First of all, I have tried to avoid Perl for a long time. I always thought the syntax was horrendous and could not imagine wanting to use the language. But then, my opinion didn't matter anymore. I had to learn Perl and use it in a production environment. Oh boy. A friend recommended the Programming Perl book by Christiansen, foy & Wall. Luckily the newest version came out, 4th edition.
To make a long story short, the book is excellent. Going from overview to the gory details (actual section name) with clear examples. The book serves two main goals in my opinion: 1- Introduce the Perl language and eco system, 2- act as a quick reference.
If you are starting off with Perl, or thrown into it like me, you cannot go wrong with this book. It will save you a lot of time searching around the web. Buy this book.