I'm not a full-time trader yet...I'm on the brink of entering my first prop job...but I can offer some advice as far as books are concerned...
Read:
Market Wizards - J. Schwager
The New Market Wizards - J. Schwager
Stock Market Wizards - J. Schwager
Jesse Livermore: World's Greatest Stock Trader - forgot author
How To Make Money Selling Stocks Short - W. O'Neil
The Alchemy of Finance - Soros
Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill (For Your Psyche)
Definitely read Market Wizards though. Those 3 books let me know what I believed was actually possible if you're willing to put the work in.
Stay away from:
Security Analysis (intelligent book, but won't help your trading)
- I read this before I even knew what trading was, the only person I knew about was Warren Buffett at that time)
My advice is do not listen to people that tell you to stay away from particular strategies (i.e. Elliot Wave). Different things work for different people. You may find that charts do nothing for you and tape reading is what works for you or vice versa. Or you may do well just trading news. Again, two very successful people may argue with one another about what works and what doesn't, because trading is a very personal endeavor.
If you do nothing else, work on strengthening your psychological makeup to ensure that when your first losing streak occurs, that you will be able to come back and trade. The best advice that I've heard is trade your strategy and don't look at your profit and loss. If you execute well, the profits will take care of themselves.
Good luck.