I read “A Man Called Ove” shortly after my grandmother died when i was 16 and it took me AGES to finish because it was like going through grief twice. Cried with almost every chapter
@@div3455i’m an epic fantasy reader so I’m accustomed to big wars and political intrigue and I had the same struggle before. I did finish the book though and it really is heartwarming book. I was glad to meet Ove and I hope you get to too 😊
@@div3455 i also thought the same thing. It does eventually pick up (almost by the halfway point) and it had a very sweet ending so i was glad to have finished it. Maybe you should give it another chance!
I think the incredible thing about Song of Achilles is that I knew how it ended. I read the book, knowing the story of Troy, and yet.... When a book can break you when you know the ending, that is impressive.
I think that the fact that the reader already knows the end of the book is a big part of why it's so heart breaking, it's like, you knew they were going to die, why did you invest yourself in the story ? You see yourself get into the book, knowing all along how it's going to end and when it comes... i got this sense of powerlessness so vivid it made me bawl
I listened to 'A man called Ove' while doing dishes and my roommate came home, he saw me hysterically sobbing I just pointed to my phone and said "Shes gone!!! We knew but we didn't know but now we really know!!!" And he just said "I'll come back later" 😂😂 So now every time I'm going through it he uses that as a magnitude marker "How bad are you feeling? Ove bad?" 🙄 He's so funny
No book has made me ugly cry like "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It's just so beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking. I would love it if you read it.
I love that book. Also love A thousand splendid suns, by the same author. Cried for days… but I still haven’t read anything more painful that A little life, I still cry when I think about the characters 🥺
@@evelynchiroque3507 😊 For me, "A Little Life" was a little over the top. I ended up rolling my eyes instead of crying. "Oh. Ok. This now too? Of course." I still enjoyed it, but was not close to tears.
OH MY GOD That is one of my favorite books ever I read it at the most random time, over the course of a month, when I had exams You'd think I'd choose sth more lighthearted to help me relax at a stressful time, but nah, I chose a soul shattering masterpiece I regret nothing, I bought the other two novels by Khaled Hosseini and they are at the top of my 'to read' list
Sad Books mentioned in here 💌 Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell Brother by David Chariandy You will not have my hate by Antoine Leiris Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Nightcrawling by Leila Motteley Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!! I regretted not writing all these down but absolutely did not want to go back through the whole video to do it. You are a SAVIOR
I lost count of how many times I cried reading A Little Life. I loved Jude so much while reading and I hate the author for putting him through so much, never giving him true peace 😭
When I cry with books/films/etc it's normally just one or two tears, I usually just wipe them and keep going. But with this one I was crying the fattest tears I've ever cried lol, I could have watered all of my plants with that amount of liquid
@@anthropomorphicpeanut6160 The way I sobbed at the end when Harold confirmed my worst fear. I had to drop the book and just cry before I kept reading.
a book that made me sob like nothing else is Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" it took me out and i read it when i was in high school and it has stayed with me since its incredible and heartbreaking and just so powerful
my ex annotated the song of achilles and gave it to me for my birthday last year and now i can't think about it without getting emotional. possibly the most beautiful book i've ever read.
I had forgotten how much I cried with Hamnet. Like my mom told I should stop reading it cause it was affecting me too much and I told her "I can't it's too beautiful"
A Man Called Ove is such an amazing book. Fredrik Backman is definitely one of my favourite authors of all time, would definitely recommend his other books as well.
I love sad/crying books but not only did I not cry I found the book cheesy, such cliche, a grumpy old man who cares about his neighbour. Would definitely not recommend it and would never read any of his other books
@@BokObsessed Ok, ok, hear me out... Ove is cheesy. Absolutely. Personally, I find it lovely, poetic, and beautiful as well, but if you don't, that is fine. But don't dismiss all of his books. If you want a more hard hitting book, read Beartown. Horribly tragic and depressingly realistic.
