Java The Complete Reference book is perhaps the good read for beginners, given its crisp and detailed explanations of basic JAVA concepts.
The book will help you a lot in diving the vast ocean of JAVA and will give a strong base over the language to help you in learning further.I am not saying that this is the best book for java but it is very useful.if you really want to be a good java programmer and you are a beginner then I will recommend JAVA HEAD FIRST, which is very good book and you will not feel bored when you read it