That Tuesday I read 3 sad books back to back and ugly cried on the bus

Last month I had a weird streak where every book I picked up ended up destroying me. First was a memoir about a father with early onset dementia, then a novel about a girl who loses her twin, and then a short story collection where every single story had a dying dog. I was on the number 7 bus in Portland when the third one hit me and I just sat there with tears streaming down my face. The guy next to me handed me a tissue without saying anything, which made it worse honestly. I think the combo of all three in one day was what did it, like my heart just gave up and said fine, take everything. Has anyone else accidentally stacked emotional books like that and had a total breakdown moment? What did you do to recover? I ended up reading a silly romance novel after that just to reset.

1 comments

1 Comment

the_kim9d ago

Got a friend who did this same thing, except she read three grief-heavy books in a row while on a plane. She said she was trying not to make noise so she kept sniffling into her sleeve and the flight attendant kept walking by with this concerned look. By the third book she was full on ugly crying and the guy next to her pretended to be asleep but she could see his eyes cracked open. She landed in Chicago with puffy eyes and had to put on sunglasses even though it was cloudy. She swore off sad books for a month and went straight to a cozy mystery with a cat detective. Did the romance novel actually work for you, or did you find yourself sneaking back into the sad stuff?