Hosting
I’ve been hosting my web sites at Dreamhost for years. They aren’t the cheapest guys around but they run a good, reliable service and for modest hobby sites like mine, they work great. They have a one click install of WordPress that I used to get up and running fast, and I took that short cut back in June 2016 but then didn’t really do much with the site because I wasn’t clear on where to start — and perhaps wasn’t sufficiently motivated to learn at that time.
Learning
To learn how to use WordPress, I have been working through the Lynda.com course “WordPress Essential Training” featuring mor10 and it is delightful and moves briskly yet has given me enough foundational knowledge to start building. Disclosure: Lynda.com was acquired by LinkedIn years ago, then Microsoft bought LinkedIn a few years later. I work for Microsoft, so technically speaking I am recommending a service from my employer.
Years ago, as in back in the 2002-2004 time frame, I did some work with guys building an early site builder tool (I think it was Westside?) which used some of the same concepts as WordPress. That experience kinda helped me get my head around WordPress quickly.