On courses we use "Minna no Nihongo" for grammar, new words, dialogs, exercises & listening and "Basic Kanji Book" for learning kanji (there're readings there & order of strokes).
Before I went to the corses, I've read the book "Ultimate Japanese" & the knowledge I've got from it made my studies easier. The only minus of the book is that it's in romaji. But grammar is written rather clear & there's a CD to it.
example of pages
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/9486/page012k.jpg
http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/9582/page013.jpg
And may be it'll be worth to consult with "Oxford Japanese Grammar"