I would like to learn enough French to read some novels in their original language, if I could pick up speaking that would be a bonus.  What are your keeper books that you couldn't part with or those that you found the most helpful.  Any help is appreicated.  Thanks!

I would suggest Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It has a lot of illustrations, not a lot of text on each page, but is still a poignant story (not only for children.) I've also seen versions with the French printed alongside another language (it happened to be Korean, but perhaps you can find one with French/English)

Bonne chance!

I was a French major in college and have been speaking the language since I was in elementary school, but when my husband needed to learn enough for grad school, I did a lot of searching and ended up a with a book called (no kidding) French for Reading.  He thought it was fantastic and learned a LOT.

Bonne chance!