Nicholas Nickelby

I randomly chose to start with this tome of a novel by Dickens.  It was his second, after The Pickwick Papers, and not well reviewed, not even in the preface of the copy I picked up.  The writer thinks the characters are undeveloped (surface) and our "hero" is not particularly sympathetic, but likes the book for it's humor.  It has taken me more than 3 weeks to get through 40 pages.  I read the preface in one sitting, I've renewed it 1x now.  It's almost 700 pages.  I've thought that perhaps I could just read his 10 "best" novels, but I think I will read them all, and probably skip the short stories.  I'm saving Bleak House and Great Expectations for the end of my reading journey, I've heard they are particulary enjoyable.  It's kinda' like eating the crust of pizza first, so you don't have some hard, dry beast to gnaw on at the end.