Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Trango Towers



Team Members
• Keely - Captain
• Jade Clarke-Mackintosh - Co-Captain
• Charlotte - Co-Captain
• Sana Zameer
• Julia
• Alyana
• Elen
• Bee
• Jessica S
• Andy
• christene_littlelibrary
• Louise
• Yvonne Davies





Team Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Challenge Status: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

mod reserve

mod reserve

Rules: All About Tower Teams

Tracking Sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...


Members Shelves:
✔ Keely
✔ Jade Clarke-Mackintosh
✔ Charlotte
✔ Sana Zameer
✔ Julia
✔ Alyana
✔ Elen
✔ Bee
✔ Jessica S
✔ Andy
✔ christene_littlelibrary
✔ Louise
✔ Yvonne Davies


Countdown to Month 2: https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...

Checked in - From 23rd June

✔ Keely
✔Jade Clarke-Mackintosh
Charlotte - on vacation until 25th
✔ Sana Zameer
✔ Julia
✔ Alyana
✔ Elen
Bee
✔Jessica S
Andy
christene_littlelibrary
✔ Louise
✔ Yvonne Davies

Res

Link to Maze Mountain Challenge: https://maze.meic.dev/

Res

Res

The Trango Towers
They are a family of rock towers situated in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, in northern Pakistan. The Towers have some of the world's largest cliffs and offer some of the most challenging big wall climbing opportunities. Each year, climbers from around the world embark on expeditions to the Karakoram region to climb these granite faces. The Trango Towers are situated to the north of the Baltoro Glacier and are part of the Baltoro Muztagh, which is a sub-range of the Karakoram. The highest point within the group is the summit of Great Trango Tower at 6,286 m (20,623 ft), the east face of which features the world's greatest nearly vertical drop.

Hi Team!

I'm checking in and have a few questions.

1. Do all books read for the challenge apart from BOMs need to have been on your TBR before the start of the challenge?

2. For the mountains, it says it doesn't need to work up to 1000 pages but should have a mountainous form, so I'm guessing this means we can't range it from 201 to 399. What is the minimum height of a peak do you reckon?

It’s always great to see familiar names, and a big welcome to all the new book friends joining us this year!

I’m Alyana from Queens, NY. I work in a library, I’m married, and we have a daughter who keeps us happily busy. This is my second favorite team challenge after UNO, and one of the things I love most about it is how it pushes me to step outside my usual reading comfort zone.

My go-to genres are psychological thrillers and romantic comedies. Fantasy and sci-fi aren’t typically my favorites (which tend to be BOM genres), but I’m always open to surprises—TOWERS has definitely done that for me before.

I’m happy to be back and excited for another fun year with Team Trango Towers!

towersxii

Welcome all! The thread was accidentally left open a little early, but now it is open for good!

I am Keely, I'll be your captain for this round of Tower Teams!
I am from the UK, but I'm currently in Norway awaiting a visa that will hopefully let me live here permanently.

I see some familiar names and some new ones, but you are all very welcome! My TBR is currently sitting at 1082 but I am hoping to knock a couple of short books off before we begin. It will be nice to get that number down during this challenge, but I know how these things go.

I read just about any book, especially for a challenge. I'm planning to read quite a mixture of books for this challenge.


The planning sheet is posted in post 4 so feel free to start planning and adding books.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask and either myself or one of my wonderful co-captains, Charlotte or Jade will answer. Most importantly have fun!

Please post links to your shelves :)

Jessica wrote: "Hi Team!

I'm checking in and have a few questions.

1. Do all books read for the challenge apart from BOMs need to have been on your TBR before the start of the challenge?

2. For the mountains, i..."

Welcome Jessica!

1. No books do not have to be from your TBR before the challenge. We get 5 bonus points if the book read was from the "Books Rec" list which can be found on the planning sheet.

2. From my understanding, as long as the numbers go up and then back down at some point, I don't think it matters how high the peaks are. Theoretically, it could go 201,202,203,204,205,204,203 etc. but the likelihood of us reading books with just one page difference is highly unlikely. And the peak doesn't have to be in the middle. Mountains aren't symmetrical in real life so the peak could be more to one side than the other.

Important note about the planning sheet

I've added a checkbox on the books tab which we can use if the book read was from our TBR before the challenge started. This is purely for fun. It will keep a tally on the Summary sheet of how many each person has read and then a total. You do not have to use this if you don't want to. I thought it would be a fun thing to do as the theme of this year's Tower Teams is about our TBR mountains.

