There are an awful lot of books out there covering all aspects of programming in these languages.
Personally, I would recommend Zed A Shaw's book Learn Python the Hard Way. The style is easy going and gives you exercises that force you to think about how you can apply them to real situations. Zed also has an extremely good blog that is well worth following.
For C++, I would go with the excellent Programming Principles and Practice Using C++ by Bjarne Stroustrup. Bjarne is the designer and original implementer of C++, as well as the author of The C++ Programming Language and A Tour of C++, and many popular and academic publications. He is a professor of Computer Science at Columbia University in New York City.
Both these books will really help you understand core concepts as well as give you the enthusiasm to go on and create your own projects.