Books — Looking for What to Read in 2022?

On Facebook, I asked My Group to ‘Name a Book That Made You Cry Ugly’

I Received More than 337 Replies in Seven Hours. Here’s the List

Before I was writing and publishing on Medium, I was a happy-go-lucky fella, just reading my books and commenting on all the books I’ve read and finding new books to read from other group members. We have a wonderful group on Facebook named Book Recommendations.

Don’t you like my little avatar?

Initially, I was going to create selection criteria, pick a book recommended by the group, write the review, and publish it here. But now, it looks like I need to move in a different direction.

I love that readers and writers are eternally connected by our favorite craft and our favorite pastime — reading and writing. So why would I make the selection for millions (or at least 31,000) readers to read from my selection and review when I can share with you what this massive Facebook reading audience says are the books that fit this bill?

I wanted to select a book that was going to move me. I write my best reviews for books that stir my soul. I think Shane Stevens’ book, By Reason of Insanity, is a book that still stirs my soul — and I read it maybe 40 years ago. Just saying the name of the book still makes me look over my shoulder.

Here’s a little story that really creeped me out. I was having an email conversation on GoodReads.com with other readers about the best book we ever read. (Wouldn’t you know, I can’t find my review). But I remember describing By Reason of Insanity and that I read it before I was a reader. I didn’t remember how I came across the book or why I even read it. But it locked me within its grips, and I couldn’t put it down. This book was first released in 1979, so since today is one week shy of 2022, we might as well call it 43 years later. Clearly, it depends on what you like as a reader, but I digress.

Anyway, we finished our discussion and now, I am off to other things. I decide to look for a book for a different discussion and if you can recall the music from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho (Google murder in the bathroom scene and go to 0:01:40 while you read this section). As I am looking for books, and this still creeps me out, I find By Reason of Insanity sitting right on the very bottom of my bookshelf. I hadn’t seen this book in YEARS. I did NOT know I still had a copy. Where did it come from? It literally scared the crap out of me. I had to pick it up. Hold it. It was really creepy. Anyway, I still have a copy.

But our discussion, ladies and gentlemen, isn’t about the scary or the creepy. It’s about a deep, emotional connection with the material you will read, should you decide to read one of these books.

I asked my group members to recommend a book that made them cry ugly and then after they had walked away and thought about it again, maybe even days later, that same book made them cry again. Here’s what they recommended to me:

Recommended Books That Will Make You Cry Ugly

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, A Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole, The Secrets We Keep by Kate Hewitt, Watership Down by Richard Adams, Know My Name by Chanel Miller, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, Flowers for Algernon by David Keyes, Sophie’s Choice by William Styron, Bambi by Felix Salten or Bob Grant, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan, We Were the Morris Orphans: 4 Brothers, 5 Sisters and Me by Kathi Morris, A Little Life by Kanya Yanagihara, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, Untamed, Chasing Butterflies by Nicole Thorne, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, The House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas (audiobook), A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron, Shtum by Jem Lester, Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, The Horse Dancer by JoJo Moyes, Me Before You by JoJo Moyes, The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt, Beautiful Boy by David Scheff, A Fault in Our Stars by John Green, Bruiser by Neal Shusterman, Merle’s Door by Ted Kerasote, When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo, We Were There Too by Phillip Hoose, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah, The Green Mile by Stephen King, The End Of Us by Kennedy Fox, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, All The Rage by Courtney Summers, Home Front by Kristin Hannah, The Wave by Virginia Woolf.

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, November 9 by Colleen Hoover, Biography of Sarah by Murray Huff, We’re Ok by Nina Lacour, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Fort Rules of Love by Marry Allen, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, And The Little One Said by Lizzie Scott, The Four Winds Kristin Hannah, The Last Letter by Rebecca Yarros, Night by Elie Wiesel, The Great Alone Kristin Hannah, Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir by Paul Monette, Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseni, Billy Bayswater by Nigel Watts.

Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan, American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins, Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt, What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson, Moloka’i by Alan Brennert, The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel, A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer, Tara Road by Maeve Binchy, Always You by Belle Brooks, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, The Orphan Train by Aurand Harris, Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, No Matter The Price by Daniel Pare, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, Still Alice by Lisa Genova, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson, Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, We Begin at the End by Chris Whittaker, The Pebble Jar by H.A. Robinson, Too Good Girl by Eleanor Lloyd-Jones, Stay Awake Agatha by Bambi Emanuel M. Apdian, The Day You Said Goodbye by Reginald Stowe.

He’s Into Her by Maxinejiji, The Ten Year Gap by Clare Breton-Smith, Full Tilt by Emma Scott, God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie BeDartolo, The Shack by William Paul Young, Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch, Fault Lines by Anne Rivers Siddens, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks, We Own The Sky by Luke Allnutt, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Unvanquished Spirit by E V Weaver, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera, One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin, Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks, Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, A Wish for Us by Tillie Cole, It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, Old Yeller by Fred Gipson, Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, Wringer by Jerry Spinelli, One Among Us by Paige Dearth, Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt, Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton, Paula by Isabel Allende, Watchers by Dean Koontz, Mockingjay by Susan Collins, Greyfriars Bobby by Eleanor Atkinson, Fifty Words For Rain by Asha Lemmie, Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz, Hannah’s Gift by Maria Housden, Saving Noah by Lucinda Berry, A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper, The Dark Sun Rises by Denise Williamson or by Dhriuv Seth, and Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan.

Conclusion

Books that are in bold and italic have been mentioned multiple times. Some books were removed because the author’s name was not listed or too many other same-titled books by different authors made it impossible to know which was the correct book. A lot of books did not make it to the list because I had to stop accepting submissions. At the final count, there were more than 500 responses and recommendations. If you would like to search through the entire recommendation list, please visit our Facebook Group type in the search box Book Recommendations. Answer the basic questions and you’ll be approved. Once in, search on my name to find this post.

About the Author

Julius Evans has a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, RI; a Master of Arts degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ; a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from City University, Bellevue, WA, and an Associate of Arts Degree in Liberal Studies from Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas. He is a 1985 graduate of the Defense Information School (DINFOS) of Print and Electronic Journalism and Advanced Public Affairs. DINFOS was relocated from Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, IN, to its current location at Fort George Meade, MD.

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