BOOKS: Dickens: I think I'm getting it

I must say, I am enjoying Hard Times. I'm starting to "get" Dickens. I'm seeing his "social message" that the dust jacket speaks of. I'm on page 96 of 229 (nearly 42%), and I'm not checking which page I'm on all the time any more. I'm not falling asleep mid-sentence any more. It's a nice read, and I'm engaged with the characters. I have even marked a couple paragraphs that I liked. He gets a bit long-winded in his descriptions of the factory town, but I have never been one for long descriptive passages. I'm relieved to find that I'm not the only bookophile in the free world who hates Dickens, as I definitely don't hate him. And that's progress. Maybe I shouldn't have abandoned that English degree for those courses that sounded so dreary... (reference here.)
More to come.