I started reading the JavaScript bible of Mr. Crockford 'JavaScript: The Good Parts'. But this was hard stuff for a reentry in the JavaScript cosmos after a few years of abstinence. Although this book covers the really main and important points, you should have some practise in the language itself by working this book. Of similar quality and covering most of the typical design patterns is the book JavaScript Patterns written by Stoyan Stefanov. I found it easier to read and understandable than Crockford. For exploring node.js I read Node.js & Co by Golo Roden that covers the main aspects of node.js by following the development of a sample application. I hadn't worked it through completely but I found it well structured and easy to understand.
That was a short summary of my JavaScript experience during the first months of 2013. The functional approach and its dynamic are some good parts of the language. But I do not wonder why Google invented Dart as an alternative language for the web. Building huge applications with JavaScript must be hard and could only be done with a bunch of very experienced, talented and disciplined developers and such are not always easy to find ;-)
