A Listing of Suggested Prayer Books
The Jordanville Prayer book: good translation (for the most part) and reasonably complete. It uses the Psalter According to the Seventy produced by Holy Transfiguration Monastery. For ROCA parishioners, this is the best one to use, because of the translation. The edition currently available is the work of Fr. Lawrence (Campbell). This book is nearly identical to the one published by Holy Transfiguration. The main difference is that there are many additional morning and evening prayers. Full text now online!
A Prayer Book for Orthodox Christians (translated from the Greek and published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery): Especially good for those in a Greek parish. Contains Morning Prayers and Prayers at Mealtime, and the complete service of Small compline, Vespers, Matins, and the Divine Liturgy, together with the principle hymns of the feasts of the year, and the complete Service of Pascha. Also included are the Akathis Hymn to our Sweet Lord Jesus Christ, the Akathist Hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos, a supplicatory Canon to our Lord Jesus Christ, both the Small and Great Supplicatory Canons to the Most Holy Theotokos (translated to fit the Greek melodies), a Supplicatory canon to the Guardian Angel, and the Communion Prayers. Legible type in a volume that can easily be held, for use at home and at church, printed in black and red throughout. 382 pp.
The Old Orthodox Prayer Book, or as it is commonly referred to The Old Believer Prayer Book: This prayer book has a lot of useful instructional material, and a lot of services that are set up such that they can be done as reader services (such as a Moleben). It also has the Slavonic text and the English text on facing pages. The disadvantage to it is the Slavonic text is not the standard text used by the Church (being the Old Rite) and so it differs in wording, and often in structure. Nevertheless, it is quite useful. This prayer book was produced for use by the Old Rite community in Erie, Pennsylvania (ROCA).
The St. Tikhon's Prayer book (Slavonic/English Edition): This prayer book is particularly useful in parishes in which both English and Slavonic are used. The disadvantage for ROCA users is that the English translation differs from that in standard use in the ROCA, but it's utility when in a service that alternates back and forth outweighs this disadvantage. So until Jordanville puts out a bilingual edition of the Jordanville Prayer book, this is a good one to have if you are in a bilingual Russian parish.
The Service of Preparation for Holy Communion, with Akathists to Our Saviour and Theotokos (Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1986): this is an excellent, small pocket book. It is one of the few, if not the only, texts in English for the Greek practice of preparing for Communion (the slightly different Russian practice is contained in the Jordanville prayer book). This book is handy because of its size. One can easily carry it to church in a breast pocket or purse. The prayers for thanksgiving after Holy Communion, which are not read aloud in many parishes today, can then be privately read by the communicant following the service. Note: the entire text of this pocket book is contained in the larger Prayer Book published by Holy Transfiguration (above).
The Book of Akathists (Holy Trinity Monastery): an excellent book containing 23 Akathists, which include an Akathist to the Trinity, several to the Lord and to the Mother of God, many important saints, and an Akathist for the repose of the departed. It is $30, plus $3 dollars postage and handling. It is well worth the money—in fact, the Akathist for the repose of the departed is well worth the money alone.