..to tears?
Just finished reading “We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver.(Recommended by MrsFlash)
It’s not often that I read every single word of a book wihout skim reading the odd paragraph.
But every sentence (IMO) is so amazingly constructed I didn’t want to miss one single word.
But then, at the end there is a twist, which made me gasp and fill up with tears. I have cried for the last half hour. It is a book which will haunt my thoughts for weeks to come.
The only other book which has had a similer effect is “The time traveller’s wife”.
So, anyone else reacted to a book like this?
If so, which ones?

Yes, I know, I need to MTFU!! 😉

The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy.

The ending still demolishes me.

There was a piece in this

which truly took my breath away. I would wholeheartedly recommend the book, even if you don’t “get” cricket. It’s a hilariously funny book with an ending and a half.

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks got to me.
I have also read We need to talk about Kevin and the end is shocking and so so sad.

animal farm i cry because nepolian scares me… 😥 but lord of the flys bit sick

Never been close to tears, but ‘the Loop’ tried to get me there.

another birdsong here, one of the finest war stories ever told.

Reading what Andy McNab went through in “Bravo Two Zero” made me feel sick and realise what an incredibly brave person you have to be to stick it in the Special Ops teams. “Sleepers” is another true story that really shocked me, again written by someone that lived through it.

Not read any books that have moved me.

But I could never watch the green mile again.
(apollogies if this is strictly a book-only thread)

Solo.

‘grapes of wrath’ i blahhed like a baby at the closing chapter 😳

Last Human (Red Dwarf) by Doug Naylor 😳

Cormac McCarthy as mentioned writes some heavy shit. I’d pick Suttree as the most moving – it’s his most autobiographical work and the one he really poured his heart and soul into as a writer.

I’d pick Suttree as the most moving

Ah yes – must read that.

Unfortunately Bravo Two Zero was mostly fiction Guilliano.

Not read a moving book I can think of. The Mission is the most moving film I’ve seen.

Fahrenheit 451
Moments of Reprieve – Primo Levi

keep meaning to check out Cormac McCarthy; must do so soon

Agree with Noteeth – “The Crossing” has an unbearably sad ending.

Best of the Border Trilogy, I’d say, but still prefer “Blood Meridian” (even if it doesn’t move me to tears, exactly…)

Birdsong for sure, Catch 22 – don’t ask me why about that one, just did!

SteveTheBarbarian – Member
Unfortunately Bravo Two Zero was mostly fiction Guilliano.

And McNab is a c**k

I couldnt put CHILD 44 down –

The books I have mentioned are the only books I have ever read which have really ‘moved’ me. And I read lots and lots of books.
I was really shocked tonight by my reaction.
When I finished “The time traveller’s wife” I was upset for a whole day, and my family thought I was completely nuts!! 😳

Another vote for The Grapes of Wrath.

And I cried with laughter all the way through Spike Milligans Adolf Hitler my Part in His Downfall. There were moments when I lost the ability to breath.

Agree The Crossing and Blood Meridian are awesome. I reckon The Road is also at that level, although it’s a simpler book. I know some hardcore McCarthy fans who didn’t like it.

The Road is coming out as a film is it not? I also heard that a Blood Meridian film was in the works – would be amazed if someone could pull that one off on the screen.

“We need to talk about kevin” really surprised me. I wasn’t sure what i was getting into (i’ve been caught out with books that have definately been aimed at women and have turned into some slushy romance novel) but this had me hooked from teh first couple of chapters.

The (some would call it) twist really got me and i felt emotional for a good hour afterwards.

The only other book to do that to me was Norewgian Wood by Haruki Murukami, just on bit in the book that i really didn’t see coming, and it also reminded me a lot of my younger years

*sniff* 😥

ive only ever read 2 whole books which i chose to read and about another 3 at school garfield comic and lord of the flys

would be amazed if someone could pull that one off on the screen

I’d be amazed if any actor could do, er, justice to the character of The Judge.

Terrifying creation.

I just don’t think it can be done Garry_L…

How do you portray The Judge on film, along with all his depravities.

How do you visually portray the Comanche attack (an awe-inspiring piece of prose)?

(Sorry for hijack, FC!)

One step beyond by chris moon-gets his arm/leg blown off de mining, full on insperational read. Any books joe Simpson has written…awsome

aslongasithaswheels…I really wasn’t expecting the whole “Celia and Dad” bit at the end…I was so engrossed in the way the book was written etc, I hadn’t really thought much about the “plot”.
May now have to re-read it.
But like the film “Sixth Sense”…once you know it’s obvious!!

Haruki Murukami

Good call – strangely consoling, even at his most melancholy.

tom (taka) – Member
ive only ever read 2 whole books which i chose to read and about another 3 at school garfield comic and lord of the flys

You sad, sad little man. Go and read, expand your mind.

sad little man

Could actually be a kid, CFH!

OK, fair point, but still rather sad! To be old enough to be on here and yet to admit to such a pathetic limit of literary endeavour is rather sad.

Unless, of course, it was said in jest.

The ending to Dr. Zhivago (by Boris Pasternak) had the backs of my eyes prickling ever so slightly. and I’m not usually the emotional type…

To be old enough to be on here and yet to admit to such a pathetic limit of literary endeavour is rather sad.

*has flashback to TinTin thread…. 😳

One for you, Flashy:

I now have to find something else to read!!
Think I’ll have to try “Grapes of Wrath” as it’s mentioned on here so often.

The worst/best bit when reading a book(IMO!) is when you are about 40 pages from the end..you’re desparate to get to the end, but then know it’s over! Like most good things in life I suppose! 😉

🙁 got better stuff to do than read like fetteling my bikes, riding them, polishing them, gorping at them, and other weired and wonderful things not (reliving myself) for you dirty minds aka racing_ralph ect… stalker

Anna Karenina (Tolstoy), And Quiet Flows the Don (Mikhail Sholokhov) and The Bridge Over The Drina (Ivo Andric) are all very powerful too. In fact, although it’s less emotionally touching than Dr. Zhivago I think Anna Karenina is the only book I’ve ever read which changed my outlook on life.

However, the real tragedy here is that for the past 6 years I haven’t read anything more profound than Nature, Science or Physical Review Letters 😕

I haven’t read a book that’s moved me.

As we’re talking about books, for anyone who enjoys a “romantic novel” I can highly recommend Dirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan Gutierrez and the sequel Tropical Woman. The chapter about the American Tourist with the prosthetic cock was particularly entertaining.

Cocaine Train by Stephen Smith was also very good.

tom (taka), you appear to have missed “Learning the English language” from your list of better things to do.

Read. Read a lot. It will do you the world of good and make you a better person.

noteeth, I was lucky enough to have met GMF on a number of occasions and have his complete works. A superb historian and a great storyteller, a fine combination. Also, I have a very strong personal link to the Burma Star Association. That’s a fine read.