I lost my boyfriend of 5 years 3 months ago and loved “Notes on Grief”… thanks for the recommendation. It was quite therapeutic to read someone else’s similar experience with grief.
i always can trust your recommendation coz i am sucker for sad books too. like my friends call me crazy for getting sad myself through books but i love how every diff story makes me feel and go through trauma and i think if somehow that happens to me in real life i can face it better
my partner has never been able to grasp that sad books/movies/songs make me feel peaceful, i don't know what it is about them but i'm so glad there are other people out there who feel the same
I cannot thank you enough for making this video. Grief can be incredibly lonely, I can see how these books will ease that loneliness for so many people, myself included. ❤
I read The Song of Achilles in March. I still think about it everyday. I even bought a pretty english edition to read it again, dedicated a whole pinterest board and im reading the illiad from homer to have the whole backstory (not sucessful, im 300 pages in and Achilles was there for like 20 pages and Patroclus mentioned only 2 times ahah)
I also read the book in March, finished in one day and my mum had to come comfort me after i was done lol I didn’t know any of the background but when i mentioned to my mum what i was reading she started crying and she hasn’t read the book, I thought i wouldn’t cry but then the last like 50 pages demolished me
I relate to this. I knew it was going to be sad when I read it in August, but I didn't know that Madeline Miller was going to make me physically feel Achilles's grief. I'm still not okay.
i'm about to finish a little life. it's literally taken me all year to read it, i've had to read it in small sections since january. as someone who dealt with similar issues as jude (though not caused by the same things, thankfully), it's been a genuinely cathartic read, as i'm in a better place now. people saying the book is unrealistic or trauma porn have no idea what it's like to live with a traumatised brain, where nothing makes sense and your logic is warped. it's a beautifully written book, it's painful to read because it's so vivid.
I agree! I haven’t had the experience, thankfully, but I know it happens to so many. So to write it off as ‘trauma porn’ is so dismissive. Hanya also stated that she wanted to write a character that does not get better. Which will be the reality, sadly, for so many. People seemed to want it to finish all tied up in a neat little bow!
I read "A Man called Ove" today after your recommendation Jack, and i SWEAR i have NEVER cried over a book before, but I absolutely sobbed with this one. Beautiful, beautiful book touches your soul in the best way possible. 10000/10 recommend!!!
Notes on grief happened to be released where I live, exactly after my dad passed away. I was already under pills so I didn't cry a lot, but it made a lot of sense to me and helped me understand my feelings and know a better way to describe them. I related to the part when she says it was a terrible moment, with the pandemic all felt rushed and less honorable....it happened to us too. And the way she says it is hard to describe and talk about your dad in past sense, felt and still feels awful.
i rarely cry, but “on earth we’re briefly gorgeous” pierced right through me. my mother is also illiterate, so reading it felt like i was confiding in a friend.
I shop at the same market, the sorrow market. I don't know why I do this to myself, but I love reading books that make me cry, they hit my soul so hard.
@@erenkasa7882 so so worth it! anything alice oseman writes is beautiful but radio silence will forever keep a special place in my heart. i highly recommend!
@@erenkasa7882 it’s about a girl called Frances who is very much the perfect student and has dedicated her life to her studies in school, the one thing she’s passionate about besides school is a podcast called radio silence. then she makes friends with aled and she starts to kinda discover like true friendship and starts to be herself AND VERY IMPORTANT BTW there might be a few trigger warnings, maybe take a look at them, I can’t rlly remember :) (I’m shit at explaining books so don’t take this too seriously)
Since books on grief seem to be your jam, I highly recommend "Someday, Maybe" by Onyi Nwabineli. It is a debut novel about a woman who loses her husband to suicide. It speaks not only about the death of a partner but the guilt of not knowing he wasn't okay. The narrator grapples with grief, guilt, and anger toward her situation and her partner for leaving. It won't make you cry, but it will make you think. The prose has this unique musicality to it without even trying. It's a wonderful read!
I remember feel so utterly immersed while reading Shiggie Bain. It was like the grey Scottish scenery and Shuggie's inner world was all around me the whole time. It was absolutely exquisite in that sense. And it did made me cry a few times.
Towards the end of A little Life I broke down and had to leave my house and get away for a few hours. Its my favorite book and its not even the genre I usually read. I also loved Shuggie Bain and heard the authors favorite book is also A Little Life. I cannot wait to read Young Mungo!
