For Visual Basic, I would recommend getting the 'Visual Basic.NET Bible', written by Bill Evjen, Jason Beres and various others. It rpovides an excellent explanation of the differences between v6 and .NET and also has very clear explanations and perfectly understandable example programs for you to try. It certainly helped me to understand much more about the language than I knew already.
As for Java, I would recommend 'Java Collections: Abstract Data Types, Data Structures and Algorithms', written by David Wyatt and Deryck F. Brown. It has excellent explanations of some of the more complex abstraction and data structure concepts within the language. For a more general I would recommend 'Java in Two Semesters'. It's not one that I've read but I've been reliably informed that it's very easy to understand and covers all of the basic concepts. It's designed as a university book but is perfectly suitable for anyone really.
As far as C++.NET books go I would go for the 'Visual C++.NET Bible', by Tom Archer and Andrew Whitechapel. It does have a heavy focus on MFC though If you are looking for something that focuses totally on the specific .NET aspects then I would look elsewhere although it does contain a few chapters on the framework.
Hope this helps.
