I am a huge common lisp fan and I recommend it to anyone interested in better ways of doing software. Start with Practical Common Lisp: http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/

http://www.cliki.net/ has a lot of useful resources for people who are just starting.

If you prefer a functional language(Common Lisp is multi-paradigm, and isn't particularly better at FP than say python) clojure and scheme are good options. I recently started reading Realm of Racket, which seems like a pretty good introduction to Racket(a scheme like language).

I recommend learning all 3 dialects, all of them deserve deep study and I strongly favor Common Lisp as the most mature and versatile one.

I would instead recommend reading a Common Lisp tutorial, installing SBCL, and start playing. The book is fun, but it won't get you started coding Common Lisp.

Have you seen the Lisp resources on Paul Graham's website? The Lisp FAQ (http://paulgraham.com/lispfaq1.html) answered a lot of my own questions. I've been drawn towards learning lisp for some time too (because it just seems so... different), and this week I finally installed the Clisp implementation and worked through the two online chapters of PG's ANSI Common Lisp book. I wish more programming texts were that clear and fast-paced. The lisp essays are engaging too.

I also wish I had more reasons to use/learn lisp. Everything I do is better suited to another language, it seems like.

You could consider using Clojure, it has a huge community, one principal implementation, a lot of documentation and you can access Java libraries if you want to. I think at the moment it is the most "approachable" Lisp.

Though unlike other Lisps, it does have a functional focus. That is very fine with me, but YMMV.

It's very cool for someone who really wants that extra push to convince themselves that Common Lisp is awesome and is used by awesome people ;)