You literally wrote my favourite line from "man called ove". God that man was precious as a husband and human being. Why he has to suffer so much like that man never had a break in his life, it's like one bad thing after the other. The second character i adored the most was his father. God what a man he was "we are not the people who tell tales about what others do" was one of the best line of his💓 Ps- my heart melted during the scenes were he first met his wife they were so sweet couples and i adored his wife(she really was the colour of his life)💞
random but i'm having a pretty terrible year, bedbound from long term illness and super isolated. all i do every day is read books and write poetry and play guitar when i can sit. i try to avoid my laptop and youtube and i always want to be doing productive, 'meaningful' stuff and not just staring at entertainment, but yours is the one channel i just allow myself to watch bc your content makes me so happy lol. so thank you for giving me something to look forward to and smile at.
Last book that broke my heart was a graphic novel called "Le petit frère" (The little brother) by JeanLouis Tripp, in which he explores the grief of losing his little brother in a car accident about 30 (?) years prior. I had to stop reading to cry my eyes out 5 separate times but it was an incredible read.
I remember coming home from school, finishing song of Achilles while walking up to my room, and just lying on the stairs crying for three hours not being able to move. It should have a medical warning attached.
A book that broke me was 'No Longer Human' by Osamu Dazai. I wasn't like sobbing but it was devastating to see a man so detached from the world that he is unable to feel the tangiblity of love and warmth. He only sees it from afar as something abstract. Every possibly happy moment he spent, his thoughts were bleak and he at some point during the end of the book, stopped considering himself as human. But the last chapter really broke me. After the the protagonist died, thinking he was hated by everyone, the last description of him was that that he was an angel. Just a good read overall.
At the age of 51, I could write an extensive list, but a quick five older reads off the top of my head right now are The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, The Pact by Jodi Picoult, Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen PreJean, Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
Also, I completely resonate with your camaraderie with melancholic pieces of art. If I know something’s sad, I’d love to binge onto that. I love Lana Del Rey, my fav books are pinnacle of sad literature, and i still haven’t recovered from A Little Life and yet I plan to re read it soon !!
no because i immediately recognized the quote from A Little Life before you finished the first word. i freaking teared up lmao that book is a part of me i swear
Jack, you definitely need to read 'boys don't cry' by fiona scarlett. I've read some of the books you mentioned and they broke my heart...shattered it really, but I'm not one that cries easily. But her book just made me cry until I had no more tears left. Still recovering, such a fricking good book
I think you might enjoy 'Where reasons end' by Yiyun Li. It's a dialogue by a mother with her son who she lost to s*icide. Her writing is simultaneously funny and sad.
Same, I was on the corner between my bed and the wall, curled up, hugging the book and a pillow, and then my brother, who recommended me the book, walked outside my room and saw me there sobbing, and laughed at the scene. He didn't read it, he just happened to see someone recommend it and then said, you should read it.
No longer human by Osamu Dazai made me come very close to crying. I don’t cry much (not from macho masculine culture or anything I just struggle with it) but that book instead changed my whole life view about how others perceive me and how important I am to others around me. It left a positive impact that I think about almost daily while being a little upset reading the thing
Anna Karenina was my favorite classic of all time….have read it twice….was a tearjerker big time for me! And it stays on my mind! Love all your suggestions….this video made me subscribe….😅headed to Amazon now
I don’t cry often when I read, but Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb is one of the few that broke me. It’s about a couple of childhood friends (turned lovers) who bond over letters while he’s serving in the army during World War I. The ending is so bittersweet, I just broke. And I even reread it, knowing what was coming…and still broke down crying.
Talking about sad books I'll recommend one called "Almond" by Sohn Won-pyung. It's about a boy who can't feel emotions living with his mother and grandmother and how one tragic event shapes his life further.
young mungo made me sob so violently that i had to read the last few pages multiple times because i was too busy crying to take anything in. felt physically sick with worry for those characters. so have fun with that x
I'm also having a weird emotional day today. Your timing is always spot on. (AND I've also been thinking about getting into poetry cause it scares me but it's time to adult).
It feels good to know that I am not the only person psychotic enough to love sad books and movies. Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Kite runner, The Fault in Our Stars, and All The Bright Places made me cry for hours.
i was so surprised to hear you recommend brother by david chariandy! not because it's not worthy of recommendation (it definitely is) but because as a canadian it feels like besides margaret atwood canadian literature gets forgotten so much of the time. we have some real gems!
I read Talk to Me by T C Boyle and although I knew from the beginning how it has to end, I cried for over an hour in the middle of the night, till I fell asleep.
Over a year ago, I lost my very best friend to an unexpected tragic and sadly violent death. Not only did I lose my confidant, my partner in crime, and my future as I expected it, sadly, it set me apart from the rest of the world...forever.
