I love Dickens as well. I just loved THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP as well as GREAT EXPECTATIONS (which someone else panned on this board, I think). I liked A TALE OF TWO CITIES as well, but my reading was interrupted and when I pick it up again, I will have to start over. But I had a hard time with BH and DAVID COPPERFIELD.

You do have to be in the mood for Dostoyevsky. It took me a whole summer to read CRIME AND PUNISHMENT but I counted it worth it in the end. Nowadays, I just don't have the patience. Maybe when Vicky is 6 or 7 I will try to read my ignored books again.