I recommend the Lee reloading book, as well as the one from Lyman. The Lee manual has a lot of good reading and good practical information. The Lyman book has a good general selection of jacketed and cast lead bullet loads, and has a bonus set of tables in the back that are just for the Contender and Encore pistols.
If you don't mind measuring, setting up the case trimmer and dies, then you might not mind forming your own cases for a wildcat like the 357 Herret. You mostly have to be cautious when your first setting up to make the first one or two cases, after that not to bad. The 357 Herrett and many others like the 7mm TCU headspace off the shoulder, not the rim. You have to be careful not to push the shoulder back too far when you're first forming the case, or the accuracy will be horrible.
I don't mind fiddling with a wildcat cartridge, the results can be very rewarding! The 7mm TCU (for example), is a neat little cartridge formed by expanding the neck of a .223 case up to 7mm. Very accurate if it's done right, but a little finicky to load because it's very easy to crush the brass if the bullet doesn't just slide right in. I also have a 270 REN that's made by stretching a 22 Hornet case up to .270, then trimming about 1/8" off of it. Most of the time, I get about 3-4 out of every 5 cases to turn out great. Pretty often, the parent case will split open and must be thrown away. Like I said, it's a piddler's hobby.
I wouldn't recommend attempting a wildcat until you've gotten pretty familiar with the reloading process for some other standard calibers like the 30-30, 308, 44 Mag, etc. etc. That way you'll be very familiar with setting up dies and making fine adjustments before attempting to load for a wildcat (some are easier to load, some require a lot of care).
If you're into traditional archery, then you'll love to reload.
