As far as HDL capability, Verilog was built keeping gate level theory in mind and VHDL is more suited for system level, but both work very well in between ( algorithm, RTL, and logic ). Generally, a beginner will start with Verilog and more advanced users will move to VHDL. When looking for Verilog books, there are not nearly as many as there are VHDL books. The books by Pong P. Chu are among the best to learn from because by dedicating to a specific development board, the hardware part of the equation is taken out from the loop. His books:

VHDL:
http://www.amazon.com/FPGA-Prot...480&sr=8-2

Verilog:
http://www.amazon.com/FPGA-Prot...480&sr=8-7

You can even get the development board here:
http://digilentinc.com/Products/...at=10&FPGA

This board does not require a JTAG programmer, as the programming is done with their microcontroller source code. The board is all you need with the book, I believe.

After finishing these books a more advanced book:
http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-...480&sr=8-3

A direct comparison of the two languages that seems like the guy knows what he is talking about:
http://www.angelfire.com/in/rajesh...gvhdl.html

Of course, there are a huge number of suppliers of fpgas and their development software can be confusing. I have been told that Xilinx works extremely hard at trying to realize the synthesis portion of the fpga where the code is actually transformed into hardware. I have not heard much about the competitors do the same. I do know that you pay a stiff price for Xilinx and a cheaper vendor like Lattice sells their packages for about 1/3 the price, but you do get what you pay for. There are no open source development platforms that will take VHDL or Verilog and create a .bit file for an FPGA.

For the purposes of those books above, Xilinx has a free Webpack ISE that can be used to start learning right away, once the board and book have been had.