Finally finished Dickens's Bleak House. Do not recommend.
Big picture: lots of exposition on the importance of social class in 19th Century England. As SFGopher pointed out when I was talking with him, not really different from any other Dickens book. But worse. Very slow read, bounces back and forth between 1st and 3rd person, and like George RR Martin, expects you to remember a whole bunch of characters who are largely not memorable. Doesn't really ever explain one of the biggest plot points. Although arguably that's because Dickens wanted it inexplicable. Also, for the mystery portion of the story, unfair to withhold critical information from the reader when presenting a mystery. Not good mystery writing.
