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When I read books that I really connect to, I feel so strongly about the characters that I get to know. I have even cried reading books before. I think that we do make strong emotional connections to books, but I was wondering if other people feel the same way as me.

Of course! It depends on the book first though. If I really like it, I also become attached to the characters and feel for them. I become invested in them and the story. There have been times when I'd have to put a book down and just let the feelings sink in. One book actually left me depressed for three days straight because of its unhappy ending (because I was so into the characters and rooting for them)!

I do. Especially biography books. I think most of them are heart wrenching ones and you can't help feeling emotional. I don't know if its the same with others but when I'm reading, I don't hear anything except my thoughts and I absorb what I read. I feel what the author feels because I'm concentrated with their works.

I love reading books that I can connect to that's where the emotion comes into it. That's the best part of reading a book, bonding with the characters

I cried a lot while reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. And pregnancy hormones refused to let me get past the first three pages of The Lovely Bones.

Emotions and feelings are the common thread which all humanity can relate and understand regardless of their background. A book that does not stimulate your emotions is one that doesn't get finished.

Yes that's what the beauty of books is all about. Connecting, feeling and believing. Without these things it's not a very good book

Yes, sometimes I want to scream at the characters and other times I laugh and cry with them. The best books normally evoke emotion. The bad ones don't in my opinion.

-- 20 Feb 2014, 04:56 --

Yes, sometimes I want to scream at the characters and other times I laugh and cry with them. The best books normally evoke emotion. The bad ones don't in my opinion.

Definitely. When I read I really jump into the book. I feel strong connections to the characters and sometimes the way the book turns is how I end up feeling. If something exciting happens I get excited, if something upsetting happens I get sad.. I too have cried from books before too. Actually I have cried more from books that I ever have from movies. I feel more connected when I read than when I watch things.

Never fear! You are not alone!

I would have to say yes. If it is a good book that I become engrossed in, sometimes I can't put it down and all I can think about is what is going to happen next.

Now I don't know about crying because of a book, but one instance of what happened to me comes immediately to mind. I was reading Ted Dekkers "Circle" series (a very involved story of good and evil), and I had read late into the night. In the middle of the night my telephone rang, which is not at all uncommon since I work for a funeral home. Luckily, my wife answered the phone and began speaking with the person on the other end of the line as she tried to rouse me from sleep. I am an especially hard sleeper sometimes. I woke up, but was convinced that I was in this parallel universe that Dekker wrote about in his books. It was a full two minutes before I finally came to myself, realized where I was and what was going on, and was able to coherently talk to the hospice nurse on the phone. All I could say was thank goodness for my wife's intervention!

Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. She's the smell of certain foods you remember, flowers you pick, the fragrance of life itself. She's the cool hand on your brow when you're not feeling well. She's your breath in the air on a cold winter's day. She is the sound of rain that lulls you to sleep, the colors of the rainbow. She is Christmas morning. Your Mother lives inside your laughter. She is the place you came from, your first home and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love, your first friend, even your first enemy, but nothing on earth can separate you, not time, not space.....not even death. Unknown

Reading this the other night had me bawling like a baby, our past experiences, our past losses...reading can bring it all out there...in a good way, sometimes it let's us make peace with our demons kinda, sorta, in a way...

michael_smith wrote: I was reading Ted Dekkers "Circle" series (a very involved story of good and evil), and I had read late into the night. In the middle of the night my telephone rang, which is not at all uncommon since I work for a funeral home. Luckily, my wife answered the phone and began speaking with the person on the other end of the line as she tried to rouse me from sleep. I am an especially hard sleeper sometimes. I woke up, but was convinced that I was in this parallel universe that Dekker wrote about in his books. It was a full two minutes before I finally came to myself, realized where I was and what was going on, and was able to coherently talk to the hospice nurse on the phone. All I could say was thank goodness for my wife's intervention!

Ha ha! Michael, thank you for sharing this delightful story! It really made me smile! I have never had an identical experience, but I know of two similar ones. One, my hubby and I were in Asia at the time, and we went to see The Matrix: Reloaded. If you've ever seen it, you know it's a very complex, kind of disorienting movie, and the characters move through this labyrinthine building whose doors open into other worlds. Well, when we came out of the movie, it was late at night, and there we were in this deserted mall in Asia that was constructed of several similar-looking towers. We felt like we were truly back in The Matrix, and it took us a while to find the way out.

Even more interestingly, a friend of mine was once sitting and reflecting on whether there might be a primal language that everyone started out speaking. As she was thinking deeply about this, her brother came up and spoke to her (in English). She did not understand him, and said, "What?", but he did not understand her. She was speaking something else. She had to realize what was going on, and kind of "switch" herself back to English.

If a book manages to bring out strong emotions in me, then it is a good book for me

If I feel emotionally connected to the book, then yes. Or, if I have had a shared experience with a character in a book, then that will bring out emotions from my own personal experience and funnel them into the text I am reading.

The sign of a good author is one that makes you feel part of the story, where you connect with the people and the story or people illicit stirring emotions from you. Those are the books I prefer.