Lavender
Great Expectations, I haven't finished reading it but it has proven to be a good read =)

riz
the Christmas carol, if you did not read already

cavidda
Although "David Copperfield" is generally considered his best book, my personal favorite is "Martin Chuzzlewit."

elvengirl007
I think "Tale of Two Cities" has one of the best plots, however "Our Mutual Friend" has the most believable characters. I would avoid "The Old Curiosity Shop", it's the epitome of the sappy victorian novel.

Mr. Knowitall
Christmas Carol is his most popular, maybe the most accessible in this day and age. David Copperfield is my own favorite, but it's loooong! Great Expectations is pretty good. A Tale of Two Cities teaches you something about history and has some nice 'color' and atmosphere.

kobra0190
You could read oliver twist or david copperfeild. Though great expectations was a good read and there is a tale of two citities thats a good one too.

IrlandeseItaliana
Any of them are good, but for some reason, Bleak House was most poignant for me.

Palmerpath
My recommendation is "David Copperfield". Chock full of amazing incidents, drama and characters, many drawn from Dickens' own life and experiences. Very few authors have captured a child's world better than in this book, or the struggle to grow, and learn, and love. It's long, but never dull, a whole world between two covers, one you won't forget.

Levana
Anything you can put your hands on. Read them in winter, it ads so much more to the experience. How I envy you !!!

artful
Oliver Twist has a strong plot but maybe is too anti-semitic. David Copperfield is excellent. I like The Pickwick Papers which are probably the most comical of Dickens' works. Enjoy yourself.

petermurrell
You'll obviously get many different answers to that question. Depends if you want to get through a huge Dickens work - like Bleak House or a relatively smaller one like Oliver Twist. My personal favourite is Nicholas Nickleby - I love the characters in the book and the name of the school - "Dotheboys".

grouchy_elmo
A Tale of Two Cities

lauren.heller
A Christmas Carol is perhaps the most popular, and the most absorbed into popular culture. I thought Oliver Twist was very accessible; I think that may have been the first Dickens I read as a child. If you're intimidated by Dickens' lengthy prose, try Hard Times: it's the shortest of his novels.

tylee14
I would urge you away from Dickens with suggestions like: THE MOONSTONE by Wilkie Collins, VANITY FAIR by William Makepeace Thackeray, MIDDLEMARCH by George Eliot, or THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James. All of these (except the last one) were published in Dickens's lifetime and, in the case of Collins and Thackeray, by close acquaintances of Dickens. I think that these novels, each in their own way, are far better representations of the best the Victorian period has to offer. I find Dickens novels are all largely the same--characters who don't grow, good triumphs over evil, women who accept their conservative Victorian roles are always the heroines, those who challenge Christian convention are trampled upon, and everything is permeated by this terrifically false image of Dickens as the great reformer of society. He was an obsequious exploiter of public opinion and morality. For the patience that reading Dickens demands, your time is much better spent on a novel that will spark contemplation and creativity of thought--a book you can quote and laugh with and recommend.

gormenghast10014
My favorite is "Barnaby Rudge" - Barnaby is the village idiot. The book is set during the Gordon Riots. My "favorite character" is Grip the Raven ("polly put the kettle on).