Yeti,
More interesting to me than specific stories and mythologies is looking at how many books/movies/etc. are based pretty much directly on storylines that are straight out of classic Greek mythology. Some, of course, are attributed in some way, but others that on the surface seem pretty original often turn out to be pretty much just the same stories recast in modern settings.
Of course, similar things can be said about other ancient cultures, I'm just using Greek as one particular example here.
Books like the
Seven Basic Plots touch on some of that stuff.
Moreso than the stories themselves (some of which are great), having read some of that stuff imo helps you better appreciate really good storytelling.