lol - duolingo is a little better than that, it's very useful & easy & nicely progressive. I have a ton of books but haven't torn into them at all. I got a new book on Audible that seems decent & cheap. It's called "Learn intermediate Spanish bundle", I just got one of those titles.
I can have very basic conversations, last week I was surprised with a conversation I had with a Mexican woman, we were able to talk for ~5 minutes, very basic but still fun.