Best comic book/novel to learn the Batman story?

So I've finally come to like comic books, especially Batman, but I was wondering if there were a series of comic books or a comic novel that could give me the background story on Bruce Wayne and the Dark Knight, and how he came to be a superhero. I'm looking for something that's going to catch me up on Batman's story, so I'm not confused when I read the Batman comics I bought the other day (who's Jason?).