Game Programming Patterns

This book allowed me to understand programming patterns through the art of creating games. What the author is trying to do in this book is more à la carte. Each of the chapters is an independent idea that you can apply to your code. This way, you can mix and match them in a way that works best for the game you want to make.

Pixel Logic - A Guide to Pixel Art

This book focuses on VISUAL learning and limits text as much as possible, unlike other tutorials. So if you are a visual learner like me you will appreciate it.