What makes you cry?

I’m struggling to get through the book I’m reading so I decided to take a break and read something else. Bit of a mistake because I went from a book where I couldn’t really get behind any of the characters to something where I really could, and nearly ended up in tears. Which got me thinking about books that make me cry – and having thought about it for a while I concluded that there aren’t many that have achieved that. Books that have achieved this are The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (his new book Bridge of Clay is out later this year!) and also Selected Letters of Charlotte Bronte by Margaret Smith. The latter because after reading it for so long I felt that I had come to know Charlotte Bronte a little bit through her letters, so I was genuinely distressed when the last letter was from her husband to a friend to say that she had died. So when my housemate asked why I was crying I had to confess that it was because Charlotte Bronte was dead. It was a weird moment but we got through it.

Anyway what books have made you cry and why? Or have any brought you to tears because they are so bad?