i'm no expert by far, but from what i have read - northern lights are good for new growers. i am sure there are alot of others also. check out the strain guide over at overgrow.com.
Depends on what you are looking for it to do.. When I first grew I wanted a low odor plant... Here is some that I would reccomend in order of importance: Just a plain old bag seed: Easy to get, and dont have to worry about lost funds if you fail on growing. Best all rounder: Top 44, Fast, low odor, ok yeild, and pretty cheap to grow.. Fast Growing: Top 44 Low Odor: Cinderella 99, is what I went with my first grow Big Buds: Big Bud Bag seeds are good for just learning, I personally didn't like growing bag seeds due to I basically knew nothing about the plants genetics except it got me high 2 weeks before.
Addicted is right, start with bag seeds so you dont waste your money. Addicted is also right in saying that you never know what your going to get (sometimes the seeds have been microwaved to quickly dry the pot and sometimes the bud was fertilized by hemp pollen which can be an incredible dissapointment when you try to smoke it). All this said, I grew some pretty decent MJ from bagseeds when I first started.