I have a number of them, but if you want only three, here are my suggestions:

Robert McKee's 'Story'

Dave Trottier's 'Screenwriter's Bible'

and 'What Happens Next: A History of American Screenwriting' by Marc Norman

The last is a sometimes hard-to-find book which should be required reading - if you don't know where you're from, how do you know where you're going? It's the genealogy of our craft, and completely worth hunting down.

There is also Blake Snyder's two 'Save the Cat' books - also excellent but might throw a new writer off.

KD

For Screenwrite: Story (Love that booK!)

Also Writing Down the Bones, Wild Mind, and Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg.

NaNoWriMo '08-At Tale's End: Won! Script Frenzy '08-The Invisibles: Won! NaNo Wrimo '09-Masked

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I'm currently reading The Screenwriter's Bible, and I can't say enough how helpful it's been. My silly little chick lit adaptation now has some emotional weight to it!

The Complete Idiots Guide to Creative Writing by Laurie Rozakis has a section on writing plays. I'll be digging that up!

The Writer's Tale by Russel T Davies. That's the reason i'm actually doing this this year. inspired me to do it. amazing book. and not just about Doctor Who.

The Complete Idiots Guide to Screenwriting is amazing, and will literally help you every step of the way. and i never go anywhere without Screenwriting for the Soul. it's my personal screenwriting bible.

'How to Write a Movie in 21 Days' by Viki King is an interesting read.

If you haven't already, you must check out this website: www.writersstore.com. I live close enough to go to the store - it's hard to leave empty-handed.

My favorite writing book for novels and scripts is The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. It has excellent ideas for plot construction and character, and works for all genres! It doesn't have information on script formatting, though, if that is what you are looking for. But if you can only buy one book on story, I highly recommend it!

For TV writers:

Crafty TV Writing by Alex Epstein
Writing the TV Drama Series by Pamela Douglas
Writing Television Sitcoms by Evan S. Smith

For screenwriters:

Teach Yourself Screenwriting by Ray Frensham
Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder

Formatting:

The Hollywood Standard by Christopher Riley