Mary

I'm in the middle of Maria Ruiz Scaperlanda's The Complete Idiot's Guide to Mary of Nazareth. While I don't consider myself a complete idiot (my wife might give an argument to that statement) I do feel that there is usually something I can stand to learn about any subject.
This book is very well written, and while I'm not yet found any large nuggets of unknown knowledge I have found a very reverently written guide to Mother Mary's importance to God's plan for our redemption and very good reasons why she is worthy of adoration.

Now only God is worth of worship, or as it is said in Latin latria. We venerate the Saints, or in the Latin give them adoration, doulia. This is because they, by the actions of thier lives give us an example, as would an older sibling. For Mary we reserve a special kind of veneration, hyperdoulia. This is because by her unreserved devotion to God's path, from the very beginning, she shows us how we should respond to God's love for us. Mary held our salvation in her choice, because like all of us she had the ability to say no to God. Instead she said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord," and spent the rest of her life pointing the way to her Son.

In the appendix to the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is a number of traditional prayers, many of which are too seldom prayed in this modern time. They include The Angelus, The Regina Caeli, Under your Protection, and the Memorare, all prayers of intercession to Our Holy Mother.
Get it! It's very cheap in paperback and free online.