cheapart is selling art finally.
I started out with the book Learning Hiragana and Katakana. I have somewhat mastered the Hiragana and Katakana pronunciations and know about 30-40 words (all of which are probably completely useless except maybe subway).
I started on my second book Japanese Step by Step in an effort to learn A. More words B. Better pronunciation C. Conversation skills.
I have also purchased Kanji In a Day, a cool little paper cube that teaches you Kanji characters. I am suppose to learn one a day, but I think I will do more than that each day until they get harder.