Electrical Engineering 101 - Darren Ashby

This is a great book for all those little practical ideas around electronics that you missed when you first learned it. Great for the basics. Read it cover to cover.

The circuit designer's companion - Tim Williams

So now you're actually going to design and build something? What about all those little gotchas in the real world?

This book is filled with how to deal with the real world. It covers the theoretical "ideal" situations, and then shows how to handle the realistic "practical situations".

Wiring, grounding, distortion, interference, heat sinking, etc.

Read it by the chapter when you're thinking about those things. Not for the beginner, more for the novice designer.

The Art of Electronics - Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill

If there was a book that was seen as the bible, this is it. 1125 pages of detailed information.

Personally, I find it too detailed to just read through, and will read a subsection on the particular item of interest.

An invaluable reference, but fairly full on for novices.