Blender is free and it does have a few books available for learning it now.  The interface is known for being difficult and non-intuitive so basic navigation skill will need to be schooled.

Lightwave on the other hand is not free and will take a bite of several hundred dollars even with discount offers.  It has an enormous amount of books, videos, tutorials, etc for learning it because it has been around since computer generated 3D started.  Its interface is known for being easy and very intuitive due to its text based icons.

So the short of it is how much money are you willing to spend?  If you don't have the bucks then Blender is the most obvious choice.  If you have some money to spend that Lightwave would be easier to learn and feature packed.  Remember that the learning material isn't free either and you can spend several hundred dollars on that also.  The advantage is that it is available.  Also, if you do go the Lightwave route then Blender can compliment it so I would say get both; the cost would be the same.  So, the questions isn't  which one Lightwave or Blender but rather Lightwave and Blender or Blender alone.  The choice is yours...