One of the most distinctive directors of his generation, Mike Leigh has spent a lifetime making movies mostly about working class Britons that range from howls of indignation like Naked, for which he won Best Director at Cannes in 1993, to whimsical comedies like Happy Go-Lucky which helped to launch the career of its Golden Globe-winning star Sally Hawkins. Leigh’s collaborative approach, building scripts from improvisation, has resulted in a body of work that is uncommonly rich in complex, nuanced roles for women, including Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, Lesley Manville in Another Year, and Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a mother-daughter duo in Secrets and Lies, which won the 1996 Palme d’Or. With Peterloo, his 21st movie (excluding his many television dramas), Leigh illuminates a notorious 1819 massacre of protestors by police in Manchester, England, that paved the way for sweeping electoral reform. Vulture’s Nate Jones described it as “one of the best things Leigh has ever made.”

Below, are Mike Leigh’s favorite books, available to purchase individually or as a set.