I really wanted to put this list in order like I did with these lists, but it's proving too difficult so instead I'm listing them by genre.
1. Gone With the Wind
Margaret Mitchell
There are plenty of times in the course of this book that I have cried (or nearly cried), but **spoiler alert** Melanie's death definitely takes the cake. The first time I read it I experienced a brief, all-encompassing hatred for a book and author that would do that to such an incredible character. It's a testament to the writing here that I always feel like the characters on the pages are real people.
2. Little Women
Louisa May Alcott
The best way I can describe how I felt reading a certain part of this book is to simply tell you that it belongs in the freezer. Hopefully you all get the reference.
3. For One More Day
Mitch Albom
This book, about a man who tries to kill himself and instead finds himself face-to-face with his mother (who died years earlier) is heartbreaking. Truly Mitch Albom's entire goal in life is to make people CRY LIKE BABIES, and out of all of his books this is the one that's made me cry the most, especially when I got to the end and found out who the story was being told to.
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
John Boyne
The ending. Oh, the ending!
5. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Ann Brashares
Every book in this series has its heartbreaking moments, but I think the first book takes the cake. To be honest, I didn't cry the first time I read this. I sniffled a little maybe, but the true impact of this book and of Bailey's death didn't come until the second time I read it, maybe because by then I'd read all of the other books also. In any case, the character of Bailey and her story throughout this first book is incredible and heartbreaking and so many tears my goodness I am incapable of doing anything but crying.
6. Splendor
Anna Godberson
This book is in a different category than the others on this list. While most books that make me cry are beautiful and have incredible stories that stay with me and characters that grow and make me proud to know them and authors I admire, this one... isn't that. Despite my everlasting love for the Luxe series and its characters, the ending here threw me for a loop and when I cried it was because I was completely heartbroken and angry at the way the author left things with her characters. I finished this book and then proceeded to, in a rare moment of anger, throw it across my room and sob for, like, ever. So much unhappiness here.
7. Twenty Boy Summer
Sarah Ockler
In this story of grief, it was the fact that Matt died of a heart condition that got me. Unlike other deaths, in other books, this one seemed incredibly personal.
8. Stop Pretending
Sonya Sones
This book about a family dealing with mental illness is... well, it's amazing is what it is. There were so many little moments here that were tear-inducing, not to mention the subject matter itself.
9. Bridge to Terabithia
Katherine Paterson
I know I've talked about this book before in other Top 10 lists, but it really is one of the most amazing, sad, and beautiful novels I've read. For such a slim book, it really packs a punch.
10. Kira-Kira
Cynthia Kadohata
Something about this book - maybe the sisters' relationship - made it incredibly sad for me, possibly even sadder than it was "supposed" to be. When I finished reading it I just remember thinking this book is amazing, now where are the Kleenex? I have to stop crying. This is actually one of the few books that I absolutely love but have only read once because I'm a little afraid of how sad it would make me to reread it.
