The Best of 2011 (a Late Retrospective)

Part of what I've been doing for my month of July posts is looking through my drafts of posts I'd started but never finished and working to make those presentable. Imagine my surprise when I ran across my never posted "best of 2011" list--a full six and a half months after I usually post it. And I saw why I hadn't posted it: I had only written an outline. Sorry, folks. I suppose it's as timely now as it ever was...

For the past several years, I've begun the new year with a retrospective of the last one, telling you, faithful readers, what the best and worst was, at least as I saw it. However, when I think about 2011, in many ways it seems like a cultural wasteland. I keep a log of all the books I read in a given year, and it pains me to say that I cut in half the number of books read in 2011 from 2010 (though "number of books read," I'll admit, isn't an indicator of much). There are some mitigating factors here: 1) Doctor Zhivago and Crime and Punishment are both longer books, which have a tendency to slow me down. 2) The amazing number of books (at least for me) that I read in 2010 was partly a result of the book reviewing gigs I had then but have since relinquished. So...my 2011 list isn't as interesting. And instead of trying to force a top five model as I have in the past, I'm only going to mention the things I deem worthy, rather than striving to reach an arbitrary, prescribed number. So without further ado (though not necessarily commentary), here are my picks for 2011.

The Down in Downton

While I'm on the subject of British television (yesterday's post was about Foyle's War), I thought I would air my views on Downton Abbey, another show initially introduced to me through Netflix.

Series 1 appeared on Netflix last winter, and as soon as it was available, Abby and I watched the first episode. The next day we watched the rest--a six-hour-or-so Downton Abbey fest, uncommon in our household, especially since it necessitated staying up past midnight. Needless to say, Downton Abbey series 1 was well received. What about series 2?