For beginner I highly recommend the use of a "Basic". Some of the basic languages out there are not really basic and they are fairly advanced. Give them a try before you move onto more advanced languages. Here's two of the more popular basics for games:

Blitz3D - http://www.blitzbasic.com
DarkBasic - http://www.thegamecreators.com

Do you plan on doing 2D or 3D? Games for PCs or cell phones or other?

General Java Game Programming books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=Java%20Game%20Programming& tag=alldevs-20&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=932 5

Java3D books:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=Java3D&tag=alldevs-20&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=932 5

Mobile platform:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=mobile%20game%20programmin g&tag=alldevs-20&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=932 5

Hope that helps a bit.

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