Mount TBR Challenge 2025 discussion

January 2025 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 definitely not going to make it in 2024 (the siren call of the Virtual Mount TBR mountainscapes have been more persistent this year and also a lot of life happened to disrupt my climb). 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!"

Excited to try a yearly focused goal group - thanks for creating it, creative idea.

I've been a Goodreads addict for over ten years and love team challenges, and a few individual. I read a wide variety of genres in multiple formats, love series, paranormal in almost every genre, and have been a big reader since preschool age. Look forward to getting to know everyone.

Thanks for organizing this challenge for another year, Bev. It keeps me motivated to read what’s already on my shelves. I recently moved to an area with an excellent library system and have been taking advantage of it. That’s not a bad thing, but many of the books I moved with me are still in boxes. It’s time to read some of them and gain some storage space.

I admit I cannot stop reading mystery books. Unfortunately I discovered how easy it is to buy used-book mysteries online and I have now started to complete all of the books in my most loved mystery series. Glad to be climbing mountains again.

Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "Excited to try a yearly focused goal group - thanks for creating it, creative idea.

I've been a Goodreads addict for over ten years and love team challenges, and a few individual. I read a wide va..."

Glad to have you join us!

Donna wrote: "I admit I cannot stop reading mystery books. Unfortunately I discovered how easy it is to buy used-book mysteries online and I have now started to complete all of the books in my most loved mystery..."

I'm a mystery junkie too!

Susan wrote: "Thanks for organizing this challenge for another year, Bev. It keeps me motivated to read what’s already on my shelves. I recently moved to an area with an excellent library system and have been ta..."

Welcome back!

Hi, I'm Natalia and I'm a serial book series starter but can't quite seem to finish them!
So, I'm back to climb Mt. TBR again! 2024 has been a good year so far and I managed to finish 10 (YES, TEN) of my on-going series, yay me! I'll start 2025 very motivated to do the same (and hopefully better!).
Thank you, Bev, for organizing this challenge year after year! It has made a dent on my piles and managed to make me actually finish stuff!

I'm Margaret and I read a lot, but unfortunately the library and Kindle Unlimited call too loudly and my physical bookshelf is being neglected. 2025 is the year to focus on books I have. So glad to see this challenge is still here to get me motivated. Thank you, Bev, for keeping it going!

Thank you for the invitation to join again.

I have finished Mt. Vancouver and am set to start on Mr. Ararat for 2024. I am amazed at what I have accomplished this year and am looking forward to 2025.

Oh, my preferred genres are mystery and paranormal, but I enjoy lots of others too.

I'm joining up again. Thanks Bev for hosting this challenge year after year. I've been working at the mountains of books for a while now and well, it just seems to be growing. But before trying the challenge I rarely read from what I already owned. That's changed quite a bit, and I have Bev to thank for that!

I'm going to attempt Mt Kilimanjaro for 2025, hope I make it!

I'm back again because I still have a mountain of books to conquer. I'm upping the ante this year and will set my goal as Mt. Everest.

Cheering you all on to your pinnacles!
Sophia

Back again for a 14th attempt! Still aiming for Mt. Ararat because I'm an optimist. As of right now, my TBR has gone up by 19 in 2024, and I'm not even halfway to my goal for this challenge. I don't know what happened lol! But this time, I'm gonna make it for real!

My 8th year in Mount TBR and my 4th climbing Everest! This challenge really works to keep me focused on my physical bookshelves. Truly nothing else works like this does!

I’m Jennifer, a nurse from Florida who tends to read mostly mysteries, thrillers, and horror. 2025 is the 3rd time I’m attempting this challenge! I keep reading but the piles keep growing!I always start small because I tend to read more new books then ones I already own, which is part of the problem (but a good problem to have).

Hi, I'm Conny, and I'm a bookaholic.

This is my ninth year in this challenge, and the TBR hasn't gotten any smaller ... it's a veritable Hydra; for every book I knock off the pile, two more are added.

I've been a bookworm since I was five years old. My go-to genres are thriller/mystery/detective, YA, and horror, and I also enjoy the occasional romance/chick lit, fantasy/SF, or literary fiction. I read in three languages (my native German, English, and Spanish, although not as much as I should in the latter), which aligns well with my chosen profession as a translator and conference interpreter in real life.

