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.

German is one of the most difficult languages to learn of all. In no other language are there so many different verb conjugations, not even mentioning the hundreds of declensions of nouns and pronouns. It's pure hell.