I got one of these a few years back and its perfect for me.
http://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-130p-flextube.html
Its a 5" Dobsonian.
It extends, so when you are not using it, you can just pick it up by the handle and carry it around, because of its size it it also quite portable, I have taken mine to Scotland, Cornwall, anywhere I go if Im in the car I always put it in the boot.
For the money, it is a very good scope.
It comes, like any Skywatcher with three half decent eyepieces, but you can of course buy more, I have loads now!
Ive seen lots of stuff with it , Jupiter, Saturn, some messier objects, even saw the Comet panstarrs
, moon viewing is awesome...
Being a 5" of course it will struggle with seeing anything to high Magnitude, but in a dark enough site I think you would be happy.
One thing you will not be able to do with it is Astrophotography, but if you want to go down that route you would need to spend a whole load more money anyway.
I would recommend reading the Stargazerslounge forums , loads of good info on there! -
http://stargazerslounge.com/
Good seeing is essential with any scope though, the darker the site the better.
I did take a pic of Saturn, but I had to hold my Samsung up to the eyepiece, so my hands were shaking all over the shop, managed to get something though...
Bookwise, there is one called 'Turn left at Orion' ,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972, this is very popular.
Personally, I just bought a three year star chart book -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-Sta...TF8&qid=1416489158&sr=1-3&keywords=star+chart - something similar to this , I will give you the start charts as well as telling you what to look out for at certain times of that particular year.