learning german [books to read]

I noticed its REALLY easy to read German if you're first language is english. I can read and pronounce everything with little training, people tend to be in agreement on this.

So, that being said, I'm looking for a novel that helps teach an english reader german by telling a work of fiction. Maybe its 1/5 english and 4/5 german (english explains and defines the german). It would be a good learning tool because its active and you're involved and thinking. I don't even know if these kinds of books exist, it just seems like it would be the ultimate learning tool.

you guys reckon german is a hard language... try learning a foreign language in australia. the only chance we have at getting good is to bugger off abroad (not so cheap) or learn a language of the immigrants (typically chinese, greek/italian, some japanese...)

i'm currently studying german at a night college. thankfully the teacher is german, so it helps to have a proper german accent when she speaks. sucks to have no use for german outside of class and watching german tv shows (mostly inspector rex lol)