6.14.2011

Favorite Awww Moments in Books


Favorite awww moments in books: the best of the bittersweet moments in literature. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and he Bookish. *Warning: contains some serious spoilers*

1. When Henry walks into Clare's room after she has grown old waiting for him to return in Audry Niffennegger's The Time Traveler's Wife

2. When the birds fly by Mr. Blacks window right after he fixes his hearing aid and Oscar narrates, "We looked at each other. Then out of nowhere, a flock of birds flew by the window, extremely fast and incredibly close. Maybe twenty of them. Maybe more. But they also seemed like just one bird, because somehow they all knew…" via Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

3. When Gogol goes back to the hat store and buys the velvet hat for Moushumi - "He would give it to her on her birthday, in spite of the fact that he had no idea when her birthday is." - in Jumpa Lahiri's The Namesake.

4. When Newland Archer walks away from Ellen's apartment in Paris in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.

5. When Toru tells Naoko "I have a million things to talk to you about. All I want in this world is you. I want to see you and talk. I want the two of us to begin everything from the beginning." in Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood

6. From Neil Gaimen's American Gods: "'Love you, babes,' said Shadow. 'Love you, puppy,' said Laura. Shadow put down the phone. When they got married Laura told Shadow that she wanted a puppy, but their landlord had pointed out they weren’t allowed pets under the terms of their lease. 'Hey,' Shadow had said, 'I’ll be your puppy. What do you want me to do? Chew your slippers? Piss on the kitchen floor? Lick your nose? Sniff your crotch? I bet there’s nothing a puppy can do I can’t do!' And he picked her up as if she weighed nothing at all and began to lick her nose while she giggled and shrieked, and then he carried her to the bed." <3

7. When Alma finally meets Leo Gursky in Nicole Krauss' The History of Love

8. When Charlie Bucket unwraps the golden ticket and runs home in Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

9. When Christopher finds his mother's letters in Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

10. When Rosie kills August in Sarah Gruen's Water for Elephants

12 comments:

  1. I loved The Age of Innocence, that was a great moment!

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  2. Charlie is so happy when he gets the ticket, right? That is really an aww moment, except for that creepy man who offers to buy it or something!!
    Love the one from American Gods. Love that book, actually! Even the one from the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time!

    http://peskypiksipesternomi.blogspot.com/2011/06/top-ten-harry-potter-aww-moments_14.html

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  3. Bonus points for including The Time Travelers Wife (my all time favourite book).

    I would also add many of the quotes from 'One Day' by David Nicholls. "And then some days you wake up and everything's perfect"

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  4. It's amazing, you've seriously listed 9 of my favorite literary moments. I got goosebumps reading some of them because I love those books so much. I haven't read Norwegian Wood yet, but clearly I need to immediately.

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  5. Anne, At first I was angry with his decision, and then I got it and thought it was an amazing moment.

    Priya, The one from Curious Incident is actually just really sad, not quite bittersweet, but I thought it fit nicely on the list.

    Daniel, TTW is one of my all-time favorites too! I thought about including something from One Day (maybe when she gets hit by the bike after Hector finally gets it) but I didn't. Major spoiler.

    Melissa, Awe we are literary moment soul mates :) And yes, I highly recommend Norwegian Wood!

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  6. Ah, I love the moment when Charlie finds the golden ticket. It's great in the films too!

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  7. I forgot about little Charlie...what a moment that was!!
    How could I possibly forget Rosie killing August?? I wanted to do it myself!

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  8. Tiny Library, I know it's a great one. I'm always so happy for him since he's the underdog.

    Peppermint, I wanted to too! Stupid August.

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  9. "When Henry walks into Clare's room after she has grown old waiting for him to return in Audry Niffennegger's The Time Traveler's Wife"

    Would have definitely made my list too.

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  10. Charlie, It's just so romantic and incredibly sad all at once. I wasn't happy when that scene didn't make the movie.

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  11. Love this list! Though I haven't read all of these, I can definitely appreciate the moments listed from The History of Love and Norwegian Wood - two of my very favorite novels!

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  12. GREAT choices! I'm especially fond of The Time Traveler's Wife and Norwegian Wood!

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