The Crying Book Tag (ORIGINAL)

You might not know this about me, but I cry a lot.

I learned in a college class (Psychology 101, perhaps?) that a good cry cleanses your body of toxins. Crying, it turns out, is good for you.

A lot of books have made me cry lately. I wanted to honor them in a tongue-in-cheek fashion with a book tag about sobbin’.

Rules

• Answer all the prompts with a book that made you tearful (on the inside counts)
• Link back to the original post
• Tag as many people as you want
• Drink some water

Foreign film cry

A book that was both beautiful and sad

When I started reading Piranesi, I thought I’d cross the book off my list and forget about it.

When I finished reading Piranesi, I was a sobbing mess.

The bookending opening and closing lines hit me.

I want them tattooed on my body.

Grief-stricken howl

A book character who didn’t need to die

(Spoilers for Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore)

Arguably no one had to die in Bitterblue.

(Well, except Leck. He definitely had to go.)

This prompt goes out to Bitterblue’s advisors.

I’ve read this book several times and every time I cry over the advisors.

This book is a terrific look at trauma and shame…but man, it hurts.

Horrified wail

A book where everything went wrong just when things were going right

I called Winter’s Orbit my new comfort read, right?

Because it’s a romance, I trusted that there would be a happy ending.

Unfortunately, that didn’t prevent the WORST POSSIBLE THING from kicking off the Third Act Misunderstanding.

IT HURT. IT WAS BAD AND IT HURT.

THINGS ONLY GOT WORSE IN THE CLIMAX.

Dry-eyed shock

An ending that didn’t give you the closure you needed

I’m not a monster.

I won’t spoil the ending of If We Were Villains.

Is it cheating to say that the ending is open to interpretation?

And that I find that UPSETTING?

My friend Nikita has an optimistic take on the ending. I…don’t.

Childhood wound

A book that related to events in your life

(Spoilers for The Amber Spyglass and His Dark Materials)

I heave the heaviest of sighs when I think about The Amber Spyglass.

It took me at least two tries to finish this book.

I finally finished it in late 2019 or early 2020.

This part kills me because I’ve experienced something similar:

Lyra instinctively knows how to read the alethiometer. This task that so many adults struggle with comes easily to her. She asks the alethiometer questions and feels confident in her ability.

Once she hits puberty, her ability starts to fade. Interpreting becomes more difficult. She has to study something she could once do without thinking.

It’s one more loss in a very bittersweet series and it breaks my damn heart.

I am not ready for the show to cover this part.

Addendum: His Dark Materials viewers alerted me to the show’s inclusion of The Bench. I am not okay.

Exhausted tears

A book you were hyped about that you ended up hating

(Spoilers for Plain Bad Heroines)

(Expect a lot of trashtalking)

By now, my issues with Plain Bad Heroines are probably well-documented.

Let me recount them for you anyway.

I want to support creators who work on and publish projects that can be considered “no plot, just vibes.” I get the impulse. I’ve discussed these kinds of projects with friends. I understand how fun they are to write.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find Plain Bad Heroines enjoyable in the slightest.

I’m reading a book right now that proposes that there are no easy answers. Though it leaves the readers with questions, it makes this ambiguity a part of its thesis. It promises throughout that the truth is complex and may never fully satisfy.

After 18 hours of buildup, Plain Bad Heroines tries to keep things vague and mysterious while answering the book’s least-interesting and least-pressing questions.

The storyline set in the past is explained using a character the reader has, until that point, never heard of. Per a flashback within a flashback, all of the events came to pass because of a revenge curse placed on a house that became a school and passed into a relevant character’s ownership. Now the wife’s child is a vessel for the dead woman and her maid was behind all the weird happenings. What a twist!

Oh, you were more interested in the murder of the girls that opened the novel? Not important. That’s a set piece.

Oh wait, you cared about the modern-day characters, their connection to the past, and their own past experiences? Set dressing, baby! The connections don’t matter. Just know that they’re fine…OR ARE THEY?

I got through 20 hours of audiobook to learn that a narrative that had encouraged questions didn’t care about the answers.

When I finished this book, I felt so defeated.

What a colossal waste of time.

It felt good to exorcise some feelings.

I recommend all of these books except Plain Bad Heroines.

I hope you all have fun with the tag. Tag me so I can see your answers!