Project 24 is in full swing! If you missed it, it’s a year where I only buy 24 books for myself. This must be the fourth time I’ve done Project 24, at least, and it’s always a fun experiment in (a) seeing what priorities I make and (b) going slightly mad. I’ve already started dreaming about buying books. I wish I were joking.
It doesn’t take a mathematician to spot that 24 books in a year is two books a month – though, of course, sometimes a trip to a bookshop can use up a few months’ worth in one fell swoop.
As it is, we are nearing the end of January and I’ve already bought my first two books for the year – here they are:
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First up is Latchkey Ladies by Marjorie Grant. It’s been on my wishlist for a long time, ever since Handheld Press republished it – and it might have stayed there for a long time, except the Handheld Press closing down sale made me realise I’d better leap quickly. In a non-Project-24 year, I might have bought far more in the sale. Their catalogue is so wide-ranging that I never knew whether or not I’d like a book they published, but some of their choices were excellent and I have high hopes this will be among them.
And I wasn’t planning on getting The Odd Woman and the City by Vivian Gornick, an author who was only on my horizons as a guest on the Unburied Books podcast… but then Jacqui reviewed it. Well, if you can read that review and not order it immediately, then you’re a stronger person than me. I’m very into books in vignettes at the moment, and Daunt Books are always a safe bet for excellently chosen books – wide-ranging too, but impeccably picked. I instantly ordered it to my local Waterstones and here it is!
Normally I prioritise secondhand books during Project 24, because the chances of coming across particular books is obviously less guaranteed than if I can just order it from a bookshop next year – but I’m sure you can see why these two books HAD to end up my shelves.
I’ll keep you posted with my Project 24 choices, and I look forward to getting through some of the many hundreds of unread books on my shelves.
