The Cermark Easy Lander looks like a perfect starter sail plane. Easy to build, easy to fly, just not sure if it actually thermals well, which is the whole point of a sail plane.

I have to disagree with most of what RandyL had to say. I found that the 2 channel FirebirdII from HobbyZone was an excellent starter plane. I researched this choice for a month, reading many forum articles and decided to buy an RTF 'throw away' starter plane, meaning one that couldn't port any gear like servos, transmitter etc (Hobbyzone products are very proprietary). I rationalized that if I totally sucked at this, or got bored quickly, then $150 Canadian was an acceptable price to pay.
After making one tiny mod to the tail (taping cut down business cards to the 'ruddervators' to extend the control surface 5/8" past the tail) this plane will do chandels and even a sloppy loop/roll thing. And I still have a Speedwing and battery upgrade to try out, which promises an additional 35% increase in speed.
Regardless of what plane you get you MUST read the forums for it, read the friendly manual, watch the video (if provided), trim the plane, choose a field 600'x600' minimum (roughly two or three footbal fields), do a range test and do not take your first few flights in any kind of wind.
You will be tempted to keep the plane low, to avoid serious damage if it noses down... this is a misconception and a mistake. If you let it get up to 100'+ you will have lots of time to either correct for stalls or just let go the controls and the plane can self correct (at least the FirebirdII will do this). Several short (under 2 min) flights where you just take it up and then glide it in, will give you confidence and teach you left from right.
I've only been flying a dozen times and already feel comfortable in 20 kph winds. The one thing that RandyL nailed was that this hobby isn't about chasing the latest upgrade. It's about a soul deep, dyed in the wool love for flight.