Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley

An excellent little book. Smiley brings her insight into character and her knowledge of the novelist's art to bear on the life and works of Charles Dickens. She is one of my favorite novelists, as well as one of the best writers about the novel ("Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel"). She has refreshing and remarkable insight into Dickens's characters and inner life. Reading this has inspired me to go back and re-read the Dickens's novels I have read, as well as reading some I missed.