Eliza’s quote is exactly what I saw when my Dad died, he looked surprised that his life was ending, and then he was gone. I think he thought he’d live forever, so was shocked when he didn’t.
I read “A Man Called Ove” shortly after my grandmother died when i was 16 and it took me AGES to finish because it was like going through grief twice. Cried with almost every chapter
I started reading it but left it after about 3 chapters cause it felt a bit too slow. Should I pick it back up?
@@div3455i’m an epic fantasy reader so I’m accustomed to big wars and political intrigue and I had the same struggle before. I did finish the book though and it really is heartwarming book. I was glad to meet Ove and I hope you get to too 😊
@@div3455 i also thought the same thing. It does eventually pick up (almost by the halfway point) and it had a very sweet ending so i was glad to have finished it. Maybe you should give it another chance!
@@gastonkostas2520 oh ok thank u I will give it another read then 😁
@@Maryam-mz7jo oka thank u for replying❤
"Trying to exist in a world, when you have lost the person who was your world"
I'm floored to say the least
Which book is this quote from?
@@angelicaaltaf none, Jack said it when describing "You Will Not Have My Hate", at about 6:00
Ikr best quote
"I wanna a book to break me in two, I don't think that's too much to ask for" never heard a more relatable line
I think the incredible thing about Song of Achilles is that I knew how it ended. I read the book, knowing the story of Troy, and yet....
When a book can break you when you know the ending, that is impressive.
I think that the fact that the reader already knows the end of the book is a big part of why it's so heart breaking, it's like, you knew they were going to die, why did you invest yourself in the story ? You see yourself get into the book, knowing all along how it's going to end and when it comes... i got this sense of powerlessness so vivid it made me bawl
same for me. was familiar with the ending before reading.
“What has Hector ever done to me”
I listened to 'A man called Ove' while doing dishes and my roommate came home, he saw me hysterically sobbing I just pointed to my phone and said "Shes gone!!! We knew but we didn't know but now we really know!!!" And he just said "I'll come back later" 😂😂
So now every time I'm going through it he uses that as a magnitude marker
"How bad are you feeling? Ove bad?"
🙄 He's so funny
AW that’s cute LMAO y’all sound like really fun roommates
Amd roommates huh! So cute
No book has made me ugly cry like "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. It's just so beautifully written and utterly heartbreaking. I would love it if you read it.
I love that book. Also love A thousand splendid suns, by the same author. Cried for days… but I still haven’t read anything more painful that A little life, I still cry when I think about the characters 🥺
@@evelynchiroque3507 😊 For me, "A Little Life" was a little over the top. I ended up rolling my eyes instead of crying. "Oh. Ok. This now too? Of course." I still enjoyed it, but was not close to tears.
I’m pretty sure Jack does have a video where he reads it
This is the first book that showed me you could feel such emotions while reading... left me speechless!!!!
OH MY GOD
That is one of my favorite books ever
I read it at the most random time, over the course of a month, when I had exams
You'd think I'd choose sth more lighthearted to help me relax at a stressful time, but nah, I chose a soul shattering masterpiece
I regret nothing, I bought the other two novels by Khaled Hosseini and they are at the top of my 'to read' list
Sad Books mentioned in here 💌
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Brother by David Chariandy
You will not have my hate by Antoine Leiris
Notes on Grief by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Nightcrawling by Leila Motteley
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!! I regretted not writing all these down but absolutely did not want to go back through the whole video to do it. You are a SAVIOR
I lost count of how many times I cried reading A Little Life. I loved Jude so much while reading and I hate the author for putting him through so much, never giving him true peace 😭
The fact that he never really gets any respite, or if he does it's short-lived, is just heart wrenching. And I will NEVER get over Dear Comrade. Ever.
When I cry with books/films/etc it's normally just one or two tears, I usually just wipe them and keep going. But with this one I was crying the fattest tears I've ever cried lol, I could have watered all of my plants with that amount of liquid
@@anthropomorphicpeanut6160 The way I sobbed at the end when Harold confirmed my worst fear. I had to drop the book and just cry before I kept reading.
@@whateverworksmate.721 exactly!!! I felt it was deeply unfair to not have him triumph over his pain in some way. But I understand not everyone does.
