I highly recommend taking a class. I had a really hard time with internalizing the information when reading books and even more so when reading my manual. I've taken classes by this team of pro photographers and they are excellent. My husband first gave me the class/safari workshop as my birthday gift last year. I loved it. Then last month I had purchased the same class for my husband by groupon. But it turned out he couldn't go to the class dates, so I went again! I was able to absorb even more since I had figured out the basics. I'm sure there are lots of great classes out there, but this one is a winner, and they travel all over the country.
http://www.capturingtrueemotion.com/wor ... -workshops
It looks like they only have 2 cities on the schedule right now, but they regularly add more and I think they always run a Groupon when they get it all set up. So watch out for that. Also, if anyone wants to sign up, I have a code that reduces the $450 price tag down to $125...which is an excellent deal for the 6+ hours of instruction you'll get. Just send me a PM and I'll give it to you.
Even if you just read their blog you'll get lots of great info.
I also like reading
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/ for lots of cool tips and composition ideas.