Canary, I found Hard Times a bit naff - I am pretty sure Dickens' examples of dialect are a little more than offensive.
David90, As for Hardy the only place to be is Jude The Obscure - this is a powerful and weighty work, although often spurned.
What about poetry? Can't go wrong with The Wasteland
http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html - find a good reader of this and you'll be away!
Also, Joyce might be worth a look in; Ulysses is considered "hard work" but I find this to be a bit unfair - it's actually a ripping yarn.
No mention of Wuthering Heights yet either? Excellently pitched Romantic melodrama.
Not a "classic" in the traditional sense, but it is pretty much set up for it (it only needs to get old): The Road by Cormac McCarthy. An extremely harrowing read.
Spare.