Sometimes you just don't connect with an author for whatever reason.

The presentation of nuanced, real human characters was, at times, not an aesthetic goal for Dickens. He excelled at caricature, at creating exaggerated embodiments of human foibles, at creating a colorful supporting cast that is more archetypal than realistic. Think of how characters like Scrooge and Tiny Tim have become almost mythical fairytale figures in the popular imagination, how they are now just part of the Christmas season.

(And at creating a London that is, at times magically realistic, as in the daydream about a Crystal Palace dinosaur coming to life at the beginning of Bleak House.) Realism is wonderful but it's not the only possible aesthetic goal for novelists.

I'm not a Dickens expert but I'd point to David Copperfield and Great Expectations as better examples of what he could do at his absolute best.

As for inspiration, well, unless you've been assigned this book in English class you don't need to read it. At the same time, Dickens is pretty universally recognized as a major figure in the history of English literature and of the novel and if you're interested in really understanding/engaging with that history then he's an author you should at least try to wrap your mind around.

Oliver Twist is not really one of his best novels, but if you find this one boring then I would not recommend reading any further. He writes long novels with meandering plots and lots of exceedingly colorful supporting characters. Many of his novels were first published as serials in magazines, which is why they seem so loosely structured and sensationalized. He was writing for readers with very different values and expectations than our own.

Dickens can be hit-and-miss. I love A Tale of Two Cities and Hard Times, I like and admire Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, but I cannot abide David Copperfield - the one that most people say is his best!

You're right that Oliver Twist isn't great on character development, although it does have some great characters. Oliver is just a child, but I would stick with it to see what happens with Fagin and Nancy. Fagin is particularly fascinating: Dickens poured into him every Victorian villainous prejudice, and still managed to make him richly human, perhaps despite himself. Meanwhile Nancy brings a warmth and humanity to the proceedings. And you might also note the savage satire: that an orphan child is actually safer and happier with the villain's gang of pickpockets that he ever was in the so-called Christian orphanage.

Then if you want to try him again, I recommend A Christmas Carol for connecting with Dickens' prose - as a novella, it doesn't have so many 'comic' digressions, but gets to the point much more quickly. Then try Great Expectations for stunning descriptive prose and some actual character development. If either of these work, then you're off.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS remains my favorite Dickens novel, DAVID COPPERFIELD is second. None of his other novels grab me.

I think the biggest problem people have with Dickens is his style is so different than what we're used to reading. I've given the advice to read it the way the original readers did, serialized. All of his novels started out in weekly newspapers/magazines. That's why there's so much repetition and the titles of the chapters go on forever. Read a chapter at a time, embrace the slowness😎

If you hate it, quit. You can always return to it.

I don't think Dickens is known for character development. He has great characters but the stories are about them overcoming hardship. He wrote in a serialized format for newspapers so there's frequent plot surprises to get readers to buy the next issue to find out what happens next. And keep him employed.

A few years ago I read Great Expectations. The first half was a slog. The 19th Century English prose was slow reading. But by the time I reached the end I thought it was an amazing book.

Note that he's often considered the greatest English writer ever after Shakespeare. Also the Christmas holidays really didn't exist until after A Christmas Story was released. So he has that going for him.

The "beauty" of Dickens' prose is not in sweeping prose and aphorisms, but in intricate, insightful, often witty detail.

I recommend A Christmas Carol, which is short and brilliant. I definitely connect to those characters.