In Hanya’s defense it was her every intention, so not only did she abuse her own character, but she has some therapy bills to pay.
a book that made me sob like nothing else is Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" it took me out and i read it when i was in high school and it has stayed with me since its incredible and heartbreaking and just so powerful
It’s the only book that’s ever made me cry. I read it while I was in my grandmas house and couldn’t sleep that entire night
I finished reading it briefly before the military withdrawal in Afghanistan and the book made the event even harder for me to bear
Ikr? It's even sadder than the Kite Runner for me
Yessssssssss
my ex annotated the song of achilles and gave it to me for my birthday last year and now i can't think about it without getting emotional. possibly the most beautiful book i've ever read.
YESS, I LOVE THAT BOOK
This book is literally awful
why do you think that? personally i really enjoyed it, but everyone can have a different opinion.
@@sindiskiti3946 subjective
I love how respectful and calm your reply was. It was mature and I'm sure many others wouldn't have given so well of a response like you did 😊
We did "Not waving but drowning" in school and it's become my favourite poem everrr.
Sameeee I did it for my GCSEs and it’s my favourite of the set we did, and one of my favourite poems ever.
Omg me too! So good ❤
@@ivyinabottle 😊
@@khalilahd. Yess
I had forgotten how much I cried with Hamnet. Like my mom told I should stop reading it cause it was affecting me too much and I told her "I can't it's too beautiful"
17:30 Thank you for your big virtual hug, Jack! I’m sending a warm hug back and wishing you a Happy December to you and your loved ones.
I love this structure with the quotes preceding each book you discuss, it’s lovely
A Man Called Ove is such an amazing book. Fredrik Backman is definitely one of my favourite authors of all time, would definitely recommend his other books as well.
Same! I've read all of them. His 'The Winners' is the only book that has ever made me cry.
I love sad/crying books but not only did I not cry I found the book cheesy, such cliche, a grumpy old man who cares about his neighbour. Would definitely not recommend it and would never read any of his other books
@@BokObsessed Ok, ok, hear me out...
Ove is cheesy. Absolutely. Personally, I find it lovely, poetic, and beautiful as well, but if you don't, that is fine. But don't dismiss all of his books. If you want a more hard hitting book, read Beartown. Horribly tragic and depressingly realistic.
I cried while reading both 'Ove' and 'My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry.' He's really great at writing sad things.
I lost my boyfriend of 5 years 3 months ago and loved “Notes on Grief”… thanks for the recommendation. It was quite therapeutic to read someone else’s similar experience with grief.
Sending you lots of hugs and good energy💓
You started quoting Ocean Vuong and I started screaming like a fangirl, god I love that man
my favorite book genre is “emotionally destroying”
thank you for this!!! much needed!!:)
Do you have any title recommendations? Thanks😊
i always can trust your recommendation coz i am sucker for sad books too. like my friends call me crazy for getting sad myself through books but i love how every diff story makes me feel and go through trauma and i think if somehow that happens to me in real life
i can face it better
my partner has never been able to grasp that sad books/movies/songs make me feel peaceful, i don't know what it is about them but i'm so glad there are other people out there who feel the same
I cannot thank you enough for making this video. Grief can be incredibly lonely, I can see how these books will ease that loneliness for so many people, myself included. ❤
I read The Song of Achilles in March. I still think about it everyday.
I even bought a pretty english edition to read it again, dedicated a whole pinterest board and im reading the illiad from homer to have the whole backstory (not sucessful, im 300 pages in and Achilles was there for like 20 pages and Patroclus mentioned only 2 times ahah)
Well to my knowledge achilles Is the main focus after a certain point so heres hoping
I also read the book in March, finished in one day and my mum had to come comfort me after i was done lol
I didn’t know any of the background but when i mentioned to my mum what i was reading she started crying and she hasn’t read the book, I thought i wouldn’t cry but then the last like 50 pages demolished me
I relate to this. I knew it was going to be sad when I read it in August, but I didn't know that Madeline Miller was going to make me physically feel Achilles's grief. I'm still not okay.
The sentence " I'd sell my soul to read this book for the first time again" was composed for "The Song Of Achilles" only
Stick with the Iliad because Achilles' grief is really beautifully done!
i'm about to finish a little life. it's literally taken me all year to read it, i've had to read it in small sections since january. as someone who dealt with similar issues as jude (though not caused by the same things, thankfully), it's been a genuinely cathartic read, as i'm in a better place now. people saying the book is unrealistic or trauma porn have no idea what it's like to live with a traumatised brain, where nothing makes sense and your logic is warped. it's a beautifully written book, it's painful to read because it's so vivid.