I will pledge 75 TBR books as usual (out of an average total reading count of 100–110 books per year) to leave some room for spontaneous purchases and borrowed books during the year. As always, I'll be posting a list of my unread books owned prior to January 1, 2025, at the top of my thread to keep myself accountable. I'll also probably start a bit later because I still have a few leftover books from the last Kindle Unlimited trial as well as a few Audible inclusives I'm planning to get out of the way, and I am strict about the TBR: no re-reads, no borrowed books (which includes KU and Audible inclusives).

Thank you so much for hosting again, Bev. At this point, I really wouldn't miss the challenge for the world!

Hi everyone, I'm Rachael. I have done Mount TBR for several times now and in 2025, I'm heading to Mt. Vancouver (for now!)

Hi all, I'm Rokk, a returning member. I posted a few years back about buying books and reading them being 2 different hobbies, and in my case I'm slowly dialling back the former and working through the later. Unfortunately I'm still within 20 minutes walk of a library so that can still eat into my TBR reduction. Still, every littlecounts, right?

Well another year of trying to climb a mountain!!! In 2025 I will be trying to reach the top of El Toro once again. My problem is I keep buying books rather than reading the 600+ I have already at home. My goal for 2025 is to read at least 75% of what I already known and to read a total of 100 books, old and new combined. Let's get out our hiking shoes!!!

Thanks for continuing to make this challenge! I have been on Goodreads since 2016 and this will be my 4th time participating in the challenge. Like many in this thread, I am maybe overly fond of used bookstores lol. Genres I read most often are of fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, horror, historical fiction, gothic fiction, of any era.

I usually stick to Pike's Peak, I think because 1. my brain often seems to not want to consider a book for the challenge if I haven't owned it for a year 😅 and 2. even though I have around 100 TBR books they include some longer, older or hard-to-find series that I just grab whenever I luck out and come across them, but means they're incomplete.

Looking forward to climbing with you all again in 2025!

Hi, I'm Susanne, and this will be my third time doing the Mount TBR challenge. I have decided to go for Mt. Ararat in 2025 and am hoping to finally finish some of the series that I've been putting off.

Hello all! I'm Jessa and I'm back to join the challenge for the.... many-th time. It's been a few. I've got 169 books (pre-Christmas gifts) on my TBR so this year I'm gonna just start with Olympus rather than mountain jump. Here's hoping I'll be able to complete it!

Happy Reading, everyone!

Hey! This will be my fourth year climbing. For the last three years, the focus has been El Toro. I flag-planted my first year, got distracted by the library my second year, and believe I will accomplish another flag this year. I'm hustling to get in my last books. 2025, I want to focus a little more on other hobbies, so I will be choosing a smaller mountain. Happy Reading, fellow book-a-holics!

Hello, everyone! My name is Katherine, and this is my third year participating in the Mount TBR Challenge. While issues with my mental health forced me to cut my 2024 climb short, I am really looking forward to attempting Mount Olympus again in 2025.

Hi all, I am Laura and I am back after successfully climbing Mount Vancouver last year. I’m gonna try and upgrade to Mount Arafat this year.

Hello! This is my first year of climbing. I have a lot of TBR books, so hoping this will help me get through some of them!

Hello everyone! My name is Diana and I'm from Portugal.

One of my goals for 2025 is to buy fewer books and read from the ones I already have, so I guess this is the perfect challenge! This is not my first time participating in it, and I will aim for Mount Blanc for now.

Happy readings!

New Year. New Mountains.
I'm back for a fifth climb.

I finished Mt. Vancouver plus one extra book in 2024. That's 37 older TBR books out of the total 63 books I read in 2024; so more than half. Not bad for me.

My goal is to reach the top of Mt. Ararat (48) this year and clear out a lot more of my older owned books.

Chelle

Hi Bev! This is my 3rd or 4th year climbing. I've lost track! lol This year, I'm going to try and focus on the older books on my list, and definitely limit my purchasing and distractions (aka, the virtual slopes). Since my list has grown to a nice round number of 1,700+ kindle books! Also, there's a cool few hundred physical books taking up space too! I'll see you on the slopes!

Hi! I am Barbara. I love to read and collect books, lol. This is my second year attempting a Mount TBR challenge. In 2024, I made my first climb up Mt. Vancouver. This year, I plan to start on Mt. Wycheproof and see how many mountains I can climb.

Happy reading, everyone!

