TITLE: Reference for Algebraic Geometry
QUESTION [27 upvotes]: I tried to learn Algbraic Geometry through some texts, but by Commutative Algebra, I left the subject; many books give definitions and theorems in Commutative algebra, but do not explain why it is needed.
Can one suggest a good reference to learn this subject geometrically, which would also give ways to translate geometric ideas in algebraic manner, possibly through examples?
Particularly, I am interested in differentials on algebraic curves, Riemann-Roch theorem, various definitions of genus and their equivalences, and mainly groups related to complex algebraic curves such as group of automorphisms, monodromy group etc.

REPLY [7 votes]: It was mentioned by Mariano in a comment, but it deserves to be in its own answer:
Miles Reid's book Undergraduate algebraic geometry is a really good introduction to the subject.  (Don't get put off by the title: I routinely recommend this book to beginning graduate students.)
At a more advanced level, a text which goes quite some way in algebraic geometry, but uses no commutative algebra to speak of, is Griffiths and Harris.  (The prerequisites are familiarity with algebraic and differential topology at the beginning graduate level.)