# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/46a35a/32.png) [@A\_wizard\_song\_for\_thee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_wizard_song_for_thee)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/61 "2002-08-11T07:41:15Z")
Ooo! Ooo! I forgot about _Heart of Darkness_. The horror! The horror! ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/62 "2002-08-11T08:07:45Z")
Two stories came immediately to mind: _Hyperion_ by Dan Simmons. The very first story related by the one of the passengers to be more specific. The one about the priest/missionary who restrains himself with crucifixion to defeat the parasite and makes the ultimate sacrifice, not just once but thousands of times. The whole book is very good, each story better than the last. The second story is _The Jehovah Contract_ by Viktor Korman. The book itself is kind of cheesy but the plotline really stuck with me. The Antichrist has finally appeared in the form of a televangelist and he hires a hit man to take out God. ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/63 "2002-08-11T11:11:26Z")
Just finished _Gates of Fire_ by Steven Pressfield. Not sure whether you’d count it as fiction or non-fiction but either way it’s mind-blowing. If I have to die I want to die like Leonidas. _Brave New World_ is also great (hence username) and_A Clockwork Orange_ has some of the most awesome prose I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/64 "2002-08-11T12:36:00Z")
_A Tree Grows In Brooklyn_, by Betty Smith. One of my favorite books. _To Kill A Mockingbird_, by Harper Lee. _This Perfect Day_, by Ira Levin. Scary. What I always pictured the future to be, rather than a _1984_-type of future. _The Poisonwood Bible_, by Barbara Kingsolver. ---
**Author:** ![QueenAl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/d26b3c/32.png) [@QueenAl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenAl)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/65 "2002-08-11T14:14:51Z")
So many I want to name ( **1984, Lord of the Flies, This Time of Darkness, Hamlet, His Dark Materials, Sophie’s World, The Bridge, The Naked Ape, The Language Instinct…** ), but _the_ greatest story I’ve ever read is Ted Chiang’s\*\* Story of Your Life.\*\* I exhort anyone who has an interest in science fiction, language, philosophy, or well-written prose to read this story as soon as possible. I read it in _The Year’s Best Science Fiction (16th Edition)_, which has a number of other memorable stories, among which this one still manages to stand out. ---
**Author:** ![Amptech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Amptech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amptech)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/66 "2002-08-11T16:41:05Z")
_A Prayer for Owen Meany_ by John Irving. I read this at least once a year. _The Lord of the Rings_ by JRR Tolkien. _A Farewell to Arms_ and _The Old Man and the Sea_ by Ernest Hemingway. Both were beautifully told and _A Farewell to Arms_ really shook me up. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/67 "2002-08-11T16:43:49Z")
**Number Six** , I love **Red Ranger Came Calling**! I put it out every Christmas with the decorations. **LOTR** (of course) \*\*The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy \*\* series **On the Beach** - not enjoyable, but certainly memorable **To Kill A Mockingbird** The **Little House on the Prairie** series by Laura Ingalls Wilder **The Stand** **The Black Rose** Thomas Costain **Gone With the Wind** **Forever Amber** And you can’t go wrong with the comic book adventures of **Scrooge McDuck** with Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie against the odious Beagle Boys or Flintheart Glomgold. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/68 "2002-08-13T06:06:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Octavia Smythe-Bunion I. Esq. \* > \*\*And you can’t go wrong with the comic book adventures of **Scrooge McDuck** with Donald, Huey, Dewey, and Louie against the odious Beagle Boys or Flintheart Glomgold. \*\* Um, Flintheart Who? I read a lot of S. McDuck back when I was a lad and don’t remember this character. I always thought his arch-nemesis was Magica de Spell. ---
**Author:** ![Osbie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@Osbie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osbie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/69 "2002-08-13T07:32:48Z")
Flintheart Glomgold was Scrooge’s chief rival for the title of “World’s Richest Duck.” In _The Second Richest Duck_ by the great Carl Barks, Scrooge learns that Glomgold is now thought to be the world’s richest duck and goes to Africa to find out if it’s true. When the two count their assets, they find out they’re perfectly equal. The only way to break the tie is to compare their giant balls of string - by unrolling them across the African continent to see who has the most. According to this site: [http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/chars/flintheart.html](http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/chars/flintheart.html) Flintheart only appeared in three of Barks’ stories. (I forgot about Magica De Spell. She always wanted Scrooge’s lucky No. 1 Dime.) ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2002, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725/70 "2002-08-14T17:29:46Z")
Oh, now I remember him. At least, I remember the ball of string. Didn’t he win by like a foot by tacking on a piece of string he found in his pocket? I remember another contest he got into with a Middle Eastern billionaire. Building statues. They made statues so huge that they took up the entire city. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-memorable-story-you-have-ever-read/122725.md?page=3)