I agree! I haven’t had the experience, thankfully, but I know it happens to so many. So to write it off as ‘trauma porn’ is so dismissive. Hanya also stated that she wanted to write a character that does not get better. Which will be the reality, sadly, for so many. People seemed to want it to finish all tied up in a neat little bow!
I read "A Man called Ove" today after your recommendation Jack, and i SWEAR i have NEVER cried over a book before, but I absolutely sobbed with this one. Beautiful, beautiful book touches your soul in the best way possible. 10000/10 recommend!!!
@enhaenhahyphen22 what is it about, And how it ends a good ending or bad
Notes on grief happened to be released where I live, exactly after my dad passed away. I was already under pills so I didn't cry a lot, but it made a lot of sense to me and helped me understand my feelings and know a better way to describe them. I related to the part when she says it was a terrible moment, with the pandemic all felt rushed and less honorable....it happened to us too. And the way she says it is hard to describe and talk about your dad in past sense, felt and still feels awful.
i just finished "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" and GASPED when i saw the quote. loved that book so much
Oh my god. I could keep listening to you talk about books forever. I can't wait to read these now!!
We're in for the long haul... 😉
i rarely cry, but “on earth we’re briefly gorgeous” pierced right through me. my mother is also illiterate, so reading it felt like i was confiding in a friend.
I shop at the same market, the sorrow market. I don't know why I do this to myself, but I love reading books that make me cry, they hit my soul so hard.
radio silence and solitaire, hands down some of the best books I’ve ever read, and the most sad that made me cry at 2am
Is Radio silence worth it ? It caught my eyes but Idk what it is about .
@@erenkasa7882 so so worth it! anything alice oseman writes is beautiful but radio silence will forever keep a special place in my heart. i highly recommend!
@@milya1926 can u give a small insight of what the book is about ?
@@erenkasa7882 it’s about a girl called Frances who is very much the perfect student and has dedicated her life to her studies in school, the one thing she’s passionate about besides school is a podcast called radio silence. then she makes friends with aled and she starts to kinda discover like true friendship and starts to be herself AND VERY IMPORTANT BTW there might be a few trigger warnings, maybe take a look at them, I can’t rlly remember :) (I’m shit at explaining books so don’t take this too seriously)
@@estesafriendofmine8277 hahaha no that's good thank u I will search more about it and see if it's something that I will enjoy , thank u !
I love how Jack said this season makes him want to read sad books, because I just picked out A Little Life from my shelf today thinking the same!
Since books on grief seem to be your jam, I highly recommend "Someday, Maybe" by Onyi Nwabineli. It is a debut novel about a woman who loses her husband to suicide. It speaks not only about the death of a partner but the guilt of not knowing he wasn't okay. The narrator grapples with grief, guilt, and anger toward her situation and her partner for leaving. It won't make you cry, but it will make you think. The prose has this unique musicality to it without even trying. It's a wonderful read!
‘Tis the season to be jolly more like ‘tis the season for melancholy
I remember feel so utterly immersed while reading Shiggie Bain. It was like the grey Scottish scenery and Shuggie's inner world was all around me the whole time. It was absolutely exquisite in that sense. And it did made me cry a few times.
Yeah, you can really feel the grit and grime while reading it
Me too! It was one of a few books where I finished it and truly felt so mentally sad afterwards, that’s how much it hit me.
Towards the end of A little Life I broke down and had to leave my house and get away for a few hours. Its my favorite book and its not even the genre I usually read. I also loved Shuggie Bain and heard the authors favorite book is also A Little Life. I cannot wait to read Young Mungo!
A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
That book floored me and tore me to shreds as I read it twice post devastating breakup. It’s real and it’s beautiful
After this awesome video, I need one "books which made you laugh out loud", that would be great 🙂
You literally wrote my favourite line from "man called ove". God that man was precious as a husband and human being. Why he has to suffer so much like that man never had a break in his life, it's like one bad thing after the other. The second character i adored the most was his father. God what a man he was "we are not the people who tell tales about what others do" was one of the best line of his💓
Ps- my heart melted during the scenes were he first met his wife they were so sweet couples and i adored his wife(she really was the colour of his life)💞
a man called ove made me cry like 30 pages in!!😭😭beautiful
I’m currently reading A Little Life and now I’m afraid of what to come…. But also excited to see what happens.
