Oooohhhhhkkkaaaayyyyyy. You ready?

Basic Film Directing Theory:

On Directing Film - David Mamet
http://www.amazon.com/Directing-Film...803124-6444043

Making Movies - Sidney Lumet
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...=UTF8&n=283155

Rebel Without a Crew - Robert Rodriguez
http://www.amazon.com/Rebel-without-...e=UTF8&s=books

All I Need to Know about Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger - Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn
http://www.amazon.com/about-Filmmaki...e=UTF8&s=books

A Declaration of Independent Filmmaking - Mark Polish, Michael Polish, Jonathan Sheldon
http://www.amazon.com/Declaration-In...e=UTF8&s=books

Intermediate Technique:

Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices - Rick Schmidt
http://www.amazon.com/Feature-Filmma...e=UTF8&s=books

Setting Up Your Shots - Jeremy Vineyard
http://www.mwp.com/books/camera/set-shots.php4

Advanced Technique:

Directing Actors - Judith Weston
http://www.mwp.com/books/directing/d...ng-actors.php4

Film Directing: Shot-by-Shot - Steven D. Katz (Note that I consider this text to be ADVANCED, which is why you're having so much trouble reading it. It's very technical)
http://www.mwp.com/books/directing/d...g-shot-by.php4

Film Directing: Cinematic Motion - Steven D. Katz
http://www.mwp.com/books/directing/d...ng-cinema.php4


This is by no means comprehensive, as I am just going off the top of my head, but these texts were by far the cream of the crop for information on directing.

As far as special effects, I don't know. Sorry.

Cheers!

Jim

Wicked thanks.I could probaly get some of these for christmas.

If you are interested in making horror films then a good book to read is:
Horror: The Film Reader (edited by Mark Jancovich). It's good to read as helps to understand what makes a good horror, though can be quite theoretical.

Video Production Handbook (Gerald Millerson)
http://www.amazon.com/Video-Producti.../dp/0240513215 I definitely recommend to have in your book collection. As someone else said earlier "shot by shot" is another of those must have books.

Cinematography: Theory and Practice (Blain Brown) is another good read.
http://www.amazon.com/Cinematography.../dp/0240805003

and purely for understanding horror film history

Danse Macabre - by Stephen King

I looked up that danse macabre book on amazon.com and it sounds pretty awesome.I might pick it up sometime.