Books and what nots

Ok I started a artist(music) site and was using xoops as a base. I started altering some of the code( well the bits that were easy) to suit what I thought I'd need.Well since doing this , I have found this to be no where near what I had hoped to achieve. So I've decided to bite the bullet and start from from the beginning. I'm a complete beginner to php and mysql. I brought a book called ' mysql/php database applications' but most of this just flys over my head. Anyway getting to the point, what is a good book or web site for a complete newbie. all my questions i have been asking have been so that i could alter xoops and you guys have been great, but the time has come for me to get serious and start learning php. I'm not getting any younger and time is starting to fly. Thanks