Can you suggest a good theme?

Can you be a bit more specific in regards to the functions and requirements of the theme?

Personally I prefer to start with a blank theme such as starkers on every project. If I try to modify an already designed theme a lot of time goes into figuring out how the designer put it all together. This time could be spend on more relevant tasks. But it really depends on your skills and how much time you can afford to put in the project.
TwentyTen is a decent starter theme as well, but get familiar with the loop on beforehand and make sure that you have a basic understanding of PHP. This allows you to strip out the custom header image from the functions.php file (if necessary).