I don't know if you've read "My Sweet Orange Tree". It was so sweet and painful at the same time. I literally bawled while reading this book.
random but i'm having a pretty terrible year, bedbound from long term illness and super isolated. all i do every day is read books and write poetry and play guitar when i can sit. i try to avoid my laptop and youtube and i always want to be doing productive, 'meaningful' stuff and not just staring at entertainment, but yours is the one channel i just allow myself to watch bc your content makes me so happy lol. so thank you for giving me something to look forward to and smile at.
I'll never forgive you for rating "Giovanni's room" 5 stars on Goodreads therefore FORCING me to read it 😭 I was crying and sobbing and everything
One of the best books in my life!
This might be your best video yet. Cried while watching this. Thank you for taking to us.
12:20 I literally heard that quote and I got shivers! I am going to read this book the minute I can get my hands on it
Love the amount you're uploading. Having so much fun. If you ever take a break which u obviously will, gonna miss you a lot.
Last book that broke my heart was a graphic novel called "Le petit frère" (The little brother) by JeanLouis Tripp, in which he explores the grief of losing his little brother in a car accident about 30 (?) years prior. I had to stop reading to cry my eyes out 5 separate times but it was an incredible read.
Me after reading Song of Achilles: 👁️👄👁️
I’m ready to be hurt again
I felt so connected to notes on grief, as a woman who also lost her dad it was like feeling understood
A thousand splendid suns had me sobbing. I think about that book at least a few times a week. Everyone should read it
Song of Achilles took me down so hard, favorite book I read this year
wow...I finally found someone with such relatable love for sad books. Sad books really give me a sense of satisfaction and hope.
I remember coming home from school, finishing song of Achilles while walking up to my room, and just lying on the stairs crying for three hours not being able to move. It should have a medical warning attached.
A book that broke me was 'No Longer Human' by Osamu Dazai. I wasn't like sobbing but it was devastating to see a man so detached from the world that he is unable to feel the tangiblity of love and warmth. He only sees it from afar as something abstract. Every possibly happy moment he spent, his thoughts were bleak and he at some point during the end of the book, stopped considering himself as human. But the last chapter really broke me. After the the protagonist died, thinking he was hated by everyone, the last description of him was that that he was an angel. Just a good read overall.
a little life has destroyed my heart for months on ends. time to do it again…
At the age of 51, I could write an extensive list, but a quick five older reads off the top of my head right now are The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, The Pact by Jodi Picoult, Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen PreJean, Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
Also, I completely resonate with your camaraderie with melancholic pieces of art. If I know something’s sad, I’d love to binge onto that. I love Lana Del Rey, my fav books are pinnacle of sad literature, and i still haven’t recovered from A Little Life and yet I plan to re read it soon !!
Lana del Rey!!! absolute taste
A monster calls made me cry into my pillows. That book gave me a such a nuanced perspective on grief and going through life with a slow burning pain.
no because i immediately recognized the quote from A Little Life before you finished the first word. i freaking teared up lmao that book is a part of me i swear
Jack, you definitely need to read 'boys don't cry' by fiona scarlett. I've read some of the books you mentioned and they broke my heart...shattered it really, but I'm not one that cries easily. But her book just made me cry until I had no more tears left. Still recovering, such a fricking good book
a book that made me sob in public was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It's an amazing book about grief and family and aaaaaaa it DESTROYED me
A Monster Calls, a book that broke me without mercy.
Sometimes I still cry when I think of A Little Life.
Freaking loved it.
hated it so much
I think you might enjoy 'Where reasons end' by Yiyun Li. It's a dialogue by a mother with her son who she lost to s*icide. Her writing is simultaneously funny and sad.
possibly the most i've ever cried reading a book was when i read "a monster calls" (owchie my heart)
Same, I was on the corner between my bed and the wall, curled up, hugging the book and a pillow, and then my brother, who recommended me the book, walked outside my room and saw me there sobbing, and laughed at the scene.
He didn't read it, he just happened to see someone recommend it and then said, you should read it.
