Bit of a tricky question to answer because what constitutes as "real" depression? I've certainly felt sad after reading a few books, but I can't really call it depression. It was more like a sense of loss because I knew that my time with the characters were over and I wasn't quite prepared for it. This happens a lot with longer books or a series where it is easy to get attached to the characters and then you have this void when it's all over and done with. Usually it doesn't last too long as the best remedy is to pick up another book and get cracking with that one until the cycle repeats. I suppose the closest that a novel has ever gotten to making me feel depressed is The Bell Jar. It was written by Sylvia Plath and it's about a women who attempts to commit suicide after becoming depressed. The book hit me hard and it was even more of a punch to the gut when I discovered that Sylvia commited suicide herself just after the novel was published. I suppose that the story was a way for her to try and wrestle with her own inner demons and it saddens me deeply that she lost the battle.

I'm pretty prone to depression, so these books will more than likely not influence other people in the same way. I'm also getting up there in years, so younger readers will probably be more resilient than me. Nevertheless, these are the books that had me reaching for the rocky road ice-cream after I have turned the last page:

The Grapes of Wrath ~ John Steinbeck = This book was hard to read through all the tears that was constantly welling up in my eyes. It is a book that made me look at American history in a brand new way and all the things that the Joad family had to endure was almost too much for me to bear at times. The ending scene left me an emotional wreck and I was grateful that I wasn't reading the book in public because that would have been a spectacle. The Grapes of Wrath is a classic, so I presume that most people have already read it, but if not, then it is a must. Just make sure you have a lot of tissues at hand.

Les Miserables ~ Victor Hugo = I suppose everyone associates this story more with the musical, but I read the book first and it was no picnic. Even the film adaptation ended on a much more positive note than the book, but I don't want to delve into the realm of spoilers.

Just about any book about the Holocaust ~ Multiple authors = The Shoah was a terrible, terrible time in human history and my heart still bleeds for everyone who experienced it firsthand. I've read numerous books about the subject, from novels to biographies and almost all of them have broken my heart into a million pieces. The scale of the suffering and the immense loss of valuable human lives are just unimaginable. I know that a lot of books that deal with the tragedy have elements of hope and joy, but the fact that so much horror had to be endured is absolutely depressing.

Well, these are my "top" picks for most depressing books (even if that last one is a bit of a cheat I suppose.) Don't let my ramblings deter anyone from reading these books, though, as they are really good too, not just depressing!