Mount TBR Challenge 2024 discussion

Lucky 13! January 2024 kicks off the thirteenth year for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge and, I know you all will be shocked to hear that my mountain ranges just haven't shrunk at all--despite climbing like mad and conquering Mount Everest on the regular each year. I still have mountain ranges to climb. And miles of bookcases to read before I sleep (or something like that). I just can't resist a good old fashioned used bookstore (though they are become rarer and rarer) or the community Hoosier Hills Food Bank Book Sale which adds to the mountains as fast as I knock books off. And my mountain range seems to be just as vast as ever.

So, here we are again, planning to concentrate on reading primarily from our own books in the coming year. In both 2021 and 2022 I actually planted a flag on Mount Olympus...I'm not sure that I'm going to quite make it in 2023 (the siren call of the Virtual Mount TBR mountainscapes have been more persistant this year). So, my declared goal will remain Mount Everest. Please join me in knocking out some of those books that have been waiting for attention for weeks...months...even years.

Please, introduce yourself--if only to chime in with me to say "I'm a book-a-holic and I really need to read these books I keep accumulating!"

Lucky 13 indeed! I joined in these challenges to climb tbr mountains in 2013. It has helped! My reading used to be about 25% of my owned books while all the rest from the library, and now that has happily shifted to the reverse, thanks to this challenge. I keep trying to reach a net zero - read more owned books than I buy in a year, and managed that once or twice, amazingly. But it's always close, by just a handful of books. So the mountain still awaits.

You can find my journey here: Pamela Ascending Mt Ararat Good luck to everyone on their reading goals for 2024!

Hello hello!

I'm Ashley, and 2024 will be my second year making the TBR climb - I still have a few hundred books on the owned-unread pile, and I figure I'll stick around as long as those hold out :D

I'm downgrading slightly to Mt Ararat for this year, after the fourth-quarter panic caused by my starry-eyed choice of Kilimanjaro in 2023 :D

Pamela wrote: "Lucky 13 indeed! I joined in these challenges to climb tbr mountains in 2013. It has helped! My reading used to be about 25% of my owned books while all the rest from the library, and now that has ..."

Welcome back, Pamela! Glad the challenge has been helpful.

Ashley Marie wrote: "Hello hello!

I'm Ashley, and 2024 will be my second year making the TBR climb - I still have a few hundred books on the owned-unread pile, and I figure I'll stick around as long as those hold out ..."

Glad you'll be joining us again!

Can't believe it's been 7 years since I started climbing...and I still have bigger and bigger mountains each year, so I'll probably be climbing till there is a challenge for me to do it. I have a problem with on-going series, and they are getting a little out of control, so my plan for 2024 is to finish the ones that have only 1-2 books to go and try to not start new ones while I'm at it (a semi-impossible task). I'm also downgrading back to Kilimanjaro, though I'll probably make it to the top of El Top for the second year in a row, because some of these books are chunky, to say the least (ahem, The Wheel of Time and Stormlight Archives)

Natália wrote: "Can't believe it's been 7 years since I started climbing...and I still have bigger and bigger mountains each year, so I'll probably be climbing till there is a challenge for me to do it. I have a p..."

Yeah...it's funny how those mountains just keep growing...

Bloomin' 'eck here I am again. I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near the top of my 2023 challenge, I've been enticed by far too many pretty looking library books this year. Not ones I could have thrown on a virtual TBR either. Here's to a better year ahead I guess.

(My TBR list is technically getting shorter because I am reading more books than I am buying. It's just not happening at the rate I had hoped for.)

Thank you for having this group. I am looking for ways to keep me honest on reading the books I own. This year I have been a heavy library user while the 1000+ unread books that I own (Ebook & physical) linger waiting for me. Currently working on a spreadsheet of the books, will print the titles onto little slips of paper and have a jar for choosing my next book to read. Planning to join at the 75 book level. Sadly, my plan is to also not buy books this year. If I absolutely must read it then I will go to the library.

