Top Ten Tuesday: Feeling Emotional
10. Robert Munsch, Love You Forever This is serious, emotional stuff. I get a little bit choked up thinking about this sweet story.
9. Chris Van Allsburg, The Polar Express
The idea of this was so incredible to me as a child. I had a really really active imagination and the books I read as a child were like real places to me, and this one was bright and exciting (and cold).
8. Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
Again, I just find this childhood classic to be remarkably touching and lovely and sad. I always wanted my mom to read it to me, even though I always felt a bit teary during it.
7. Frances Hogson Burnett, The Secret Garden
And here is another that was just pure magic for me the first time I read it. There really isn't any other way to describe it. 6. Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
If you couldn't tell, this list is chronological and here we are in the fifth grade. I was so scared of some of the stories in here. Seriously. Like afraid to go to the bathroom at sleepovers type stuff. Why can't I get that scared by books anymore?
5.Andrew Klavan, Don't Say a Word
And this one was probably my first really grown up type thriller. I read it in seventh grade, I think. I felt a strangely ambivalent mixture of terror/disgust and intrigue the entire time. 4.John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Oh, high school. The Grapes of Wrath is a masterpiece. It most certainly made me cry, but it made me feel a whole roller coaster of other emotions as well.
3.Sapphire, Push
I read this book in college. I've read lots of books that are more violent, with worse language, etc. However, I think that this may be the most raw book I've read.
2.J.G. Ballard, CrashI didn't read Crash until graduate school, but I started it in high school and it is hands down, the most disturbed I've ever been by a piece of writing. I handled it a lot better at 24, but at 16, it wasn't my time.
1.Ian McEwan, Atonement
Atonement made me feel just like I did in those magical days of reading as a child, where I just wanted to slip into the world of the book and cozy up there. This book also builds tension brilliantly, and it is sad and tear-jerky.
How about you? What books make you sad? Scared? Joyous?
Oh, I had forgotten about Atonement. That book made me rage with anger, so happy in some moments, and it just made me incredibly sad and depressed. Perfect for this list.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten about Atonement too! I remember raging at how much I hated Briony, even though she was only trying to protect her sister.
ReplyDeleteOMG The Polar Express still has the ability to tear me up every time I read it to my grandsons. So beautiful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to include children's books! Love You Forever is so beautiful. It always makes me cry. And Atonement is so full of different emotions. A great choice for this week's topic.
ReplyDeleteOh, The Secret Garden. It's just so magical. Love that you included children's books! I might have to make a whole separate post for that.
ReplyDeletehummm can't say I've read any of those but I could do with an emotional read so might jot some down on my To Read list. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYes loved atonement.
ReplyDeleteLove You Forever is an interesting example. Oddly, just looking at the cover, with the child throwing toilet paper all over the room, set off my anger buttons so badly that I couldn't like the kid. I never liked that book. Crazy, huh?
ReplyDelete