I should have written this review much closer to finishing Let’s Bring Back – sometime in July – as I would have been able to share more delightful specifics. The book is a celebration of nostalgia, of the manners and customs of a better time.

One aspect of the book that I loved was the broad definition of ‘a better time’. In skimming the book together, Mom and I both found aspects of our childhoods – hers from the 50s, mine from the 80s. My grandma, born in 1918, could have done the same. There are remembrances of early 20th century cultural figures – and entries advocating for the return of naps. There are recipes for drinks, and bon mots such as the following list of quotes attributed to Edith Head:

• “You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it.”
• “The cardinal sin is not being badly dressed, but wearing the right thing in the wrong place.”
• “Your dresses should be tight enough to show you’re a woman and loose enough to prove you’re a lady.”
• “Clothes not only can make the woman; they can make her several different women.”
• “I say sacrifice style any day for becomingness.”

This is the fourteenth of at least 15 books that I plan to read in the next year for my friend Mark’s 2/3 Challenge.

Photo by BlueVelvetVintage.com, licensed under Creative Commons