Following up this thread from 2002:
What is the greatest, most memorable story that you’ve read? As @Cubsfan set it out then:
If you know of other threads that touch on this, please link them.
The Lord of the Rings by Professor Tolkien. The foundation of the Fantasy Genre.
Here the ultimate hero is one of the small folk, he didn’t win by feats of magic or sword, but by perseverance and forgiveness. If he hadn’t been kind to Gollum, he would have failed in the end.
Meanwhile we had the heroics of Aragorn and Gandalf. We had the march of the Ents, the last ride of Theoden and so much more.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. We’ve got early AI, magnetic accelerated catapults for space launches, Revolution, spy stuff, political stuff, etc.
LOTR is up there, for sure, but I have to go with the Lonesome Dove series of books: Dead Man’s Walk, Comanche Moon, Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo.
Cien años de soledad / One hundred years of solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez.
This. I just started re-listening to the audio book of Lonesome Dove for a few minutes before I go to sleep. It never gets old and the quality of the original extends into all of the series. I especially love Dead Man’s Walk and the character of Bigfoot Wallace.
Maus by Art Spiegelman, which is a graphic novel about the author’s parents’ experience of the Holocaust. I don’t even know what else to say about that. It won a special Pulitzer.
I remember when I finished reading it at about 3am I started weeping piteously, and it woke up my husband, who said, “What is it, what’s the matter?” I said, “Maus.” And he was like, “Oh. Yeah. I know.” And we embraced.
And not to beat a dead horse, but The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold, which I honestly must describe as one of the best experiences of my life.
I took note of the Vorkosigan Saga in the series thread and plan on reading it, if I can figure out which starting recommendation is best!
I started with Shards of Honor and just read it chronologically. I actually think Bujold’s advice is the best there. You want to get all the backstory to really appreciate Miles’ journey.
The Egg by Sherwood Anderson. Between the long-winded massive tragedy of Theodore Dreiser and the heroic ideal of Hemingway’s doomed protagonists, a tidy little story that’s entirely relatable and timeless, on the theme of failure.
Cry the Beloved Country followed by Grapes of Wrath. When I finished Grapes of Wrath I took a weeks vacation and drove to Sallisaw OK. The whole place is owned by the Rockefeller family.
One my fave/most memorable was The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The only time I can think of when a plot twist really hit me totally off-guard.
It’s the right time of year to read A Christmas Memory A Christmas Memory – Truman Capote – “It’s Fruitcake Weather!” - MyLinh Shattan
Since you enjoyed The Grapes of Wrath, may I recommend Out of the Dust? It’s a YA book, but I think you will find it moving.
Definitely Lord of the Rings. I read it in high school, and it largely shaped my aesthetics and philosophical outlook on life for years. I don’t know who I would be if I hadn’t read it.
Just off the top of my head:
Short Story: Either The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C,. Clarke or “The Guy with the Eyes” by Spider Robinson. They’ll stick with you.
Novel: The Martian by Andy Weir. I simply cannot pick it up without reading (and enjoying) it again.
History: Berlin Diary by William Shirer.
Series: 1632 (Ring of Fire) by Eric Flint. He’s now deceased so I’ll never know how the epic story he told me will end up.
Comic (short): The combined Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes collaboration. There were a few one-off’s but this is a multi-panel (but still pretty short) story that will bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.
Comic (Long): Digger, a webcomic that was suggested to me, I started it and spent most of a day and much of a night reading it from start to finish…and never regretted a second of it. Remember Tunnel 17!
Comic (Epic): Schlock Mercenary, I have all 16 published books now and am eagerly awaiting #17 (and will get 18,19, and 20 once they are available. Simply the best daily strip I’ve ever read, either in the papers or on-line, in my life.
Of course, by tomorrow I may have a new list…
Taking “story” to mean a narrative tale (characters, dialogue, events), whether fiction or nonfiction; taking “greatest, most memorable” to mean “to me, with impact, tendency to reread and treasure”…
Here’s an eclectic mix including many that hit me powerfully as a child reader:
Anne Holm, North to Freedom
Marilyn French, The Women’s Room
Jennifer Donnelly, The Tea Rose
Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent
Otfried Preussler, The Satanic Mill
Alan E. Nourse, The Universe Between
Alexander Key, The Forgotten Door
Eleanor Clymer, Search for a Living Fossil
Mickie Davidson, Helen Keller’s Teacher
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues
Yeah that too
I read the Hobbit and the trilogy a long time ago. I remember liking the books, but nowhere near the extent I often see posted. I guess I should take another look.
It took three tries before Lonesome Dove finally worked for me. I’m so glad I stuck it out. It’s wonderful.
I enjoyed the early Jean Auel, Clan of the Cave Bear books. I read them two or three times back in the olden days.
To Kill a Mockingbird.
Space by James Michener really opened my uneducated eyes to uhm, space.
Seconded. We were assigned to read this novel in a high school AP English class and I dreaded it. I thought it was going to be a horrible slog to read, but I absolutely loved it. It opened me up to the radical idea that ‘Classic Literature’ could actually be enjoyable to read, and led me to devour not only most of Steinbeck’s oeuvre, but also the work of many other great authors like Dostoevsky. I did find some authors’ work to be tough to get through, like James Joyce or William Faulkner. But for the most part I discovered that ‘important’ and ‘enjoyable to read’ are not mutually exclusive qualities of classic literature.
In ‘modern’ times, meaning, say, the last 10 years or so, I think the most memorable, enjoyable story I’ve read was ‘American Gods’ by Neil Gaiman. Fantasy or magical realism are not genres I typically enjoy, but something about that novel really resonated with me. I got immersed into the novel’s world, and remember wishing it wouldn’t end; and being sad when it did.