I'm a big fan of O'Reily books. They're kinda small compared by standards of other books, but it's quality not quantity.
The html book that i own is this huge 1000 pager called ... The Complete Reference: HTML it's written by Powell and is published by osbourne.... It has a lot of nice examples in it as well as some um... directions as to where things might go..
Other than that, it really depends, I don't like the dummies books, they're really sub standard, and not for anybody that isn't a complete novice. Also the "Learn.... in 21 days" aren't all that great cause they skip things.
But when you're at the book store, flip through a couple of pages in the book. Make sure you can understand what is being said as well as examples of things. Pocket reference books are just for that reference, don't expect to learn things from them.
if you need more help, talk to a person that works there. Barnes and Noble Staff is really good about know at least something about books, and they're a lot better than the bastards at borders...
good luck
