My main is a monk, but my beastlord is one of the more fun characters in my account. For one thing, it is what I believe to be the fastest solo leveler I have ever played up to level 30. I could handle all the grime tunnelers, fiends, and shrooms in Paludal until level 18 solo, most of which my alts have had to rest for some time after killing. After some bandit grouping until 23-24 I headed to echo caverns where needlites carried me to 29 in a few days.
For spells, all I can suggest is eq.castersrealm.com. They provide names of vendors for each spell, the area he/she is located in, and an exact loc of the vendor.
Race wise, all of them have their ups and downs. Iksar and trolls have regen, but level 20% slower. Ogres have huge melee stats, but level almost as slowly as the previous two. Vah shir and barbarians level at a more normal pace, but neither of them have the regenerative capabilities or innate power of the evil races. I'd just pick the one with the pet you like. I personally wanted a kitty, so I went ahead and made one. Haven't looked back since. This class is also quite self sufficient from what I've seen, and with the exception of maybe a pair of weapons, almost no twinking is required. Right now I'm wielding a Fallen Froglok's Scepter primary and a Crystalline Spider Fang secondary, with no problems. I keep H2H up with a Polished Steel Ulak. Until I get my epic I really don't see myself using H2H a whole lot, since 1hb and piercing tend to be more powerful. Hope my ramblings help a little.