My reading list for Drama is really my reading list for "writing": 1. The Bible* 2. Shakespeare - for Drama, focus on the tragedies and then the histories 3. Classical mythology *No, I'm not claiming the Bible is "fiction". I am saying it belongs on a list of great world literature vs a list of "how-to" non-fiction books. And I'm not saying read it cover to cover although that's not a bad idea (I absolve you if you want to skip Leviticus); I am saying read and familiarize yourself with all of the narratives of the Bible. (You can cheat and use Coles Notes but you'll be missing out.) Why these three massive categories? Because right there you have most of the story archetypes and the underpinnings of the western storytelling tradition: the frame of reference that the rest of the (literate) world will be reading and evaluating and understanding your script through. If you get through those three, you can add in two more: - Grimm's fairy tales, unexpurgated - world mythologies

Wow. Only one comment? I suppose it is a hard question - what drama do you HAVE to have knowledge of? I agree completely with you, Shaula, and your three categories. I think everything else falls into speculative categories - Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter or Ulysses. A personal favorite: The Old Man and the Sea.

Some suggestions The Beach by Alex Garland is well written in terms of visuals and pace (I prefer the film ending though). The Help by Kathryn Stockett for well developed characters. Wild Swans by Jung Chang for an epic drama spanning three generations. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. I don't want to spoil it by analysing. A quick, good read targeted at children. The Room by Emma Donoghue. Excellent book. It's told from the perspective of a 5 year old boy, Jack, held in captivity. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This drama scalds images onto your mind. The Bookseller of Kabul From my childhood the ones that stand out even with the passage of time; Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge. Great Expectations (Dickens is great for his cliffhangers). Aesops Fables.

Hatter's Castle by AJ Cronin Collected Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham. Rain! in particular.

It's great to see more suggestions on this list. Thank you, chrisoakes, TheQuietAct, and Mira for your recommendations and comments. I was thinking about this list again last night, from the perspective of not which individual books to add, but what kinds of books I'd want on this list for me (e.g., items vs categories). [I'm very interested in your thinking about categories for this list as well as about which specific books you recommend.] And I got thinking about a post I read recently by The Bitter Script Reader about "How do I write for someone so unlike me?" It's easy when writing to populate your story with the dominant members of either Hollywood culture or the culture you live in, in terms of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, nationality, class, etc., and in screenwriting, it may be even easier in some genres and subgenres than others. But when it comes to drama, while it's not a given, it seems like the genre lends itself to giving a little more room to a wider range of characters; as writers, regardless of how we identify and who we may consciously or unconsciously choose to tell other stories about, in drama we may find we need to do a good job of portraying people who are further from our own personal experience. In the Bitter Script Reader's post, he reports back advice from Jane Espenson's writing panel at ComicCon about how to "write for people unlike yourself": although "writers are often told to "write what they know" a good way to overcome limited experience is simply to meet all kinds of people, suggesting writers get out there and live life." Firsthand experience is great, but the runner up is secondhand experience (e.g., reading great books). For that reason, as serious writers who want to portray a diverse range of characters truthfully, a great way to expand our drama reading lists is to seek out books by authors from different walks of life, authors whose race, gender, sexual orientation, country of origin, class, religion is different from our own--AND, different from the dominant cultural groups around us. I suggest another category of books in the drama fiction reading list: diverse (non-dominant) contemporary writers. (Is there a more elegant way to say that?) A great way to get recommendations for these books is to talk to your local librarians, too. They're usually excited to get to turn people on to good books that aren't as well known (and, sadly, that covers most of the books in this category).

Lord of the Flies - William Golding The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez Animal Farm - George Orwell Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath The Trial + Short Stories - Franz Kafka The Stranger - Albert Camus Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov The Crucible - Arthur Miller Miss Julie + A Dream Play - August Strindberg A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen Waiting For Godot - Samuel Beckett Ulysses - James Joyce The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner On the Road - Jack Kerouac I know, some of these could work other categories as well. Waiting for Godot is very humorous but ultimately dark and tragic in its absurdity. I know The Catcher in the Rye was mentioned during the comedy week, but I would categorize it as a drama. And yes, some of these are stage plays.

Forgot about Flannery O'Connor's Collected Stories. I'm just learning how valuable her characters are and how much she can influence a writer.

A recap of suggestions to date: Books by Category The Bible Shakespeare (tragedies and history plays) Classical mythology World mythologies Grimm’s fairy tales, unexpurgated Books by Title Aesops Fables Animal Farm – George Orwell The Beach by Alex Garland The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath The Bookseller of Kabul The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger Collected Short Stories of W. Somerset Maugham Collected Stories of Flannery O’Connor The Crucible – Arthur Miller A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen Great Expectations by Charles Dickens Hatter’s Castle by AJ Cronin The Help by Kathryn Stockett Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison The Trial + Short Stories – Franz Kafka The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov Lord of the Flies – William Golding Miss Julie + A Dream Play – August Strindberg The Old Man and the Sea – Hemmingway Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck On the Road – Jack Kerouac One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez The Room by Emma Donoghue The Sound and the Fury – William Faulkner The Stranger – Albert Camus Ulysses – James Joyce Waiting For Godot – Samuel Beckett What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge Wild Swans by Jung Chang

Here is just the sort of resource I had in mind when I wrote the post above, a fantastic list of writers of colour put together by The Rumpus to help people "read more diversely". There are more great suggestions in the comments on the post, too.