Right now I'm stuck at the 1700 level, with little room to advance on my own. I've never really used any books before, but I think it's time to change that. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm looking for anything to improve my openings and general tactics. With so many out there, I haven't a clue about where to start. If someone has some recommendations about improving, in addition to a book, I'd be very grateful. Thanks.

You know, you can learn book openings right from chess.com

Gosh, there would be so many.

Try:

 'Understanding Chess Move by Move' By GM John Nunn

'Jon Speelman's Chess Puzzle Book' By GM Jon Speelman

+ the 'Excelling at Chess' Series, by IM Jacob Aagaard.

Then, 'My System' by Nimzowitsch.

+ Annotated games collections by any of the greats e.g Tal, Alekhine, Kasparov, Capablanca, Fischer (My 60 Memorable games).

for tactics.. have you ever just gone through tons of problems on a real board? sure it takes a while but it really helps.

I've seen it before, but as I saw it, it just tells you the opening. I want to know more than the 'what' of an opening and I want to know the 'why'. Sure, I could memorize certain openings but it doesn't really advance my understanding of the game. It would be the equivalent of memorizing formulas for a physics class, without understanding how it was derived. Sure, I could write an exam and pass. But I don't want to just pass, I want to do better.

Yeah, I've used the tactics trainer here, and that's pretty solid. I think I just need to start over and approach the game differently. It's like in sports, I'd be one of those teams that makes the playoffs every year but has absolutely no chance of winning the title. You have to tear the team apart, even if you get worse in the short-term. Thanks for the help.

yeah I know what you mean there.

maybe this book would be good-

http://www.chessexam.com/Exam/ce2-cover.jpg

it makes you solve a bunch of problems then shows the areas youre weakest in, plus compares the stats of better players