Here’s our take: every now and then, a good cry is healthy. And we’re not the only ones who think so! Book fans have been taking to TikTok to share their favorite #BooksToCryTo. We’ve compiled a list of audios that have been topping booktoker’s lists and breaking their hearts (in the best way). Grab your tissues and your emotional support sweatshirt, because it’s time to turn on the waterworks.
A modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist, and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Listen to it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just lie.
Natasha is a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. Daniel has always been the good son, the good student. Never the poet. But when he sees Natasha makes him think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store.
Theodore Finch constantly thinks of ways he might die. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town. When Finch and Violet meet, it’s unclear who saves whom. It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself, and it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them.
An Audie award winner. World War II is drawing to a close and refugees are on a trek toward freedom. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as everyone aboard must fight for the same thing: survival.
The circus arrives without warning. Behind the scenes two young magicians, Celia and Marco, prepare for a duel. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love. And true love or not, the game must play out.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known.
An ALSC Notable Children’s Recording. It is 1939. Nazi Germany. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still. Liesel Meminger, no stranger to stealing, encounters something she can’t resist: books. In one of the most enduring stories of our time, Liesel learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.