Here's my setup for last week's season premiere of Downton Abbey. Who's watching and what do you think about the season so far?

Downton Abbey: Pre-reading for Season Four

I love Downton Abbey. I've always been a sucker for most anything on PBS but Downton just takes it to a whole new level. Even my parents have gotten in on the fun. While I was home for Christmas I joined them in rewatching several season three episodes so everyone's up to snuff for the big premiere tonight of season four.

Luckily, a friend loaned me just the right book to read this week leading up to the new season: While We Were Watching Downton Abbey by Wendy Wax. The book takes place in an apartment building in Midtown Atlanta and follows three female neighbors, all from different walks of life, who come together over Sunday night episodes of Downton arranged by their building's concierge. Besides just Downton, the women share each other's joys and secrets, struggles and plenty of wine.

It's chick lit and it's good. The unnecessary stuff is kept to a minimum so readers can focus on getting to know Samantha, Claire and Brooke, their concierge Edward, and all the other characters that make for a good story. I like that it's primarily about friendship rather than romantic pursuits or career aspirations (though both factor in in places). Really, it's just a fun read, and made more fun because I read it this week.

Call the Midwife is coming back

The only PBS show I love almost as much as I love Downton Abbey is Call the Midwife. Last fall when season one aired, it was the thing that kept reminding me that it was OK to wait a little longer for Downton Abbey, and to enjoy it in the meantime. I loved the good-hearted characters, the fact that the series takes place in London (one of my favorite places) and the good stories each week.

The show is based on memoirs by Jennifer Worth, known in the show as Jenny, a nurse and the central character. I bought the first of the three memoirs, Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times during the time the first season ran, and enjoyed reading it very much. Two more memoirs follow (Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse and Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End), which I hope to read sometime soon.

The first book contains anecdotes that viewers from the first television season will recognize, so I'm interested to see what the second and third books and the second TV season have in store. Eight new episodes are coming on Sunday nights starting this weekend - March 31 at 8 pm.

Long before now I had planned to finish watching the second season of Downton Abbey, which is just sitting on my DVR waiting for me, and then blog about it. The reality is that I haven't had a second to do that in my spare time because I can't seem to turn off the Olympics. If you're enjoying the Olympic Games as much as I am, you also might like to check out the following books:

No Limits: The Will to Succeed by Michael Phelps
Age is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life by Dara Torres
Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi

What other Olympics-related books have you read?