Here I am again! I'm Liander and I have a TBR problem. This is my 13th year doing Mount TBR, and I still have enough books at home to survive many years without a library (but also I borrow a lot from the library). In 2020-2022 I shrunk my TBR slightly each year, but 2023 is not looking like that's gonna happen!

I'm boldly aiming for Mt. Ararat (48 books) again: Liander Tries to Shrink the Pile

Hello to 2024! This will be my 2nd year doing the challenge. I should be hitting my goal of Mt. Ararat (48 books) for the year so I am going to try for Mt. Kilimanjaro (60) for 2024.

You can totally do it! Good luck!

2024 will be my third year of climbing, and it really helps me to remember all those books that became part of my TBR mountain because they sparked joy or interest. As the mountain grew, it frequently became shrouded in clouds of guilt or embarrassment and sometimes disappeared completely in the mists of time. Now that I have discovered the joy of mountain climbing I find that the clouds have lifted and the ✨individual books✨ are able to sparkle again!

Hello there! I'm Katherine, and this will be my second year climbing Mount Olympus.

I was able to read down my entire owned audiobook TBR during my 2023 climb, but I've still got a ton of physical books and ebooks left on my TBR list. So in addition to my Mount Olympus climb, I'll be aiming to complete 40% of my list before the end of 2024.

Another year, another ambitious venture to climb and burn through my Owned TBR. What is sad is that I've steadily added to it. I may have a small problem or at least my husband thinks so haha. I'm going to start with Pikes Peak and see if I can surpass it. I find that if I set smaller goals I do better than expected. Best wishes and Happy Climbing everyone!

I believe I first joined this group in 2017. My boyfriend and I are both bookaholics who spur each other on to buy more (what makes a better gift?) and I really aim to try and read some of the 2000+ books (physical and Kindle) that I own and that I feel I will probably not keep, try to finish some of my existing series and across both this and the Virtual TBR challenge, try to read more books from the 1001 books to read before you die list...

It would be a dream to go to Mars but I am starting with Everest as I have never managed to achieve that fabled peak yet.

Good luck to everyone else participating.

Hello! I just discovered this group and am looking forward to tackling my TBR mountain ranges in 2024 and the coming years. This year was the first time I attempted to finish a reading challenge using only books I owned. It didn't go well but I'm hoping being a part of this challenge will help me stay focused on reading through the stacks upon stacks of books in my home.

2024 will be my 3rd year climbing Mount TBR, and last year I also did the Virtual Mount TBR. This year I will skip the Virtual slopes, and focus only on my current TBR list, which is growing by leaps and bounds. Mainly on my Kindle. I have 1200+ on my kindle and I do not subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, so they are all mine. LOL

I will get my gear ready and meet you on the slopes In January! Can't wait to see what the new year brings! Happy climbing everyone!

Rokkan wrote: "Bloomin' 'eck here I am again. I don't think I'm going to get anywhere near the top of my 2023 challenge, I've been enticed by far too many pretty looking library books this year. Not ones I could ..."

Welcome back! And any progress with the TBR stack is good progress!

Maura wrote: "Thank you for having this group. I am looking for ways to keep me honest on reading the books I own. This year I have been a heavy library user while the 1000+ unread books that I own (Ebook & phys..."

Maura, you're welcome! Good luck with trimming down that 1000+ stack.

Liander (The Towering Pile) wrote: "Here I am again! I'm Liander and I have a TBR problem. This is my 13th year doing Mount TBR, and I still have enough books at home to survive many years without a library (but also I borrow a lot f..."

Welcome back. So glad you've been climbing with me all these years.

Becky wrote: "Hello to 2024! This will be my 2nd year doing the challenge. I should be hitting my goal of Mt. Ararat (48 books) for the year so I am going to try for Mt. Kilimanjaro (60) for 2024."

Welcome back, Becky! Good luck on the bigger mountain!

Dani wrote: "2024 will be my third year of climbing, and it really helps me to remember all those books that became part of my TBR mountain because they sparked joy or interest. As the mountain grew, it frequen..."

Welcome back, Dani! Good luck with the 2024 climb.

