Big Dickens fan here, but I have to say that David Copperfield is my favorite - very closely followed by Bleak House.

Happy reading!

Bleak House

Our Mutual Friend.
You see Heated, you're not alone. It's the only one which has reasonably rounded women characters.

I do love Bleak House though.

My favourite is Our Mutual Friend but it's very likely I am alone in that!

My favourite is Our Mutual Friend but it's very likely I am alone in that!

Ooh lots of replies, thank you! I think I will try Bleak House and David Copperfield. I have a Wilkie Collins on my bookshelf that I've never got around to reading - think it was the Moonstone - so might actually read it now! I've read Wives and Daughters, which I liked, but no other Elizabeth Gaskell, so yet more ideas. This is great, I was feeling really in a rut and casting around for something different to read.

Great Expectations the best start, imho! But I love Tale of Two Cities, it's such a great story. And also Bleak House.

* 'DH bought me...' who's D?

I really enjoyed Bleak house, takes a little bit of getting into and is a long read but worth it. I also liked Nicholas Nickleby. D bought me an old set of Dickens from second hand shop, and I'm gradually working my way through them. David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Pickwick Papers all good reads.

I think Dickens get a bit of an unfair press sometimes, I suppose for being overly long and filled with characters. But I think he writes great stories, can be very funny, and gives a real and sympathetic insight into poverty and conditions in Victorian times. Really quite ahead of his time in many ways.

Would also second the recommendations for Wilkie Collins you might also like Mrs Gaskell, -Mary Barton, Cranford, North and South.

Hard to beat A Christmas Carol, but I do like Great Expectations cos we did it at A Level. And I like saying: "What larks, Pip." Just generally.