# What is the greatest, most memorable, story you have ever read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725 "2002-08-07T06:24:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/1 "2002-08-07T06:24:28Z")
Including comic books, comic strips, serials, unpublished literature, books, fiction, non-fiction and anything else that required reading to get the story across. I would have to say that the greatest story I have ever read had got to be the entire run of Preacher by Vertigo/DC comics. I am sure many of you have read it and enjoyed it, but I think that it is a great read from the begining of the first issue, to the end of the last. Great ending. Great characters. Great side stories to break up the main story. A close runner up would be “It” by you know who. Scared the shit out of me when I read it (at age 12). I also really liked the run of “Calvin and Hobbes” where his house got robbe and he couldn’t find Hobbers for a few days. Good sense of childhood drama. Whats your fav? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/2 "2002-08-07T06:48:01Z")
“East of Eden” by John Steinbeck. A masterpiece. It’s the book that made me want to be an English major when I got into college. “Blameless in Abaddon,” by James Morrow, singlehandedly destroyed my faith in God. Amazing book. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/3 "2002-08-07T07:26:56Z")
Broken down by category: Adult novel (fiction): _To Kill a Mockingbird_ by Harper Lee Adult novel (nonfiction): _Roots_ by Alex Haley Graphic novel: _V for Vendetta_ by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons Short Story: Tie: “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. Leguin and “Dori Bangs” by Bruce Sterling Short Short Story: “Answer” by Fredric Brown Novella: “Beggars in Spain” by Nancy Kress Children’s novel: _Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH_ by Robert C. Obrien Young Adult novel: _Island of the Blue Dolphins_ by Scott O. Dell Children’s Picture Story Book: _Red Ranger Came Calling_ by Berkley Breathed (yes, the guy who did Bloom County Babylon) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/4 "2002-08-07T07:38:29Z")
Probably Tolkien’s _Ainulindale_ (published in _The Silmarillion_). It’s his account of the Creation of the World. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/5 "2002-08-07T11:07:02Z")
Really incredible books or stories are few and far between for me: The first to spring to mind was _ **"The Bone People"** _ by Keri Hulme. \*\* _“Wild Swans”_\*\* by Jung Chang was also very moving and powerful. I used to be slightly obsessed by Stephen King books, but the only one which was truly moving or memorable, for me, was a short story, published as Richard Bachmann, called _ **" The Long Walk"** _. It was about a competition where the contestants had to walk for 5 days at no less than 4 mph constantly, or they were shot by the following army. The winner got (insert massive money here), and to choose one wish - even change the laws of the country, if he desired. It was all 18 yo boys, and about the psychology of their grief as they made friends on the walk and watched them fall behind and be killed, one by one. Fascinating story. ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/6 "2002-08-07T11:18:40Z")
Long Walk was a great story too. I really liked that one as well. The end left a little to be desired, but you could feel the strain of the walk while you read it. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/7 "2002-08-07T11:19:30Z")
novel: \*\* War and Peace\*\* Tolstoy novella: **The World Inside** Robert Silverberg comic: The first few series of **Legends of the Dark Knight** were really good. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/8 "2002-08-07T11:28:51Z")
**A Prayer for Owen Meany** comes immediately to mind. ---
**Author:** ![nefertari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7bcc69/32.png) [@nefertari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nefertari)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/9 "2002-08-07T12:03:06Z")
It would have to be…“Wide Sargasso Sea”. Nonfiction book would have to be “The Book on the Bookshelf” - I like books! Egypt books have their own section, my favourite would have to be “Ancient Lives” by John Romer, interesting, scholarly AND a pleasure to read. nefertari. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/10 "2002-08-07T12:14:47Z")
By Category: Adult, Fiction: **A Prayer for Owen Meany** by John Irving (you beat me to it, Mr. Blue Sky). Adult, Nonfiction: This is a really hard one, for I’ve read a lot of really great non-fiction in the last few years. **Guns, Germs, and Steel** by Jared Diamond leaps to mind rather easily. Children’s Fiction: **Where the Red Fern Grows** by Wilson Rawls. I was ten years old when I read this. It is still, to this day, the only book I’ve ever read that actually caused me to cry. Short Story: Another hard category, but I have to go with the first story that came to mind while considering it: **All Summer in a Day** by Ray Bradbury. Graphic Novel: **The Kindly Ones** by Neil Gaiman, the next to last book in the Sandman series. Before reading that, I would have given this distinction to **Watchmen**. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/11 "2002-08-07T12:50:07Z")
Man, hard to say. I certainly won’t forget _Gravity’s Rainbow_ or _Huckleberry Finn_ or _The Divine Comedy_. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/12 "2002-08-07T13:36:50Z")
**The Stand** by Stephen King. **The Lonely Silver Rain** by John D. McDonald **The Big Sleep** by Raymond Chandler **The Watchmen** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/13 "2002-08-07T14:05:45Z")
Novels: _Tom Sawyer_, and _Huckleberry Finn_. There was a short story I read around age 13 or so, and I can’t remember the name of it. The plot was Dorothy returning to the land of Oz, only to find it the victim of a nuclear blast. It was in a book with several short stories from fairly well known authors. (Another story that stuck with me was in the same book…Something about a guy ripping his skin off, and finding out he was an alien) Can anyone help ID the book? ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/14 "2002-08-07T15:03:47Z")
**The Velveteen Rabbit** **Beowulf** And **LOTR** and anything by C.S. Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/15 "2002-08-07T15:08:39Z")
Thought of a further Stephen King book - _ **"Survivor Type"** _ A doctor washed up on a deserted rock with only his surgeons kit and ten kilos of heroin. Written as a diary of his time there as he epitomises the human instinct to survive, at **ANY** cost. ---
**Author:** ![Fibonacci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Fibonacci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibonacci)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/16 "2002-08-07T16:00:59Z")
Off the top of my head, two immediately come to mind. **Siddhartha** by Herman Hesse and **The Sirens Of Titan** by Kurt Vonnegut. Read each of these books a couple times and the meaning of life becomes much clearer. Greetings! ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/17 "2002-08-07T17:45:35Z")
‘I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,’ Harlan Ellison. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/18 "2002-08-07T18:00:18Z")
An early King short story, “The Bogeyman.” Primarily because I read it when I was 9 or 10 or so. Probably not the best story for a generally bright kid with a good imagination to read. “The Watchmen,” definitely; especially Rorschach’s origin story. Remarkable how much black splotches could convey expression. Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/19 "2002-08-07T18:07:08Z")
Hmmm…I have several on my list but the ones that readily spring to mind are: The Long Walk, The Mist and The Stand by Stephen King. (lots of SK fans here, I’ve noticed! :)) Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West by Mary Stanton, Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, and Outlander by Diana Galbadon. (just TRY to put that one down for more than a few minutes on your first read!) My list is endless but those are in my top 10. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/20 "2002-08-07T18:15:00Z")
Forgot to add one: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. An absolutely amazing book from start to finish. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725.md?page=2)