List 65

Love: 1930s fashion. Especially the styles sported by Faye Dunaway's Bonnie Parker.

Like: Kit Kittridge. If you have a daughter, inevitably you will have to deal with the American Girl phenomenon. Looking at the catalog, I cringe when I imagine factory workers in China putting together miniature salon chairs for dolls. But the historical dolls pass muster with me - at least little girls in 2011 can learn a bit about the past. Aspiring reporter Kit's Depression-era story appeals to me most, and I am doing my best to convince Stella that Kit should be the girl for her.

Discovery: Rules of Civility, the debut novel by Amor Towles, a 40something banker-with-an-M.A.-in-English, who channels a bit of F. Scott. The book is about three friends in New York who meet on New Year's Eve in 1937, and features a wonderful lead character in Katey Kontent. Time to see Midnight in Paris again to get over the "I should have been born in another time" feeling the book inspired.

Obsession: 1930s photography. From the documentary portraits of Americans struggling to get by, by greats such as Walker Evans and Dorthea Lange, to Margaret Bourke White's WPA architecture shots.

Complaint: A decidedly modern one:  I wish publishers and sellers would come up with a scheme by which one could get both a hardcover book and a kindle/digital version for one price (maybe just $2 more than the hardcover on its own.) I enjoyed Rules of Civility so much that I wanted to get it off my iPad and into my permanent library, and was forced to pay twice.