Toba Garrett's new book is good- any of Colette Peters' books, A book called Pretty Party Cakes (not sure of the author). I also have a great book called Encyclopedia of Cakes and Cake Decorating- it is a huge book full of techniques, cakes and recipes.
Books are my addiction too!!! 
I like the Mich Turner book myself. I think you need to see what style of cake interests you. A lot of people like the collette Peters books, but it really isnt my style.
I have seen the Pretty Party Cakes at the book store and almost bought it. It is a bit pricey here in Canada. I did buy the Two Hour Party Cakes by Carol Deacon last month. She has how to make some animals, babies and other figures out of fondant or gumpaste. I made the babies for a baby cake and found it very easy to follow.
I have Toba Garrett's Professional Cake Decorating and it's great and all, but I was looking at her The Well-Decorated Cake at BN and I liked it better because of the pictures and instructions; it wasn't as textbooky as PCD, which is more of a serious "this, this, this". . .TWDC also is better quality in regards to photography and pages (PCD is more of a recycled paper kinda book) and that's key in my book (no pun intended 
).
My vote goes to Toba Garrett's The Well-Decorated Cake. There is a great magazine called "Wedding Cakes" printed in England that is full of fabulous cake ideas! JoAnn's has them occasionally ($13-14) otherwise they are sold online. LandofMags.com has a one-year subscription - $60!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I bought mine for $39 at cooking.com, but TWDC is only $14.95 and it comes w/ as good (if not better w/ the good pictures) instruction. I think PCD is way too high in price and is just priced that way because it's written as if it were a textbook.
I would gladly spend $30 on TWDC rather than all that money on PCD. I rarely ever use it. . .it's always in the cupboard.
nglez09, my husband bought me a copy of that magazine for my birthday yesterday and I was so thrilled! I'd seen it online and thought it was so gorgeous. And yes, it is full of great inspiration.
I also LOVE to buy the books. I just recieved Margaret Braun's "Cakewalk" and Kerry Vincent's "Romantic Wedding Cakes" from Amazon today (birthday presents to myself!) They are both beautiful and full of information.
I personally like Toba Garrett's "Professional Cake Decorating". You have to be willing to read and study it like a student and follow the lessons, but it is full of good information. "Cake Expressions" by Dottie Smith is a very lovely and realistic book. Her cakes look like cakes, and you wish you could take a swipe of her icing and eat it right off the page.
Oh, don't get me wrong PCD is a great book and is full of information, but I think for the price at which they sold it, they should have made it like TWDC, with good pictures on good paper. Lol. I'm sorry, I'm weird like that, I like the books to be of good quality. The info is great, it just looks boring unlike TWDC.
my favorites are mich turners, spectacular cakes and all of colette peters! i saw toba garrett's book at the book store. i think i'll look through it a bit to see what i think before investing in it.
This may shock you, but Wal-Mart actually has these books. You can only buy them online at walmart.com, and they charge you .99 shipping. I bought Pretty Party Cakes by Peggy Porschen on there for $16, they have all the Colette Peters books and Toba's.
I also get my books from Half.com
My best bargain was a BEST EVER CAKE DECORATING for 7.98 at Barnes & Noble, great book, would like to find more of these bairgains!!!
I found a book for $10 at Borders. I'm really, really inexperienced and found it very easy to understand. It was published by Borders, but I can't remember the name. It seemed to be from the UK since it used terms that I've only seen on UK websites and books, etc. Great find!
I really like "First Steps in Cake Decorating" by Janice Murfitt, it's a good book for a beginner like me. I 've got it at the local library. Tobba Garrett's "The Well-Decorated Cake" is pretty good book. Betty Crocker's tutorial DVD "Decorating Made Easy" has helped me a lot too. 
I am a big Lindy Smith fan. She does more of novelty cakes, but they are extremely impressive! Her Celebrate With A Cake is great as well as Storybook Cakes. She will be having a another one coming out this July and I can't wait to get my hands on it!
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