K.L. wrote: "Hello there! I'm Katherine, and this will be my second year climbing Mount Olympus.

I was able to read down my entire owned audiobook TBR during my 2023 climb, but I've still got a ton of physica..."

Glad you'll be back, Katherine. Great job with that audiobook mountain and good luck for 2024.

Christy wrote: "Another year, another ambitious venture to climb and burn through my Owned TBR. What is sad is that I've steadily added to it. I may have a small problem or at least my husband thinks so haha. I'm ..."

Christy, it's so hard to resist those books that want to jump on the TBR pile. :-) Good luck with the 2024 climb!

KTloves2listen wrote: "Hi, I am new to the group so my first climb will be Mt. Wychproof.

Besides starting some new series in 2024, I plan on listening to more classics as well."

Welcome to the climbing crew! Good luck!

Karen wrote: "I believe I first joined this group in 2017. My boyfriend and I are both bookaholics who spur each other on to buy more (what makes a better gift?) and I really aim to try and read some of the 2000..."

So glad you're still climbing with me. Good luck with Everest--and I hope we both can make Mars next year.

Janet wrote: "Hello! I just discovered this group and am looking forward to tackling my TBR mountain ranges in 2024 and the coming years. This year was the first time I attempted to finish a reading challenge us..."

So glad you found us, Janet! Good luck with your climb!

Jerikay wrote: "2024 will be my 3rd year climbing Mount TBR, and last year I also did the Virtual Mount TBR. This year I will skip the Virtual slopes, and focus only on my current TBR list, which is growing by lea..."

Welcome back, Jerikay! Good luck with your climb!

I'm Rachael and I'm a bookworm who owns nearly 500 unread books. This is my fifth climb and I want to reach the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro yet again!

Wow, thirteen years! Congrats on a long-running challenge, Bev.

I'm not sure what year I jumped on board, but its been at least five. I've enjoyed this challenge year after year so much. My book stack grows with no signs of reduction no matter how many times I plant my flag on Mt. Olympus (which has only been twice, so far).

I'm aiming for Mt. Toro (75 books), but hoping to hit Mt. Olympus.

Good luck, everyone!

Hi everyone! This is my first year participating in the Mount TBR challenge.

I am using this challenge to read the remaining unread books in my collection. My goal is to climb Mount Vancouver (36 books).

Happy reading in 2024!

Hi everyone.

Newbie from Yorkshire here, pointed in this direction by Sophia in message 32 and I’ve been a member of her Austenesque TBR group for a number of years now. I’ve recently discovered that I have over 500 unread books in my Kindle account, from a number of different genres, some freebies, some paid. They date back to 2014! Going to try to make a dent in that over the next year and not buy any new books, unless they’re freebies or I’m spending one of my already paid for Audible credits.

Not sure how far I’ll get, so will just post in each level as I go if that’s OK.

Anji wrote: "Hi everyone.

Newbie from Yorkshire here, pointed in this direction by Sophia in message 32 and I’ve been a member of her Austenesque TBR group for a number of years now. I’ve recently discovered ..."

Yay! I'm so glad you are joining us, Anji! :)

I have signed up in years past but did not follow through with posting like I should. I have two different reading planners this year to help me hold myself more accountable in my climb. Here is to reaching El Toro this year for sure and maybe even higher!!

Hello!
I'm Risa and 2023 was the first year I tried this challenge. I am currently still a few books away from reaching my goal of 60, but I had fun regardless of the result. My TBR unfortunately also didn't get smaller, on the contrary xD But I'll be participating in quite a few challenges next year that hopefully will make me stick to my owned books more. That's also why I upped the difficulty to 75 books this time ^^ I'm also still getting the hang out of how to post things here, I'll try posting a one-sentence review about the books along with the date read ^^
Good luck everyone!

Hi. I’m Laura and my owned TBR is out of control. I read 70 books this year so I would like to try for that again and make roughly half of them books I already own.

