Depends on your current level and location. I have no idea about books available outside of Japan and beginner books, but I'll do my best to answer your question.
"Remembering the Kanji" is a series by some professor of Japanese who teaches in Japan. This approach to learning kanji is not for everyone since the meaning, pronunciation and combinations are taught separately. Also the books are quite expensive and do not cover actual speech/grammar. They are just for kanji.
"Japanese for Busy People" is a series that I prefer over the Minna no Nihongo (Japanese for everyone) series. I suppose this would be good for beginners but honestly I have no clue. I studied at a university where the professor wrote her own textbook.
Free stuff from the internet is also a good idea.
Tae Kim's Japanese guide to Japanese grammar has the clearest explanations of Japanese grammar and spoken Japanese I have ever read. Listening stuff, I honestly do not enjoy the podcasts out there for learning Japanese. However that being said, for someone not living in Japan and exposed to Japanese they are a good tool to use. Either download from iTunes in the podcast section or google for some choices.