What is a true story?

People frequently ask me what kind of books I like to read. After considerable thought, I've concluded that my favorite books to read are the true ones. Only, what constitutes a true story? You might think that it would be, say, one composed of facts, or at least based on them; however, I consider this to be nonsense. I don't like factual stories, I like true ones. Some factual stories are true, but not all of them; nor are true stories necessarily based on fact.
The Lord of the Rings is what I would consider a first class true story, despite the fact that it is clearly not only fiction, but fantasy. Let me explain myself to those who doubt my definition (But before I go any further, let me confess that it's been a while since I read the books, and now I don't remember what's in the movie and not the book and vice versa.). The Lord of the Rings demonstrates true principles and the characters make true statements. The most famous of the true statements is probably Gandalf's about how we can't choose what time we want to be in, we can only decide what to do with the time we've been given (I don't remember exactly how it goes). That is true, very true, despite the fact that Gandalf was a figment of Tolkien's imagination. I think that Aragorn beautifully demonstrates true principles of leadership and its burdens, despite the fact that he too, unfortunately, is entirely fictional. Do you see what I mean about The Lord of the Rings being 'true' fantasy? It's not great because it's well-written or has good character development or an epic plot; it's great because it's true. That's why it's the best high fantasy out there - the rest can't compete for trueness (although there are some good ones, I admit).
Some other books:
The Thief (Megan Whalen Turner) - true
The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis) - true
The Mark of the Horse Lord (Rosemary Sutcliff) - true
1776 (David McCullough) - true
The Odyssey (Homer?) - true
The Oresteia (Aeschylus) -true
You will observe that all of the books on this list are true. That's not actually because I was looking for true books; it's because the true books were the ones that came to mind. I forgot the others.