Beginning Java 7 is a comprehensive Java 7 language overview. This was my book I choose to prepare for Java Certification exam as it contains complete and through description of all possible language constructs. Liking it as any Java feature or option is here to verify and remeber back.
This is probably about as good of a "beginning"-level Java book as any other out there. It's a little bit of a language reference, a little bit of a guided tour, and a little bit of discussion. A little bit dry, but it suits the book's aims. I don't really recommend reading it front-to-back, but if you're new to Java then it's worth at least reading the first 250-ish pages, and then cherry-picking the rest of what you need. (It didn't blow me away, but I'm glad I read it, and it gave me some of the foundational knowledge I needed.)