Every few weeks I need to take a break from the 20th century and dive into a book that's a bit older. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that the way I got into Elizabeth Gaskell was via Masterpiece Classic trailers that play before my favorite Jane Austen adaptations (the new 'Emma' is especially good). 'Cranford' is basically Golden Girls in the Victorian era. A group of spinsters (apologies for using that word but I couldn't think of another) and widows has minor misadventures in a small English town called Cranford in the shadow of the newly arriving railroad system. They drink a lot of tea, they gossip quite a bit, and are extraordinarily judgmental, but it is so funny and sweet.