Top Ten Tuesday- Cry Baby

My identity as crier is complicated. I cry during nearly episode of the wonderfully horrible Grey's Anatomy, bawl hysterically when I watch Follow that Bird (he turns blue! the symbolism has astounded me since childhood), and tear up whenever I think of my seniors abandoning me in a few months. There are certain people that know what buttons to press to get my going and I think I may have quietly shed a tear when we ran out of water hiking down from Half Dome a few years ago (I definitely hid that, though, with some grunted expletives). I guess I'm a bit of a closet crier. One thing that doesn't generally pull at my heart strings? Books. Strange, I know. As a part of The Broke and the Bookish's Top Ten Tuesday, here are a few exceptions:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: I have never cried more while reading than when I read this book- it's the animal factor. The night I knew I was going to finish it, I went outside with my book light and a box of Kleenex while my husband was playing video games and just went for it. It was incredibly cathartic and overwhelmingly sad. It's just so easy to transfer the emotions for Enzo on to my actual pets. And let's just say I'm glad the neighbors didn't see... it was pathetic.

Marley and Me by John Grogan: I read my old elementary students the young adult version of this book and had to focus very, very hard to not get started in front of them. The day I knew Marley's end was imminent I'd make sure to have a bottle of water with me to start sipping (it washes away those sobs that start building up in your throat) and would make sure to seek out a kid that was inevitably doing something wrong to scold at the height of the emotion. Some good old-fashioned discipline does wonders for sappiness. 

Charlotte's Web by EB White: I don't know if the beloved spider's death has every made me actually cry tears, but I still find it so very sad. I also hate the beginning, where Fern's dad implies that the poor tiny little piglet will be put down if it returns to the farm. 

A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton: I read this a really, really long time ago but remember just feeling down for much of it, as a woman must cope with the grief of her friend's daughter drowning under her care. To make matters worse, others accuse her of molestation and her husband ends up becoming involved with the friend whose daughter drowned. I didn't cry, but just felt so very depressed and sympathetic. 

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes: I didn't get my overly upset or anything while reading this, but I definitely did feel the end was quite sad.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch: This is another book I read over a decade ago but remember being incredibly moved by the sadness of the foster care system. 

That's all I've got! What makes you curl up in the fetal position and sob like a baby?