Despite having been ahead of myself all year, my birthday helped me get my new-to-the-shelves fix for a while and now I’m… behind? I have four books left to buy this year, and four or so weeks to buy them in. (Is it time to confess that I didn’t count books bought with my birthday book tokens? Cos they were just gifts from friends who needed a little help picking out the book…)
Anyway, book 20 of 24 is Surplus by Sylvia Stevenson, which I saw mentioned on Neglected Books. It’s published in 1924 (though my copy is a 1980s reprint) and is a book about a spinster – but also a very early example of a lesbian novel, I believe. Those things combined made it sound very intriguing, and I’ll admit that I’ll be reading it with one eye on whether it would make a good candidate for the British Library Women Writers series. That series has slowed down a bit, to give a chance for the 25 or so books to pick up steam, but there will be more titles coming next year.
Despite seeming to be quite a significant book in 20th-century literary history, Surplus wasn’t super easy to come by – my copy was shipped from the US – and doesn’t appear to have been massively covered online. So, watch this space and wish me luck!
I’d been wondering about what had happened to the BLWW series. I was after a new one for Christmas gifting and was sad to see there were no news ones. I’m relieved to hear there are more planned for 2026!
Well done for keeping to target with project 24. I think it is fair enough not to count books bought with book tokens from your birthday!
Sounds interesting. So, your goal is to buy 24 books in a year? Mine should be to only buy 24 to decrease my ever growing TBR list but I doubt I’ll ever manage that. I’ll have to come back as a ghost one day to read all my books. ;)
Sounds interesting! I’m glad BLWW is continuing, it’s so marvellous. And well done for being even BEHIND! I went a bit OTT in November when I found a publisher was ceasing, and now it’s Christmas and birthday season! Oh, and books bought with book tokens definitely do not count!