Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened

November brings the National Year of Reading Twitter Reader Group theme to "cry"

So what books made you cry?

The first book that comes to mind for me is "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton.  I mean who didn't cry when Johnny died (sorry for anyone who hasn't yet read the book).  It made reading the last few chapters difficult as I sobbed and wiped the tears away.

Another book that comes to mind is the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J. K. Rowling.  I mean really the last chapters were a mixture of sobbing and tear swiping and anger at what the author did to her characters.

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins was the latest book to make me cry.  I won't go into details but I'm sure anyone who has read that book knows exactly where I cried.

My husband once asked me, as I was sitting in the lounge sobbing over a book, "Why are you reading that book if it makes you cry?" and I replied, "You know that it is a good book if it makes you cry."

That said, I don't think a book has to make you cry to be good.  A good book just has to take me to another place and make me feel the characters.  It makes me miss them when it's finished.   It makes me want more to read about them.  That's what I think makes a good book.