What I'm reading right now is Tom Carson's Gilligan's Wake.

The Charles Dickens biography was brief, lively, and well worth the time, although it further confirmed my belief that one writes fiction if for no other reason than to be a better person on the page -- funnier, less likely to hurt or dissapoint those around. So I am continually mystified by people wanting to meet writers. Why? You've met the best part of them already -- their work. The rest of them is pretty much the same as anyone. Which is to say: no better, no worse, and certainly no more interesting or better looking.

Dickens was interesting -- and a powerhouse of a man, with powerful reform interests and with fairly progressive ideas. So his life is well worth looking into. But the novels are far more entertaining.