Aren't there some good books that show an overview of what programming is all about? For example, those at

http://olympiads.win.tue.nl/ioi/study/books.html

include a few quite accessible books (and several more that are very hard).

How about guidance into C via The Art and Science of C: A Library Based Introduction to Computer Science by Eric S. Roberts

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Library-Introduction-Compu...

or guidance into LISP with the famous Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) textbook?

http://www.amazon.com/Structure-Interpretation-Computer-Prog...