Could be that I am not smart enough. But I think you need to get your hands dirty in order to understand some abstract concepts. I had such a hard time to know why OO approach before I worked fulltime with C++ for 4 months.
I had bought Stroustrup's book. Like you said, this book is NOT for novice. One professor, (Istvan or something like that) from Ottawa U has very good course notes for C++. I didn't understand anything when I took his course, but after I learnt a bit then went back, I found his notes was better than most books available. I am not sure if his notes still online. But you can check for course CSI2172 at www.site.uottawa.ca
Based on my own experience, I would like to recommend two books for you.
For C++, "Thinking in C++" 2nd Edition, by Bruce Eckel, Prentice Hall.
For MFC, "Programming Windows 95 with MFC" 2nd Edition, by Jeff Prosise, Microsoft Press.
There are some news groups about C++ and VC++, but I don't think it is a good idea to go there. The topics there are so specific, and it couldnot give you a big picture...
MSDN is always a good teacher basically you can get everything from there...