Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby
This is early Dickens and I prefer later Dickens, however having said that it is still Dickens and still good. The book in the first half has heavy picaresque elements and shares much in common with 18th century novels like Tom Jones. As it goes along the book becomes more focused and tighter.
It has large elements of farce and satire and is lighter and sillier than Dickens later works. Its an interesting book to read with his later works in mind, because Dickensian charactures and stereotypes suit it and there is less tension between those elements and the more serious elements than in later works.
It is lighter and more funny than Dickens great novels, but not so deep. Not at all where to start with Dickens, but I feel that Dickens is one of those authors whose entire body of work is worth reading and this certainly confirmed my opinion.
