If you're going to be using Perl for CGIs, I recommend (once you have the basics under your belt) that you read the articles that Randal Schwartz (
merlyn, here) wrote for
Web Techniques magazine. Each one picks a problem, solves it, and provides a line-by-line code walkthrough. A careful study of these articles helped me up the learning curve when I was starting out.
merlyn's articles can be found here. I recommend having a copy of the "Camel" book within reach.