No longer human by Osamu Dazai made me come very close to crying. I don’t cry much (not from macho masculine culture or anything I just struggle with it) but that book instead changed my whole life view about how others perceive me and how important I am to others around me. It left a positive impact that I think about almost daily while being a little upset reading the thing
Anna Karenina was my favorite classic of all time….have read it twice….was a tearjerker big time for me! And it stays on my mind! Love all your suggestions….this video made me subscribe….😅headed to Amazon now
A Little Life BROKE me. You dont understand until you have read it. Which you should.
So many new uploads back to back, we're being spoiled jackkk 🥺❤
This is obviously what i needed today because why not, we love a good book that makes us cry!
I don’t cry often when I read, but Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb is one of the few that broke me. It’s about a couple of childhood friends (turned lovers) who bond over letters while he’s serving in the army during World War I. The ending is so bittersweet, I just broke. And I even reread it, knowing what was coming…and still broke down crying.
Thanks for the recommendation. I have added it to my TBR list for 2023.
Talking about sad books I'll recommend one called "Almond" by Sohn Won-pyung. It's about a boy who can't feel emotions living with his mother and grandmother and how one tragic event shapes his life further.
I wish I read Notes On Grief years ago, and still it felt so important for me today. Thanks Chimamanda
young mungo made me sob so violently that i had to read the last few pages multiple times because i was too busy crying to take anything in. felt physically sick with worry for those characters. so have fun with that x
It's taking me a while to get into it! Might it be the Scottish slang? I need to push through because I heard fantastic things about it! ☺
I LOVE sad books, and songs and movies and sad everything.
I'm also having a weird emotional day today. Your timing is always spot on. (AND I've also been thinking about getting into poetry cause it scares me but it's time to adult).
A Little Life destroyed me. I cared so much for each of those characters and Hanya said "the fuck you do".
The fact that you referenced a Trinidadian poet makes me want to cry alone😭
It feels good to know that I am not the only person psychotic enough to love sad books and movies.
Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Kite runner, The Fault in Our Stars, and All The Bright Places made me cry for hours.
i was so surprised to hear you recommend brother by david chariandy! not because it's not worthy of recommendation (it definitely is) but because as a canadian it feels like besides margaret atwood canadian literature gets forgotten so much of the time. we have some real gems!
Books and poems that make me cry? I'm ready to take notes.
A little life is the most depressing book I have ever read. Truly broke me.
CAN WE PLEASE GET A HOLD OF THIS JACKS BOOK REVIEW WEBSITE, IM DYING FOR IT
Read Hamnet when I went to Stratford in the summer, I never cry at books but that one made me shed a tear. Absolutely charming writing.
Just literally 10 minutes ago i had "a little life" in my hand.
I just love this book so much, it's my 3rd tym reading this since last year.
I was literally waiting for this video lol, love how you are always uploading quickly ! (In Jack and the books) 💖🌸
I read Talk to Me by T C Boyle and although I knew from the beginning how it has to end, I cried for over an hour in the middle of the night, till I fell asleep.
Whenever I’m in a reading slump I watch your videos and feel so inspired. Thank you.
You impress me with your insight, compassion, and passion. Keep up the great work!
I am on JE binge again... Jack if you turn your videos into Podcasts.. just know they would be devoured instantly by so many of us!
Out of the books you've mentioned I've only read on earth we're briefly gorgeous and boy my pillow was SOAKED with this one
I always trust jack's recommendations so if he says these books are great u bet I'm gonna read them
Jack, your vulnerability is your strength!
I cried like 10 times reading We Are Not Like Them by Christine Pride and Jo Piazza. I have it in one of my top favorites from this year. So good.
o man the intro like i love the sad media soooo much finally someone whom feels the same
I permanently damaged the screen of my kindle with the tears from Song of Achilles lol
Uh-oh, I hope you have the waterproof version! 🤣
I love the way you express yourself
What's wild about song of Achilles is that we know how it ends. We continue to read anyways. Most definitely self inflicted suffering.
Over a year ago, I lost my very best friend to an unexpected tragic and sadly violent death. Not only did I lose my confidant, my partner in crime, and my future as I expected it, sadly, it set me apart from the rest of the world...forever.
Eliza’s quote is exactly what I saw when my Dad died, he looked surprised that his life was ending, and then he was gone. I think he thought he’d live forever, so was shocked when he didn’t.