I studied literature in college and am a completely self taught mathematician. You're right about quality textbooks and topics not geared to beginners, but at

I studied literature in college and am a completely self taught mathematician. You're right about quality textbooks and topics not geared to beginners, but at the same time since I got through learning all the basics (analysis, linear algebra, probability theory, etc.) , I've just followed my interests i.e. messed with my own formulas/proofs/etc. in whatever topic I'm interested in (recently sieve methods) and looked at others results in that area. Anyway, Springer brings out a lot of good books on specific math topics so I'd say look there for learning material. In terms of topics, it helps if you have problems to solve that require maths knowledge i.e. you need to write a compression algorithm so you dig deeper into information theory. Also as a side tip, I allot about an hour daily to just doing math stuffs, like many might with exercise or watching tv. I have to say this has made a huge difference in terms of my ability and math knowledge over time - and its my most favorite part of the day :) Best of luck getting back into maths!