If you only read one book on Swing
Tags: Swing
You must read Filthy Rich Clients by Chet Haase and Romain Guy. I really think the subtitle should be the definitive guide to Swing. I'm only about 1/6 of the way through it and already have gotten dozens of ideas. Each chapter has several little examples that each spawn an "A-ha" moment. Chapter 19, my favorite, takes you through the process of designing the UI for Aerith with scans of scribbles and design flows. It makes it very organic and approachable.
Full disclosure: Romain Guy is one of my mentors for the Google Summer of Code and I am also conversant in French. Neither of which should be held against me. The book is available on pre-order from Amazon.com and in electronic format from Safari Rough Cuts. Lol.