# What is the greatest, most memorable, story you have ever read (Part II)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 10, 2023, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361 "2023-12-10T09:52:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/21 "2023-12-20T14:22:53Z")
Books I think about regularly and why: **Best Bookclub Books** - City of Thieves by David Benioff, - A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles **Impacted Me in Highschool/College** - A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr., - Walden Two by Skinner, B. F. **Books That Made me Laugh Out Loud** - The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float by Farley Mowat, - My Old Man and The Sea by David Hays And now I will likely spend all day thinking about all the other books I have ever read and wonder why I don’t think about them. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/22 "2023-12-20T21:23:57Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > City of Thieves by David Benioff I _really_ like this book. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2023, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/23 "2023-12-20T21:54:29Z")
> [@solost](#): > > It opened me up to the radical idea that ‘Classic Literature’ could actually be enjoyable to read I felt this way about _The Catcher in the Rye._ I know it’s a controversial book, but I first read it when I was thirteen and it influenced me tremendously as a writer. I mean, Holden is a fucking wreck! I didn’t know protagonists were allowed to be that messy. That was the moment I stopped reproducing every refined voice of classical literature I’d read and starting finding my own voice. And I started writing about people living on the margins who would maybe not be so acceptable in polite society. I don’t know if I would call it the greatest story I’ve ever read. I can think of objectively better stories, but it was certainly one of the most personally influential books I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/24 "2023-12-21T16:26:34Z")
Boy, lots of possibilities here. I, too, found **The Lord of the Rings** memorable and compelling. I long ago lost track of the number of times I’ve read it through. I used to read it about once a year. I was blown away by **The Odyssey** when it was assigned reading in junior high. We got the full Robert Fitzgerald translation, which I devoured. I was also assigned it for a freshman humanities class, and have re-read it multiple times since, to the point that my paperback copy is falling apart. I have a copy of the Robert Fagles translation on both cassette and CD (for some reason, I never found an audiobook edition of the Fitzgerald translation), and I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve listened to it all the way through. I feel similarly about **The Iliad** (for the same two translators), and have re-read it multiple times. For some reason, the audiobook of Fagles’ translation is grotesquely abridged, which is too bad. But I prefer the Odyssey to the Iliad. I find I can easily get hooked and re-read Frederick Forsyth’s thriller **The Day of the Jackal**. I like Forsyth’s other books, as well, but none as much ass this one. Again, I’ve lost track of re-readings. Wonderfully told and detailed. Similarly, I have constantly re-read C.S. Forester’s “Hornblower” series. No other set of sea stories affects me that way – nor O’Brian or Alexander Kent. I like Forester’s other works, too, but the Hornblower books, possibly because he let Hornblower always succeed , or at least come out well, rather than the way many of his other books have pessimistic (if realistic) outcomes. Many of Heinlein’s books have the same effect, including the above-mentioned _Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. I have three Heinlein books on audiodisc, and re-listen to them frequently. Mark Twain’s **A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court** and **Life on the Mississippi**. You can keep your Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn – this is the real Twain. I asked for and received a copy of Jonathan Swift’s **Gulliver’s Travels** when I was still in grammar school, and it’s another book I have frequently re-read. I’ve got an Annotated edition, with annotations by Isaac Asimov, which was a great help in understanding several of Swift’s references. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/25 "2023-12-21T17:40:21Z")
I really enjoyed that, thanks. I don’t recall having read Anderson previously, I’ll have to explore his works. Like a mixture of Twain and Thurber. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/26 "2023-12-22T03:59:53Z")
> [@solost](#): > > 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. Gaiman has written at least one short story and a novella about Shadow Moon, so you can continue a bit more. I am also a big fan of American Gods, my first exposure to Gaiman, and now I’ve read most of his works. I re-read ‘The Ocean at the End of the Lane’ every year. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/27 "2023-12-22T04:04:07Z")
> [@LVBoPeep](#): > > I especially love Dead Man’s Walk and the character of Bigfoot Wallace. Bigfoot Wallace is an incredible character, a real-life Texas Ranger whose many adventures have built a huge mythology around him. J. Frank Dobie wrote lots of short stories about that period of Texas history, quite a few about Bigfoot Wallace. Worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/28 "2023-12-22T04:26:50Z")
[Hyperion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(Simmons_novel)) by Dan Simmons (1989, Hugo Award winner). I’ve read many books but that one really stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/29 "2023-12-22T04:29:00Z")
I’m not sure if this is the answer the OP is looking for, but the two books I have re-read the most over the last 20 years are [Confederates In The Attic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederates_in_the_Attic) by Tony Horwitz and [Cross Country](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/02/books/review/02barc.html) by Robert Sullivan. Both take me out on the road to meet interesting people and muse about the history and current state of the places they visit. In the short-story/essay category, and along the same lines are David Foster Wallace’s articles for Harper’s, _Getting Away from Already Being Pretty Much Away from It All_ and _A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again_. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/30 "2023-12-22T05:10:58Z")
This is a difficult thread to answer. I have seen so many books mentioned that I’ve read and love. But okay, if I have to pick just ONE, it’s going to be _ **To Kill a Mockingbird** _. But a novel is so different from a short story. There I have two I can’t decide between. The first is _ **The Man Who Traveled in Elephants** _, by Heinlein. And the other is _ **True Minds** _, by Spider Robinson. And of course non fiction is yet another beast. I have to go with Will and Ariel Durants’ Western Civilization series. Incredibly detailed. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/31 "2023-12-28T12:56:04Z")
“The Flounder”, by Gunter Grass ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/32 "2023-12-28T13:06:07Z")
[This](https://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2011/the-papers-of-robert-a-taft-volume-3-1945-1948/) was utterly spellbinding reading. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/33 "2023-12-28T13:08:20Z")
[The Use of Force](https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/force.html) by William Carlos Williams. It’s a doctor describing a little girl who wouldn’t submit to a tongue depressor. I first read it over 50 years ago but it’s still stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/34 "2023-12-28T14:00:50Z")
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, an accounting of Shackleton’s failed trans-Antarctic expedition in the early 1900s. After their ship was trapped in pack ice and slowly crushed over a period of months, the crew of 28 men then spent a year surviving in unimaginably harsh conditions and were only able to return to civilization due to an incredible feat of maritime navigation by six men in a highly modified lifeboat, across 800 miles of open ocean in high waves/winds, with icing conditions, to reach South Georgia Island - followed by three of those men engaging in a 26-mile trek across uncharted mountain wilderness to reach a whaling station, from which they were able to mount a rescue mission to collect the rest of their crew, with said rescue mission requiring months to succeed. And nobody died during the entire voyage. As this was a formal/planned expedition, they were fastidious about recording daily events in diaries and photographs, resulting a very detailed historical record of all that transpired. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2023, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361/35 "2023-12-28T16:01:26Z")
I’ll add a special clarification to the many Lord of the Rings entries, which would be one of mine as well. Phil Dragash made an unauthorized audiobook of Lord of the Rings where he does all the voices and mixed in Howard Shore’s musical score. It’s the greatest audiobook I’ve ever listened to. He gave it away free because he did it without rights, but I believe it was pulled down from his site. I have listened to it twice and have more than once said, “This is the absolute best way to experience Lord of the Rings.” It is unabridged. Here it is on the Internet Archive, which apparently is still allowed to have it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read-part-ii/994361.md?page=1)