Charles Dickens - which book to read first

[IchBinEinCurrywurster]

I'm ashamed to say I've never read any, but feel in the mood for diving in. Does anyone have any favourites?

Hard Times
Great Expectations
Christmas Carol
Bleak House

For starters!

OP if you stsrt with Hard Times you can join this thread. I haven't read it, so am going to start it now.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/what_were_reading/4437561-Hard-Times-readalong-2022

I would avoid Our Mutual Friend. But no one has recommended it as one to start with, so I think you're ok.

Often gets overlooked but Martin Chuzzlewit is a lovely read.

@IchBinEinCurrywurster

Ooh I will join the Hard Times read along then. Exciting. Thanks so much everyone- wasn't expecting so many replies. It's great to hear your views. And I still can't believe I've never read any of them. I'm a big Thomas Hardy fan but never read a single book by Dickens

I was a huge Hardy fan in my twenties, but now find his novels incredibly bleak. I love the mix of comedy and tragedy in Dickens' novels. David Copperfield is my favourite and would recommend it to everyone. Great Expectations is a good gateway Dickens, if you're short on time.

If your going to read one Dickens in your lifetime then I'd say great expectations.

But otherwise if start with Nicolas nickleby- great characters and a fairly easy read compared to others

A Tale of Two Cities. Heartbreaking.

Another hug Hardy fan here OP.

As so many others have said, Great Expectations or Oliver Twist is a good place to start.

But will try to plough through them all

No point if unenjoyable, of course.

I like only one of his novels (GE).

Definitely not The Old Curiosity Shop.

@JaninaDuszejko

Definitely not The Old Curiosity Shop.

I haven't read it. Why do you say that?

Mawkishly sentimental about little girls.

When I found Dickens difficult to read a friend pointed out that many had been written in instalments published in a weekly newspaper. CD had to contrive an event for each episode. Not sure he knew what was happening next.
I'm sure someone here will correct me or enlarge on this.

Would bother at all
Boring and sentimental.
Give me Hardy everytime

Sorry, that should be wouldn't bother at all.
Nicolas Nickelby if you must.

I like reading but I like Dickens and Trollope on audio when driving.
Favourite story is Christmas Carol, then Great Expectations (can't get the David Lean Film out of my mind) and Oliver Twist.

Everybody knows of the characters already. I had to read them as an adult to get to understand them more fully.