This week we have two Booking Through Thursday questions. Let me answer the second question first. "Is any body getting bored with this series of 'recent' questions?" OK, now that you mention it – I am beginning to wonder why I keep coming back here every week. Well, actually I sat out last week's entry because it seemed to me I'd just answered the same question a week or so earlier. (Yawn!) But I'm a creature of habit, so I couldn't stay away very long.And now for the main topic: "What’s the saddest book you’ve read recently?" This one's hard for me because, in general, I try not to read books I know are going to be terribly sad. (Hello. My name is Joy and I'm a wuss.) I suppose the last couple of books I read, Susan Hill's The Woman in Black and Lisa Grunwald's New Year's Eve might fit the category because they both involved the deaths of young children. Sad events, yes – but the books themselves were more disturbing than sad.
I think the book that had the heaviest emotional impact for me recently was Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons. It's the story of an 11-year-old orphan struggling to survive in a world full of abusive and neglectful adults. However, even though some parts of the book are absolutely heart-wrenching, it still contains quite a bit of humor, too; and I really didn't find the overall feel of the book to be sad or depressing.
As I say, I usually avoid books that I know are going to be downers. Don't read war novels, or books about the Holocaust. Stay away from Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult. I'm very careful about books with animals in them. And I've put off reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking for about four years now, even though she's one of my favorite authors – not sure I'll ever build up the courage to face that one.
Ellen Foster was a sad one, as are most of Oprah's Picks. I have several:
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Sad books don't put me off. Not that I specifically look out for those.
ReplyDeleteBooking through Sad Ones
I finished The Woman in White and now there is a The Woman in Black? :)
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten all about Ellen Foster. I read that several years ago, and it is really sad. Good though.
ReplyDeleteOh, I completely forgot to mention Ellen Foster as one of my recent saddest. That was sad indeed. I do enjoy when a book brings out emotions in me, so I do read a lot of more sad or poignant books.
ReplyDeleteEllen Foster is such a spectacular book. Never read the other two but they look good.
ReplyDeleteI get tired of sad books like Sparks and Picoult. Have to take a break inbetween them!
ReplyDeleteYear of Magical Thinking is so worth the struggle. My gosh - what a powerful book. There is the horror, sure, but I kept thinking of the commitment of the artist to her art. How she sat down and wrote every day out of her experience. It was horrific and yet hard to put down.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read it but I heard that the Time Traveler's Wife was a tear jerker.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I want to read something that's sad, but not as a steady diet.
ReplyDeleteAnd, now you know why I no longer come back. I'm fast asleep!
ReplyDeleteI try to avoid sad books too, they don't usually make me cry just make me feel depressed and all sad.. sometimes that goes on for days..and it would be hard for me to start a new book..
ReplyDeleteI prefer fast reads, either light or even crime but the romantic sad ones are just toooooooooooo sad for me..
But sometimes you just need one ;) like a piece of chocolate so I go looking for one!
I try not to read sad books. I can't even think of any I stumbled across lately.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I'm getting bored with it too!
ReplyDeleteI have hardly read any sad books this year, and had to struggle to come up with my pick. And then i had to take shit about it from the author. Fun.
Oofta = sad books.... I really havent read a real sad one lately. I read After Anne about 5 years ago and cried so hard you would have thought I was at a funeral... I mean WEPT. My husband got up at 2 am to see what was wrong with me and there I was on the couch.... literally bawling.
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