not sure about a FAQ. You couldn't go far wrong with authors like Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld. They were two passionate amateur, American chess players who wrote instructional books about tactics, the opening, the endgame and so forth. I know a fair few very strong players who started off with Chernev's book "Logical Chess : Move by Move" and loved and learned from it.
Have a look at those titles by these authors.
i play around 1000-1050 and recently got this book from the local library and found it very helpful- good basic ideas, easy to understand, and its not just game after game w/o indepth analysis. good in my opinion
The Amateur's mind : turning chess misconceptions into chess mastery / by Jeremy Silman.
With the money you invest in a chess book, you could also invest here on chess.com for Tactics Trainer.
For $30, you get a year's worth of Tactics Trainer with 25 puzzles each day. For $49, you get unlimited access to the training. Learning these ideas will help you better understand (subliminally) where to develop your pieces. I would consider that, at your level, before I bought any books. Plus, play something like 1. e4 - this way, you get your pieces out quick! Once you get an idea of how to develop and get a decent attack going, then maybe looking into a book or two isn't a bad idea.
http://www.chess.com/membership.html?c=account
Here is the link to upgrade your chess.com account. It may be one of the best things you can do for yourself as a beginning chess player. It costs pennies each day, and the payback will be great in terms of your rating increasing! Hope this helps!
http://danheisman.home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Events_Books/General_Book_Guide.htm
Here is a link to a book list by respected chess teacher Dan Heisman-NM. Hope this helps. Also I have to agree with what BirdBrain said.
@ dm33
Take a look at the Study Plans Directory on chess.com.
http://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory
-Martin
Read Chess for Idiots (helps a lot) and the recommendations in the book.
This site has several articles on books for beginner chess players.
I think my first playing strength was around 1000 but that was a few years ago.
logical chess by irving chernev is a nice book,
i'm half-way through it already and i'm enjoying it.... you may get lucky like me and find it in your local library
instead of buying a book, invest the same amount of moola in a chess.com membership and you will have access to what you need and more C:
http://www.chess.com/video/player/everything-you-need-to-know-the-opening
http://www.chess.com/video/player/everything-you-need-to-know-the-endgame
http://www.chess.com/video/player/everything-you-need-to-know-bringing-it-together
http://www.chess.com/video/player/everything-you-need-to-know-tactics--strategy
http://www.amazon.com/Play-Winning-Chess-Yasser-Seirawan/dp/1857443314
Comprehensive Chess Course Vols 1 and 2 (this is just one book though, not two) by Lev Alburt is very good.
I'd leave "Reassess your Chess" for a bit until you're stronger.
Ok, a bit of info:
While I'm NOT a particularly good chess player myself, I do volunteer to lead my son's school team -- which amounts to basically being there to answer questions and show Danny Rensch videos ;) But I'm a bit better than 900 so I do have some basis for my answer.
My suggestion is Dan Heisman's "Everyone's Second Chess Book."
Simply put, this book is written for precisely a person in the OP's situation -- a beginning adult who wants to improve. What's great about Dan's book is that Dan recognizes how adults learn differently from kids, and he brings his many years of coaching and teaching experience to this book in a very accessible way.
Kingpatzer, I have looked for this book. It was supposed to have another printing per Dan's web page but that has been postponed. Any ideas where to find it without over paying for a used on at amazon
This is dated and probably many of the books are outdated, but you will get the general idea.
http://chesspowa.blogspot.com/2009/04/ken-smiths-chess-improvement-course.html
@Bronco70
in lieu of the book, there is of course 10 years worth of Dan's work at chesscafe.com in the archive section!
Bronco70 I don't know where to get it legally beyond waiting for a new printing. You might try writing to Dan and asking him - he's actually quite good at answering e-mails.
Kingpatzer, I have looked for this book. It was supposed to have another printing per Dan's web page but that has been postponed. Any ideas where to find it without over paying for a used on at amazon
This is absolute insanity. I just did a quick ebay/amazon check and found asking prices ranging from $75 to over $1400. I doubt that even the lower asking prices are selling. Yeah, wait for the next printing. I like Dan's books, but this is nuts. 
I am doing nothing more than regugitating Dan Heisman's advice, which has already been linked. However, to help you narrow down on the areas which I think would have the most impact I suggest:
Study this book: http://www.chessforstudents.com/store/shop/item.asp?itemid=2
Learn these principals: http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/Dan_sayings.html
Spend your time according to the "four homeworks": http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman68.pdf
As has been said before, you could use an online tactics trainer such as the one listed here but be careful that you aren't doing too many advanced problems. Online trainers will normally push your limits and give you harder problems as you get better but one of the key things you need to do is have easy problems memorized - like the alphabet or multiplication tables - so you don't even have to think to create and stop them.
If you only had the money to buy one book - then I would get a game collection rather than a tactics book - because I find it very difficult to locate well annotated games for free online. If money is not a concern - buy the Bain book and Chernev's Logical chess.
While it is not a book - a decent chess program to help you find tactical blunders you missed is required. Analyzing your losses to find areas for improvement is one of the "four homeworks". I did not do this for years but I find that reviewing a loss with another player or at least a chess engine is very valuable. If you don't already have something there are some good free and pay-for programs that can easily be found via an internet search.
Good luck!
I've been playing chess for many years since I was in elementary school. I beat the school chess champ in middle school. But on chess.com my rating has topped out at 1003 and then sank during a long bad spell to 850. I apparently haven't learned much in all these years of playing mediocre chess.
I'd like to get a better understanding of concepts of chess strategy. Is there a book or books that is generally accepted as helpful for someone at my rating.
I'm sure this question gets asked all the time. Is there a FAQ somewhere which keeps a list of current book recommendations? Would be nice to have people be able to vote on book recommendations so it can stay current without any one person having to manage it.