My newest “guilty pleasure” has been the PBS series “Downton Abbey.” It’s really just a classy version of a soap opera, but the characters, script and story lines are extremely well-done and really draw the viewer in. My mom-in-law and I breezed through the first season in a week or two, then jammed through the second season online so we could be all caught up in time to begin the third season, which just began here this month.

Anyway, my quote of the week (1/21/13) comes from Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey’s Lord Grantham, talking about his New Year’s resolutions. He commented that one of his goals has been to read all of Dickens’ works, and that happens to be one of mine as well. Bonneville said,

Literature is the lifeblood of everything, really, in terms of inspiration and nourishment of the soul. So each year, I get Dickens off the shelf and say, “This is the year.”

I am proud to say I have gotten quite a bit closer to that goal than Bonneville has! Keep at it, Hugh!

Besides Dickens, my other personal favorite is Jane Austen. I’ve read all of her novels more than once and just keep rotating through them by reading one Austen novel every year. Is there a certain author whose complete works you plan to or have read?