd been reading the same book...'uproariously funny' claimed the Economist - I don't think so (then again, compared to The Economist...)
Recently I have had a strange experience because one of my own short stories made me cry!!! I thought that that was a bad sign and I had probably written total rubbish so I put it away for three months and then read it again. Same reaction. Now I have sent it off to a competition. The weird thing is that I can't make any decision about this story. I honestly don't know whether I've written something that is horribly mawkish - or not. I am an inexperienced writer. Is it possible for your own writing to move you to tears? And is this a good sign or does it mean that you are writing garbage? I usually write with a touch of humour!!Do professional writers cry over their own work?
If a book doesn't move me in some way (tears, dislike, laughter, etc) I don't think it is any good.
I cried all the way home, years ago, after seeing 'Love Story' - if only we'd known then what we know now!
Biggest cry - Goodbye Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian or Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman
Does anyone like sad endings? A recent poll concluded that most readers prefer happy ones. Which books with sad endings have you enjoyed - are they books that have a sequel which suggests happy ending to come?
I also read the script for The Green Mile and found it so distressing I haven't been able to face watching the film.
Incidentally, has anyone seen Dancer in the Dark, the film with Bjork in it? I was in bits at the end. It was so shocking and distressing.
When I was still living with my parents, my mum, my sister and I would watch sad films together - mum always started the crying, closely followed by me and, eventually, by my sister, who always grumbled 'you two set me off, I'd have been all right otherwise.' At which point dad would look up from behind his paper and say 'Are you all enjoying this, then?' Err, yeah, dad, the crying's the best bit. Clearly this has influenced my behaviour ever since!
Biggin Hill, July 1947
On Weald of Kent I watched once more
Again I heard that grumbling roar
Of fighter planes; yet none were near
And all around the sky was clear
Borne on the wind a whisper came
Though men grow old, they stay the same
And then I knew, unseen to eye
The ageless Few were sweeping by
Lord Balfour of Inchrye
If you don't have any change of feelings when reading a book then it means the story must be pretty boring!
Alana