Studying vocabulary

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

My Russian is slipping terribly because I haven't been using it. I need to continue studying, and I think that focusing on vocabulary will be the most useful for me.

How do you choose *which* vocabulary to study?

I don't want to just translate news articles, because that isn't the kind of language that one is going to hear in casual conversation. Likewise, simply opening a dictionary and picking words at random won't direct me to the words I should *focus* on.

Are there any books like "essential Russian vocabulary" or whatnot?