13 is my lucky number because I was born on 13/03, and share it with my father, and my best friend! I miss celebrating our birthdays together now that we are respectively in Texas (me), Malaysia (my father, my hometown), and Australia (my best friend).
Good going, Bev, and thank you for hosting! It'll be my 5th year with you. I will aim higher this year, be more strategic to achieve my goals, and be more strict with my book-buying ban. I easily acquired a hundred books in 2023 and so the mountain never depleted for long, lol.
Happy climbing, and happy reading to all!

Hello everyone! I'm Chelle and I'm back for another year.
I just finished Mount Blanc for this year on 12/23/23, and I hope to go higher in 2024.

Hi everyone! I'm Abi and it's my seventh year doing the Mount TBR challenge. I'm 2 books away from reaching Mt. Vancouver for the 2023 challenge, so hopefully I'll get that done in the next week.

For 2024, I'm hoping to clear Mount Aratat, although I'll be working my way up from Mt. Wychproof. Like some others here, I read in multiple languages, and while my English TBR is in good shape, my Japanese TBR is towering rather high.

Good luck to everyone with making progress on their TBRs!

Hi all. I'm Fran and I'm back for my third year.

Really enjoy this challenge as it motivates me to keep reading and trying to tackle my TBR pile. I have managed to read more than I've added this year but need to try to buy fewer books next year, even though it's easier said than done!

I conquered Mt Blanc this year (but ended up reading enough books to past the peak of Mt Vancouver) so will probably try a similar approach of tackling a mountain at a time rather than aiming high for the start.

Good luck all, see you on the slopes.

Hello,
My name is Catherine, Cat is fine. This is my first year here. I have been in a several year long reading slump. The good thing is I did not buy a lot of books whilst in that slump. I jumped back in this year by reading my favorite series (twice back-to-back and now on a more leisurely pace while annotating). It is the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh and 22 books so far.

Anyway I hope to climb Mount Blanc and past that. A partial list of potentials can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Good luck to everyone on their climb.

Hey all. So, this is the third or fourth year I've attempted this climb. 2023 was a complete dumpster fire after our house fire a year ago today actually. So, now I'm back to attempt Mount Blanc and actually scale it in 2024. I made quite an impact on the Virtual Mount TBR in 2023. So, let's try to do both of them in 2024.

Best of luck everyone!

Hi everyone! I'm Kelly, and this will be my 3rd or 4th year climbing. I'm going to be trying Mt. Vancouver this time around.☺

Wow! I've been climbing since 2014. It's my 10th year!!
Like Bev, the TBR mountain range seems to stay at the same level. I still have lots of print books plus now I have more e-books too.

This challenge does have me mining my own shelves for great books instead of grabbing the newest and shiniest ones.

Re-upping again this year at the Mt Vancouver level. Even though I haven't reached the peak this year or last. Life happens - and then there are those KU books. All the same my goal is to scale Mt Vancouver in 2024.

I'm in again! I think I will shoot for Mt. Ararat this year with hopes of going higher. I want to leave room for a low VTBR mountain and a few new releases.

Hello, it's Lynn and I'm back! As I work in a library, I always have a book or two or twelve... from the there. Let's see what I can do this year!

Hi I'm Dana and this is my third climb and I'm sticking with what I won with last two times. I could probably go higher but I know this year is going to be hard so I'm keeping my goals reasonable

Hello Everyone!

I have tried to join this challenge so many times in the past and never succeeded in sticking to it. I think that 2024 will be the year I really put some effort in tackling my books on my TBR shelf! I own so many books (thanks to BookTubers! Lol Who else is with me?) and I think I can finally join this group.

I am going to be exploring new genres (I am mainly into mysteries, especially cozy mysteries), but have been trying to branch out in the the last couple of years. I also want to finish up some of the books listed in the many series I have started in the past. My goal is read at least one book a week for a total of 52 books in 2024, so I hope joining others in this group will help me on my adventure.

Good luck everyone! Happy reading!

Hello all, Happy 2024 to everyone. This is my first year on the climb. I will start at the base level and just see what happens as the year progresses. Good luck to all!