I recommend starting off with this because one of the best ways to learn a language is through hearing it, especially when we're just beginning. Plus, getting an idea of how the language sounds before learning to do any reading/writing is advisable.

Another good book, though it is focused (like Pimsleur) on a lot of the traveling/tourist-friendly vocab/usage.

See above. I don't really like one over the other. I think they're both good (I'd recommend getting an older, cheaper edition of this book though, as I did!)

I ADORE this for vocab. You have vocab lists (#s, bathroom, animals, etc) w/ flashcards for practice. What I love is that there's different levels of mastery for each list- "Recognize it", where you see French & think/say the English, "Produce it" where you see French & type the English, "Know it" where you see English & think/say the French, & "Own it" where you see English & type the French.

Every now and then, motivation is lost, or you just get busy with life and you temporarily abandon your French books. These exercises are great for refreshment or review, whether you've studied French for a whole year, or even a few days (the first chapter is really, really basic and even someone with little to no French knowledge could figure out how to complete it)

This is a great supplement for learning how to pronounce in French. I would recommend it to those who already have a decent background in French - know the alphabet, different spelling combinations, reading at a basic level because otherwise it's hard to keep up and retain all the information you're hearing on these tapes/CDs.

I love this book. It helps you do exactly what the title says.

For some reason, verb conjugations never stuck with me when I used the textbooks, so I got this practice book and it's helped quite a bit.

...or, you know, any French movie. Even taking an English-language movie and just switching it into French mode (and/or French subtitles) - also good practice!