I failed most of the Mount TBR challenges I've attempted so far, and it's been especially bad these past years. (Only succeeded in 2019 and 2020.) Currently my physical TBR pile isn't all that big but all the more reason to conquer it.

My financial situation in the recent years doesn't allow me to buy many books, so my main difficulties are (1) reading ebooks or library books, (2) reading free webcomics instead of physical books, and (3) not reading at all.

Again, I'll start small and give myself a doable "goal" by attempting Mt. Wychproof and maybe I can continue my climb once it's done!

Thank you so much for organizing this again! :D
I'm dropping down from 48 to 36 next year; I had to cram a lot this month to meet it (I started reading for an committee part way through the year and that took up Time) and I'd rather not repeat that.

Hi Bev! Thank you for hosting again. I can't believe that this will be my ninth climb with the challenge! A lot has changed over those years but my love of reading books and buying books remains unchanged. I also love listening to people talk about books, reading about books and talking about books. And yes these are all different hobbies! My climbing strategies over the years has varied. This year I'm thinking I'll start at Pike's Peak and then hopefully continue to the next mountain once that climb is done.

Thanks again Bev for hosting this challenge. I'm here for my fourth climb after just missing the top of Mt Vancouver in 2024. I like to take it a peak at a time and see where the year takes me. Hopefully this year though I can resist the urge to add to my TBR more often and start taming it a bit. Good luck to all my fellow travellers.

Hi, I'm Sheri, and I have been climbing for a few years now. And despite the fact my book acquiring out-paces my book-reading, hope springs eternal and it is up the mountain I go! I think I will try for 60 this year. Thanks for running this challenge!

Hello, I've been trying this for a few years now and not getting very far. Last year was particularly bad, so I've been thinking about whether I want to try again. I guess it''s pretty obvious that I do (or I wouldn't be writing this message). So here I am again, climbing up the TBR pile once more, determined to plant my flag in a mountain this year. Good luck, fellow mountaineers!

Thanks for hosting! I'm Elliot and I'm looking forward to climbing for a second year. I made it to the top of Mount Blanc last year and I'm going to attempt it again. (And possibly climb higher? Time will tell!) The main goal is always getting more books out of my house than I bring in, and last year the climb helped me do it for the first time in over a decade. Onwards and upwards!

I just barely made it to the top of Mt. Ararat in 2024, but I think it's time to push myself a bit and attempt Mt. Kilimanjaro. I also have a "55 by 55" list of mostly TBR veterans that I need to knock out by my birthday in June. So I NEED this climb to succeed!

Hello! Back for another year of Mount TBR. I climbed El Toro last year (barely, but I made it!) and hope to successfully climb Mount Everest this year.

This is such a great group for motivating me to read the books on my shelves. Thank you, Bev, for all your work you do here. It is greatly appreciated!

I failed to meet goals for both regular and virtual climbs last year and am debating sitting this one out...though I probably won't. Smaller goals, I'd say. Between the medical stuff, which requires trips twice weekly to Sierra Vista, and will demand more soon, and the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride of my reimmersion into music after my accidental sabbatical I've been distracted from my wonderful (and not so wonderful) books.

Hi, I'm Steven, also known as David Alexander McDonald (my preferred name), writer, composer, and lover of books, these days living in Bisbee, town of confused artists, loud poets, and wacky musicians.

Hello - I'm Sheila, and this year, I'm doing Ararat. Overdid it last year!

Good luck Elliot, Stina, Rhonda, David and Sheila!

Back again and ready for fun!

Hello! I'm Becky and this will be my 3rd year doing the Mount TBR Challenge. Last year I worked my way up and was 3 books away from Mt Olympus, so just going for the big one from the start.

Hi, all! I’m new here. I will be posting a new Mtn Wychproof post soon as I am done here, so I can track the books read from my TBR Mtn here.

More later. It’s snowy and cold season here, so great for being in the cozy den with a heating pad and mug of tea to keep me company while reading.

Hello, all! This challenge looks like a good way for me to do something about the book collections I've inherited, genuinely wanted to read soon, then stashed them in the basement and never touched again. I could build mountains out of them, and no matter how many times I've promised myself to read at least one a month there was always something else. Maybe their time has come.

Wishing all luck on your trails!

Hello everyone! I fear it may be too late to save myself from my TBR. Better late than never!