14 February 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Break Another Little Piece of My Heart

I've been absent from this hop all year just about, so I'm happy to jump in with my favorite list of books that broke my heart a little.  If you want to know what the Top Ten Tuesday meme is all about, please stop by The Broke & the Bookish to learn more!


1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book broke my heart more than a little.  It chewed it up and spat it out and I was the better reader for it. 

Let's face it: everything else is pretty much a distant second, but here are the also-rans:

2. Love Story by Erich Segal.  That's right. It was a schmaltzy book before it was a schmaltzy movie, but I loved it anyway.  Schmaltzy means never having to say you're sorry.

3. If I Stay by Gayle Foreman

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows & Mary Ann Shaffer. 

5. Moloka'i by Allan Brennert. Little girl, leper colony,and the brutality of Christian missionaries. Need I say more?

6.One Foot Wrong by Sofie Laguna.  I've never seen such a miserable childhood, nor an ending that so quintessentially defined poetic justice.

7. The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar.

8. Old Yeller by Frank Gipson. God, my eyes well up just thinking about that book.

9. The Tower, the Zoo, and the Tortoise by Julia Stuart.  What a gem.

10. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

12 comments:

  1. Have a couple of yours on my list as well... haven't read the others. Thanks for the heads up! (and the warning..lol)

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  2. If I Stay make my list too! The story is simply sad yet beautiful!

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  3. I thought of Love Story--we read it in High School and of course the movie really pulled at the heart strings.

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  4. How do more people not have Love Story on their list!?! I read it back in High School and couldn’t find happiness of about a month... Also, even though I did Where the Red Fern Grows last year, I still need a little more time before Old Yeller (hopefully later this year).

    The Road has been on a few lists today – I’m seriously looking forward to this one!

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  5. Old Yeller - Can anyone read that book and be the same afterward? OMG, I'm gonna cry just thinkin' about it.

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  6. Old Yeller! Oh goodness, yes. That one is a definite heart-breaker. Another one I love is Sounder by William Armstrong. Great books, both.

    I'm really looking forward to Guernsey. I hope to read it soon! :)

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  7. The Fault in Our Stars was my #1 too. I cried and cried and read it in one sitting.

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  8. I'm reading the Tower, the zoo and the tortoise now but over here (in the UK) its called Balthazar Jones and the Tower of London Zoo. It is amazing so far so so funny but such a sad and touching book. Its really amazing.

    Check out my top ten list: http://lostinthought-becca.blogspot.com/2012/02/top-ten-tuesday-books-that-broke-your.html

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  9. I completely forgot about Love Story! I read it so long ago and cried and cried and Old Yeller is a book I will never, ever be able to bring myself to read. I have Moloka'i on my tbr pile. It sounded interesting before so I picked it up but now I really want to read it!

    I'm a new follower and am glad I found your blog.

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  10. I haven't heard of most of these before, so thank you so much for telling me about them! I love emotive books, so I will definitely have to put these on my to-read list. :)

    Stephanie
    - Please visit my latest post & if you haven’t already, enter my International Giveaway!

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  11. I've only read one book on your list, and I completely agree about If I Stay. It had me bawling like a baby. Btw, have you read the sequel (Where She Went)? It's pretty heartbreaking as well.

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  12. I *did* read Where She Went, and I think you and I are in the minority in admiring it. I was drawn more to the story of the first book, but the second one I thought was a fantastic follow-up to it.

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