Jennie, almost any translation of the Bible is good. I especially like the King James Version because, to me, it's "poetic." Some people have trouble with the "thees and thous." There's a New King James Translation that is also good and a bit simpler and clearer to read. The New International Version is also good. I think this one is a study Bible and gives you annotations to reference to. The New Testament will reference you back to the Old Testament so that you can see where things were prophecied or foretold. If I'm correct in the translation, it also has questions at the bottom of each page with answers and references.

Like I suggested before, read the Gospel of John. That book brought Jesus to light for me. The Gospel of Luke has a lot more detail but is more about things that happened and how they happened rather than Jesus himself.

Something of interest is that these apostles didn't do the actual writing of that particular book. The New International Version tells you who is thought to have written that particular gospel and why it was given that name.

For historical facts, the book "Josephus" is good, although I'm told it's a heavy book to read. Josephus was a historian, not an apostle.

If I've flubbed up any of my info, I'm sure Sky will correct it. She's the one with all the "book learnin'".