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I'm newish too. I discovered strength (ie free weights) earlier in the year when I was looking for some alternative to gym machines. I found a woman who did personal coaching in olympic weightlifting by skype. Unfortunately she stopped doing it after I only had a few sessions so I drifted away after that. Here is the site anyway as it has lots of interesting information: http://www.womensstrengthcoach.com/.
A google search will bring up lots of sites with good info like this one: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/womens-strength-training-guide.htm
Someone else in this group recommended Scooby's Workshop http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Now I want to start again but only know enough from those first few sessions so I need to read a book to get a more complete understanding of what I want. The guys at the gym are all trained in ways that don't suit the routine I'm looking for.

I have just ordered The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess by Lou Schuler (9781583333396). Another one that looks good is Woman's Guide to Muscle and Strength, A: Irene Lewis-McCormick: 9780736090353.

I went with Schuler because that looks like the closest to what I liked about what I was previously doing:
Short sessions only 2-3 times a week
Focus on weight and form rather than frequent repetitions
Circuits rather than many continuous sets
Full body rather than isolation of muscle groups.
No/limited use of machines.

I plan on getting back into it this week. I'd be interested in hearing how you go. Good luck!

NROLFW is great, the lifts are a little complicated after stage 1, and in the long run (all 7 stages/6 months) it gets repetitive. Stage 1 and Stage 3 are the same, so it's good in that you can compare your lifts and see if you're lifting more than before, but worse in that it is another month of doing the same workouts. Stages 2 and 4 are the same as well. I personally got tired of NROFLW and felt like I could do a more intermediate program by Stage 5. I felt like nrolfw was getting repetitive and that I was tired of thinking so much about the complicated lifts. Like lunges with your back foot raised, or one legged squats, or dumbbell snatches and such. They're all great lifts and work your muscles REALLY well, but I just felt like it made the gym stressful for me, always looking for equipment and moving from one place to another and had to have my guide paper with me and writing things down and also the workouts are LONG. Like 1.5 hours in the gym - 2 hours long. I am doing my PhD now so I don't always have that time.

BUT, it's a GREAT book. Like seriously please read it cover to cover, ESPECIALLY the part about how much to eat, how cardio isn't necessary all the time, and how building muscle works etc, hwat lifting will do to your body, why to do it. It's all really well written and great information. It's a quick and joyful read. I also think it's a great program for beginners.

When I say beginners I mean like really beginners. I had never even been to a gym when I started. Like I was terrified of the olympic bar, the men in the gym, and the dumbbells. It's a great program to introduce you to the gym and to help you realize how much you can lift. The first stage starts you with higher reps fewer sets, because it assumes that as a beginner lifter, you don't even realize how much you can lift. Eventually the later stages start encouraging you to lift more and low reps like 4-6 reps. That helped me because I was that person exactly, the first stage I thought 30 lbs was heavy for squats, but I quickly realized that as the reps dropped, I could do a lot more. It was a great introduction. Also, the book has good instructions on warm ups and on FORM, as it shows you how to do each lift.

Also, it's a full program, it has a nutrition guide if you want it, meals, recipes, workouts, and training logs you can print.

BUT, if you want something more simple and straightforward, I recommend Stronglifts 5x5.
It's free and simple, there are two different workouts, each one has 3 compound lifts. Alternate workouts 3x per week. Each lift is 5 sets of 5 reps (5x5), except deadlifts which is 1x5 (1 set of 5). It's simple, has an app to track the workouts, and it's always the same. I love it. Gets the job done! But I don't think I could have handled that when I first started lifting.

Feel free to PM me with questions!