For discussion of books see the lockpicking/smithing book reviews thread in the general forum. It seems the favourites are the LSS book and the freely available MIT guide. You can find LSS at
www.security.org and the MIT guide all over the net, findable via google.
As for locks, the general advice is to start with pin tumblers. There is a thread with a list of good easy-to-pick brands in the european forum.
Good luck; I'm pretty new myself and find the hobby to be increasingly interesting and consuming. I hope you do too :)