When I was asking about this earlier, someone reminded me to check what my library had. Great advice. It's saved me at least $100 by checking books out of the library. My library system had both of the Scott Kelby books, Digital SLR and Photography for Dummies and a photography book by John Hedgecoe (can't remember the name, I'll eta when I find it). Might be worth seeing what they have so you don't buy something you can get for free.
ETA: 2 of the books I got from the library that I really like are: The Book of Photography by John Hedgecoe (1995, DK publishers) good book about taking pictures in general. I also really like Step-By-Step Digital Photography by Jack & Sue Drafahl (Copyright page is torn out of book, Amherst Media publishers). Step-By-Step is really simplistic and I almost didn't check it out because I thought it looked too simple, but it is really helpful because I have a hard time understanding a lot of the technical stuff about photography. Turns out I need simple.
Elisabeth
Nikon D40, 18-55mm kit lens & 55-200mm VR lens