ADDITION: I have compiled what I think is a definitive collection of listmanias

at Amazon for a best selection of books an references, mostly in increasing orde

r of difficulty, in almost any branch of geometry and topology. In particular th
e books I recommend below for differential topology and differential geometry; I
hope to fill in commentaries for each title as I have the time in the future.
If you want to have an overall knowledge Physics-flavored the best books are Nak
ahara's "Geometry, Topology and Physics" and above all: Frankel's "The Geometry
of Physics" (great book, but sometimes his notation can bug you a lot compared t
o standards).
If you want to learn Differential Topology study these in this order: Milnor's "
Topology from a Differentiable Viewpoint", Jnich/Brcker's "Introduction to Differe
ntial Topology" and Madsen's "From Calculus to Cohomology". Although it is alway
s nice to have a working knowledge of general point set topology which you can q
uickly learn from Jnich's "Topology" and more rigorously with Runde's "A Taste of
Topology".
To start Algebraic Topology these two are of great help: Croom's "Basic Concepts
of Algebraic Topology" and Sato/Hudson "Algebraic Topology an intuitive approac
h". Graduate level standard references are Hatcher's "Algebraic Topology" and Br
edon's "Topology and Geometry", tom Dieck's "Algebraic Topology" along with Bott
/Tu "Differential Forms in Algebraic Topology."
To really understand the classic and intuitive motivations for modern differenti
al geometry you should master curves and surfaces from books like Toponogov's "D
ifferential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces" and make the transition with Khnel's
"Differential Geometry - Curves, Surfaces, Manifolds". Other nice classic texts
are Kreyszig "Differential Geometry" and Struik's "Lectures on Classical Differ
ential Geometry".
For modern differential geometry I cannot stress enough to study carefully the b
ooks of Jeffrey M. Lee "Manifolds and Differential Geometry" and Livio Nicolaesc
u's "Geometry of Manifolds". Both are deep, readable, thorough and cover a lot o
f topics with a very modern style and notation. In particular, Nicolaescu's is m
y favorite. For Riemannian Geometry I would recommend Jost's "Riemannian Geometr
y and Geometric Analysis" and Petersen's "Riemannian Geometry". A nice introduct
ion for Symplectic Geometry is Cannas da Silva "Lectures on Symplectic Geometry"
or Berndt's "An Introduction to Symplectic Geometry". If you need some Lie grou
ps and algebras the book by Kirilov "An Introduction to Lie Groops and Lie Algeb
ras" is nice; for applications to geometry the best is Helgason's "Differential
Geometry - Lie Groups and Symmetric Spaces".
FOR TONS OF SOLVED PROBLEMS ON DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY the best book by far is the
recent volume by Gadea/Muoz - "Analysis and Algebra on Differentiable Manifolds:
a workbook for students and teachers". From manifolds to riemannian geometry an
d bundles, along with amazing summary appendices for theory review and tables of
useful formulas.
EDIT (ADDED): However, I would argue that one of the best introductions to manif
olds is the old soviet book published by MIR, Mishchenko/Fomenko - "A Course of
Differential Geometry and Topology". It develops everything up from Rn, curves a
nd surfaces to arrive at smooth manifolds and LOTS of examples (Lie groups, clas
sification of surfaces, etc). It is also filled with LOTS of figures and classic
drawings of every construction giving a very visual and geometric motivation. I
t even develops Riemannian geometry, de Rham cohomology and variational calculus
on manifolds very easily and their explanations are very down to Earth. If you
can get a copy of this title for a cheap price (the link above sends you to Amaz
on marketplace and there are cheap "like new" copies) I think it is worth it. Ne
vertheless, since its treatment is a bit dated, the kind of algebraic formulatio
n is not used (forget about pullbacks and functors, like Tu or Lee mention), tha
t is why an old fashion geometrical treatment may be very helpful to complement
modern titles. In the end, we must not forget that the old masters were much mor
e visual an intuitive than the modern abstract approaches to geometry.
NEW!: the book by Mishchenko/Fomenko, along with its companion of problems and s
olutions, has been recently typeset and reprinted by Cambridge Scientific Publis
hers! The original Soviet editions can still be purchased by a much cheaper priz
e through URSS publishers (I got my copy that way as they have direct distributi
on in Spain).
If you are interested in learning Algebraic Geometry I recommend the books of my
Amazon list. They are in recommended order to learn from the beginning by yours
elf. In particular, from that list, a quick path to understand basic Algebraic G
eometry would be to read Bertrametti et al. "Lectures on Curves, Surfaces and Pr
ojective Varieties", Shafarevich's "Basic Algebraic Geometry" vol. 1, 2 and Perr
in's "Algebraic Geometry an Introduction". But then you are entering the world o
f abstract algebra.
If you are interested in Complex Geometry (Khler, Hodge...) I recommend Moroianu'
s "Lectures on Khler Geometry", Ballmann's "Lectures on Khler Manifolds" and Huybr
echts' "Complex Geometry". To connect this with Analysis of Several Complex Vari
ables I recommend trying Fritzsche/Grauert "From Holomorphic Functions to Comple
x Manifolds" and also Wells' "Differential Analysis on Complex Manifolds". After
wards, to connect this with algebraic geometry, try, in this order, Miranda's "A
lgebraic Curves and Riemann Surfaces", Mumford's "Algebraic Geometry - Complex P
rojective Varieties", Voisin's "Hodge Theory and Complex Algebraic Geometry" vol
. 1 and 2, and Griffiths/Harris "Principles of Algebraic Geometry".