Top Ten Books that Broke My Heart a Little

I have a confession -- since high school, most of my Valentine's days have been good. Even when I didn't have a boyfriend to spend it with, I would usually find some friends to go out to dinner with and get in a good chick flick afterward. So I've never really bought into the Valentine's day hate -- I like love, so why not celebrate it, if not with a lovER, than with another person you love, like a friend or a sister? But anyway -- despite the fact that I like Valentine's Day (because not only do we celebrate love -- we get candy, too), I think this is a fun and creative prompt for Valentine's day. Anyway, on to the list. {Thanks, Broke and Bookish, for hosting}

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak -- I can't possibly tell you all of the reasons without spoiling, but think about it -- Nazi Germany, narrated by Death.

2. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett -- It took me a while to become invested in this book, but by the end I was so miserably intertwined with the characters that it killed me to see everything come crashing down around them.

3. The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman -- I think this book completely shaped my ideas of romance. When I was in the 9th grade and got my first ever rose (on Valentine's day, as it so happened), I remember putting petals on all of the pages of this book that I loved. (Yup, I was a cheeseball. Nothing much has changed).

4. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly -- This book is raw and emotional and moving. Read it now.

5. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta -- This book was so unique and emotionally charged.

6. Delirium by Lauren Oliver -- I really wish everyone out in the blogosphere had read this book so I could rant about the ending in all capital letters. I just couldn't believe it! Fortunately, Pandemonium comes out soon, so hopefully I can have some closure (although from what I hear, slim chance of that).

7. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton -- I don't think any book has ever socked me in the gut as hard as this one.

8. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton -- And while we're on the subject of Ms. Wharton... While The House of Mirth didn't have the same emotional punch as The Age of Innocence for me, it was also just achingly sad, and yet beautiful.

9. Kartography by Kamila Shamsie -- You guys. Kartography. I know that I have been pushing this book constantly on this blog, and that no one has ever heard of it or read it unless you know me personally and I shoved it down your throat. But seriously, this book covers the full range of human love -- romantic, friendship, love for parents, everything. And it doesn't gloss anything over as far as the pain that loved ones can inflict goes.

10. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens -- I know, right? Who would have thought I would ever put this book, my arch-nemesis of books, on such a list? But it is true.