(Part 2) Top products from r/mythology

Mesopotamian mythology (including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, and Babylonians) is actually one of the better documented mythologies of the ancient world. Despite the preponderance of "ancient alien" nonsense out there, a plethora of scholarly books exist on the subject, as well as websites curated by academic groups.

• ORACC
  
  ORACC is an excellent place to start if you're interested in the major deities of Mesopotamia. Each entry contains historical information (cult centers, earliest attestation, etymology, etc), and well as mythology (genealogical, function in pantheon, etc). The entries are sourced, so you can follow up any queries you may have.
  
  
• ETCSL
  
  The ETCSL is a collection of Mesopotamian mythology in easy-to-digest format. Most of the material on here was written during the Old Babylonian period (c. 1800 BCE) but is based on earlier traditions found in the Akkadian and Ur-III periods (c. 2300-2000 BCE). A print-version of many of the myths contained on the webpage can be found on Amazon here.
  
  
• SEAL
  
  SEAL operates much the same as the ETCSL, only it is focused exclusively on literature from the Akkadian empire (c. 2350 BCE). If you follow the "corpus" link you'll be taken to the entire collection of texts SEAL has available for browsing.
  
  There are other such collections, similar to ETCSL and SEAL that are available online, but these are good starting points if you don't yet have your feet wet regarding the subject matter. You should also, if you're interested, explore print-material as well. Much of Mesopotamia's core research is published in book format, by professors and archaeologists who're still working on dig-sites or in universities.
  
  A few names and texts to consider:
  
  
• History Begins at Sumer
  
• The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character
  
  Samuel Noah Kramer, who published the above, provides an excellent introduction to Sumerian culture and mythology. His books are easily readable and often times serve as most people's introductions to Mesopotamia.
  
  
• Religion in Ancient Mesopotamia
  
  Jean Bottéro's masterwork has been translated, but is approachable and easy to read. This volume explores the emotional and psychological connection of the Mesopotamian people to their religion.
  
  
• The Treasures of Darkness: A History of Mesopotamian Religion
  
• The Harps That Once: Sumerian Poetry in Translation
  
  Thorkild Jacobsen is one of the best translators of Mesopotamian material. These two books present dozens of myths, cult songs, and other works for the reader, while also exploring the patterns and motifs present in Mesopotamian religion across its 3000+ year history.
  
  There are other works I could recommend, but I don't want to overwhelm you with options. If you're interested, I also run the subreddit /r/Sumer, which is dedicated to reconstructing the religious beliefs and practices of the Mesopotamian people. It isn't the most active of places, but I'm still trying to get it off the ground. Feel free to join us over there if you wish.

It depends on what you're drawn to. Are you more interested in interpretation of story for your own personal growth? Or interpretation of films? Or are you looking to create stories?

The best books I know on this subject at least on interpretive myth include:

• Women who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes (sure it's about women's stories which can dissuade some younger men learning about this subject but it's seriously one of the best books on how to interpret a myth out there)
  
• The Hero Within by Carol S. Pearson. This is more if you're trying to find your own personal mythology for instance.
  
• The Water of Life by Michael Meade is tremendous. He does amazing events around the United States and gives good performances as well as talks and storytelling online via his non-profit Mosaic Voices.
  
• To learn more about interpretation and ways to interact with your unconscious, I'd recommend many of Robert A. Johnson's books specifically Inner Work however Transformations of Masculine Consciousness, He, She, We and Living with the Heavenly Goddess are good too depending on what topic you're interested in.
  
• For storytelling, I'd recommend the book Healing Hearts Communities which consists of a collection of stories which are appropriate to use for a variety of modern requirements. So you have stories talking about addiction or violence etc.
  
  In my experience, after Campbell people usually begin to drift toward what their personal myths are. So you have some people who get really into film and get caught on Vogler or Bonnet's work, others who want to go help returning veterans and end up getting really into Odysseus in America. Or people begin focusing on different cultures and religions and move from there.

Egyptian Mythology: a guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt.

https://www.amazon.com/Egyptian-Mythology-Goddesses-Traditions-Ancient/dp/0195170245

Also if you have an audible account/ are interested in audiobooks or online learning Audible has free audiobook versions of The Great Courses Plus lectures on mythology. They’re great lectures.

Ps. If you’re unaware there’s a fun podcast for the casual myth fan called Myths and Legends. Personally I love Jason’s work — it’s a bit trivialized sometimes but it’s good fun. He has a way of crafting narrative out of an amalgamation of varied stories from myth and folklore.

As far as I know, the two main English translations of Journey to the West are Anthony Yu's version and Arthur Waley's version

Its a great story and its an awesome read. Waley's version (just called "Monkey") is a bit more abridged, but its easier to read, and I'd recommend starting with that one.

I am partially commenting here in hopes of coming back to this thread to find a better answer than this one as I am with OP in a desire for mythology books that are just a collection, in as near its entirety as possible, of a certain cultures mythology, organized in a similar manner starting chronologically with the creation story and on up through the dawn of man.

I would love to see such a book covering not only Japanese mythology but also Native American, Aztec, Hindu, Islamic, Jainist, Taoist, ancient Chinese, ancient Germanic, etc...

OP, it's not quite what you are looking for, but I'd recommend Oriental Mythology by Joseph Campbell if you haven't checked it out yet.

I read through this book this summer which was excellent - it's a collection of myths in their entirety (Epic of Gilgamesh, Babylonian Creation Epic) with introductions to each and footnotes after it.

Issue is, it's not like the d'Aulaires stuff - these aren't myths summarised, they are just the stories as we now have them.

Good for super brief introductions/overview:

World Mythology in Bite-sized Chunks

Myths and Legends: An Illustrated Guide to Their Origins and Meanings

Essential Visual History of World Mythology

More comprehensive, but still introductory:

World Myth

The World of Myth: An Anthology (This focuses more on common mythic themes than on specific cultures)

Parallel Myths (This focuses more on common mythic themes than on specific cultures)

576 pages for the current paperback edition. Not a lightweight, but not 1000+ pages either :)

Seconding Kramer, that guy is THE authority on Sumerian Myths. I only recently got my hands on 'Myths of Enki, The Crafty God' If your local college library has a copy go check it out. It had one printing and as far as I'm aware was never digitized... so it costs this much now. https://www.amazon.com/Myths-Enki-Crafty-Samuel-Kramer/dp/0195055020

On the other side... The pagan gods in the Slavic regions were largely stamped out by Christianity, and as far as I know we don't have much in the way of primary source on strict religious beliefs. Not to say we don't have a MASSIVE body of Russian folklore/legend/myth, because we do. It's just hard to parse out a complete mythology because of the thick layer that christianity laid down in the region. You'll still see mentions of Perun and other 'gods' or In some instances Jesus having facets that were thought to be attributed to one god or another. Jack V. Haney is the primary authority in the English speaking world - he's done some good translation(s) of Afanas'ev, who was the Russian equivalent of the Grim brothers. As well as a massive collection which encompasses the entire Aarne Thompson classification index(!).

I have this and have found it useful

Yes. This book talks a little about that: https://www.amazon.com/Norse-Myths-Guide-Gods-Heroes/dp/0500251967

Neil Gaiman “Norse mythology”, and this book Norse mythology book

Anything on comp myth really.

https://www.amazon.com/Origins-Worlds-Mythologies-Michael-Witzel/dp/0199812853

You might check out Stephen T. Asma's On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. I've only read the first few chapters, but it seems to match what you're looking for.