As my friends may recall, I’ve committed to Simon’s Project 24 for the year – meaning that I’m restricting myself to only buying twenty-four books All. Year.  Long.  This may seem easy, but I assure you it is not.  Anyway, it’s been awhile, so I owe y’all a quick update.  I’m pretty sure I’m still on track with Project 24, although I have gotten slightly disorganized about it and there’s a chance I might have forgotten a book purchase or four.  Here’s what I’ve purchased through today:

January

• The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne (Folio Society)
• The Little White Horse, by Elizabeth Goudge (Folio Society)
• Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery (Folio Society)
• Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery (Folio Society)

February

No books!

March

• Envelope Poems, by Emily Dickinson (The Gorgeous Nothings)
• Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks

April

• Wives and Daughters, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks
• North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks

May

• Anderby Wold, by Winifred Holtby (Virago)
• The Land of Green Ginger, by Winifred Holtby (Virago)

June

• Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome (Folio Society)

July

• Before Lunch, by Angela Thirkell (Virago)
• A Memoir of Jane Austen, by Edward Austen-Leigh (Folio Society)
• The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien (Folio Society)

August

• Father Brown Stories, Vols. I and II, by G.K. Chesterton (Folio Society) – out of print; purchased from Abebooks

September

• After Many Years: Twenty-One Long Lost Stories, by L.M. Montgomery (Nimbus)
• Sylvia’s Lovers, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print, purchased from Abebooks
• Ruth, by Elizabeth Gaskell (Folio Society) – out of print, purchased from Abebooks
• 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Washington, D.C., by Renee Sklarew and Rachel Cooper (Menasha Ridge Press)

October

• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Illustrated Edition, by J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine)

November

• The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery (Sourcebooks)

By that count, I’m at twenty-two books for the year.  (The Chesterton stories are in two volumes, so even though they’re together in one slipcase, I’m counting them as two books.  And I’m counting the hiking guide, even though I really purchased it for the family.  I’m trying hard to be upstanding here!)  That leaves me with two books left for the year – I’ll probably purchase one more this month and one in December, since I don’t usually spend money on myself in December anyway and often find books under the Christmas tree.  It’s been an interesting exercise, and I’ll reflect more on it after the conclusion of the project, in a few months.  In the meantime, I’m off to peruse my wish lists and try to decide what to order next…

Have you ever done Project 24?  Did you survive?