I read the mcgrawhill book for 70-290 and passed (also attended a night class) For other exams I have used MS press books, mcgrawhill and Sybex. I Still class 70-290 as the hardest MS exam I did.
what you get out of a self study book depends on your experience (perhaps the ones on ebay got bad reviews because the people trying to sell them didnt understand it) and on the author, McGraw hill have had some shockers.
Personally I would recommend the MS press books as they are no more expensive, you usually get a eval copy of windows and some practise tests which are good. Most importantly, they MS books dont just cover how to pass, they are more thorough in explaing concept and best pratices, that said, the down side of this is you will be reading stuff you "wont need in the exam", this is outweighed by the benefits of learning about the product, not just learning how to pass.
Note that some books may be not be updated to cover the simulations in the revised MS exams, not a major thing if you know your way around windows though.
