Your recovery is yours, so you should do whatever you'd like. When I made the decision to go to my first face-to-face OA meeting, I felt completely helpless and out of control; I knew it was what I needed. That being said, not everyone's recovery is the same.
You could go to the OA website and do an Internet chat or a telephone meeting, just to try it out. I've not done the telephone meetings, but I have done the Internet chat. It's similar to a f2f; there's a moderator for the actual meeting time, but also there's usually people in the chat rooms throughout the day that will talk. I've made a few OA e-mail pals that way.
I would recommend the book, but only based off my experience with it. I've loved having my own copy, so that I can read between f2f meetings and reflect and write on what I read. I first purchased the OA 12&12 book, but many meetings also use the AA 12&12. It might seem odd reading about alcoholics, but the program is derived from their program, and it really does apply, I think.
I also ended up buying the AA Big Book (or Blue Book); it really has the entire program outlined in the first few chapters. I've loved reading it. I have For Today and Voices of Recovery (both OA daily devotionals). Until the point where I've been writing and reading both day and night, I had just been reading out of the devotionals, so I could stay in tune with my program. I still read them daily now though that I'm doing a lot more with program.
I have the OA Brown Book (it's kind of similar to the Big Book), but it has stories from compulsive overeaters. I can't explain, but just knowing that there are people who have this problem like I do makes me feel like I'm not alone anymore. And finally, my last book, Lifeline Sampler. Lifeline is an OA-published magazine; this book has excerpts that have been published in the mag. It's a great read as well.
Sorry this was long-winded, but I wanted to give you a good response.
Thinking of joining, at a really low point.
