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Time Management
I can't stress the value of this book enough! Before I got my hands on this book I was always getting frustrated with myself and the way I managed my time and tasks. I was losing track of things and just letting other things slip through the cracks.
I found this book on how to manage your time using MS Outlook and it has made a huge difference in how I manage my time. I wish I had found this book years ago. The suggestions he makes are very simple yet when you learn about them you can't believe you hadn't thought of them yourself. Buy this book... you will not regret it!
Another excellent book on time management. The book on using Outlook is great for managing the details of your time on a weekly basis. This book touches on time management at a higher level. You learn how to set goals for many years out and to create intermediary steps to achieve those long term goals. Combining this book with the one on Outlook is a winning combination.
ASP.NET
If you're just getting started with ASP.NET I recommend checking out this book. The next book in my list assumes a little more experience with it in my opinion.
I used this book to study for the 70-528 Exam. It lays a great foundation for developing ASP.NET applications. It assumes a base knowledge of .NET in general.
CSS
I am a huge fan of using CSS and style sheets to control the appearance of your web site. Just the fact that you can maintain it one file for the whole web site is reason enough to use it. Not to mention, if you want to have large amounts of traffic you need to keep SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in mind. CSS will allow you to render the markup in such a way to search engines can index it easier but at the same time give it a nice appearance for your users. This is the only book I've purchased on the subject and it has been worth every penny!
Like many of you I learned how to use tables first to control the layout of my pages. It was a bit of a paradigm shift for me to switch over to CSS but well worth it. If you're at that point where you're wondering if you should make the shift, I recommend practicing and having patience with yourself. If you're like me once things start clicking you'll never understand how you developed web sites without it in the first place!
Javascript
I have to admit I am no expert with javascript. Probably more of an intermediate level. I don't get thrilled about developing it but you know there are times when you just have to. This is a good book for learning and for reference. There's so much more to javascript than I ever knew and probably ever will know. But it's nice to have a place to go when I need it!
SQL Server
This is a very good introduction to SQL Server particularly SQL Server 2005. If you're just starting to learn the basics of database programming or you have some experience with another database type, MS Access for example, then this will take you to the next step.
This is a great book not only for preparing for the 70-431 Exam but also for learning how to develop SQL Server databases. If you don't have any experience at all in developing databases then it's a bit too advanced.