However the TBR Recommendations checkbox will add an extra 5 points to your book points. If you are able to, please consider reading books from the list. It is not a requirement so don't feel pressured into it if you don't want to.

hi team

Andy checking in from Ireland

I read mostly fiction - general, historical, sci-fi, fantasy

my TBR is currently 736,
not very optimistic that it will decrease over the course of the challenge, most group challenges seem to make it grow with recommendations - which is a good thing... I think

i do have a reading assistant,
she likes to "vet" all my books beforehand to make sure they are suitable
(view spoiler)[
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tower-2026

Hi everyone I’m Christene from PH. I usually read romance, fantasy and thriller books. I’m a mom of two girls a 6 months old and a 3 years old. This probably my third team tower and I’m always excited to see new challenges made by the mods. Nice meeting y’all. I’m excited to start!

Shelf: z-ttxii-nbrc-2026 https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Hi everyone!

I'm Charlotte and I'm one of the co-captains!
I read most genres and I'm normally open to reading most books. My favorite genres are fantasy, mystery and dystopians though.
I'm also living in Norway, and I've been living here for 7 years now. I originally come from Canada, but I moved away when I was quite young.

My tbr is (only) 404 books, but I own a bunch of books and have even more on libby that I are also technically on my tbr!

I'm excited to get to know all of you, either better or for the first time, throughout this challenge!

Let us know if you have any questions :-)

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Andy wrote: "hi team

Andy checking in from Ireland

I read mostly fiction - general, historical, sci-fi, fantasy

my TBR is currently 736,
not very optimistic that it will decrease over the course of the chal..."

My tbr never seems to decrease either, it just grows and grows no matter how hard I try to read books off of it!
Your reading assistant is adorable! I also have two reading assistants that give me comfort and cuddles while I'm reading ;-)

Hi I'm Yvonne

This is the first time I have done this challenge and too be honest, I may have questions when we start playing
I live in the UK. I read MM, but I will read anything in the MM world.
My TBR is is in the 1000s, which I can post here if you need. It never goes down as I read a lot of ARCs but challenges like this helps to gets it down and then I buy or get recommended more books, to add to it.
I did set up a read shelf for this challenge,
As I am sight impaired I only read from my kindle and audiobooks. So can only rely on what I buy and KU
I do work full time, but as I only have my dogs to look after, I have adult children I tend to read a lot when I get home

My Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Welcome Yvonne!

Feel free to ask any questions you get as we go. Things tend to make more sense once we get started. If it is easier for you, you can post completion posts here and one of the captains will add it to the spreadsheet. I should have mentioned that earlier. As long as you include the important information like title, author, page number, date read and mini task/s it works for then completion posts instead of adding directly to the sheet is absolutely fine :)

Keely wrote: "Welcome Yvonne!

Feel free to ask any questions you get as we go. Things tend to make more sense once we get started. If it is easier for you, you can post completion posts here and one of the cap..."

I definitely know that the first time I participated in Tower Teams (last year) it was definitely a lot and slightly overwhelming to start with, but once you get into it and see how it flows, it definitely gets easier!
There are no stupid questions, so ask if you are wondering about anything!

Hi everyone, veteran player here))


My name is Elen. I'm a medical laboratory scientist from Estonia.

My go-to genres are thriller/mystery/crime, literary fiction, and a little bit of fantasy and sci-fi. I am not particularly fond of romance (romance as a subgenre is okay).

I can't wait to start reading with you all and have a good reading time.


My shelf: mount-tt-xii-2026

Hi everyone! I'm Sana from Pakistan, home of Trango Towers. I've been to the Gilgit Baltistan region and it's spectacular.

This is my fifth or sixth? TT. Love this challenge.

I read everything except nonfiction. My TBR is already huge and I keep on adding more books.
I have lots of Epic/High Fantasies and I have books sitting on my shelf for over ten years. I'm looking forward to whittling down my mountain and in the process knowing you all and having fun.

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Welcome! Looks like we are spread out across the globe!


For anyone who is a mood reader, you do not have to add books to the planning sheet in advance. You can add as you go if you prefer. The only thing I would say is to let us know if you are reading something or planning to read something for a specific mini task (there will be more mini's later) to let us know so the spot can be claimed.

On that note, as personal messaging has been removed, it is more important than ever to remember to check in on this thread at least once a week to let us know you are still playing with us. A simple hello will do.

Thank you all. I have my computer setup for my preference so can add to spreadsheets. I will check it out now.

I just looked at the tracking sheet and almost every book added so far are on the Books Rec list! Great job team!

As a reminder, that is not a requirement. If you can read books from that list then that is great, but you can read other books too.

Time to Climb Mini

As we can only work on one mountain at a time, I think we should start with the larger mountain that needs 3 peaks. I expect a mixture of length books read in the early weeks with the excitement of the start of the challenge so getting three peaks shouldn't be difficult.

If you are unsure where to place your book mini wise, you can leave the ref blank and a captain will find a place for it when we do our checks and move books to the official sheet. I'm expected quite a bit of shuffling will be needed with these mountains, so don't worry if you place your book somewhere and it gets moved around later.

Only a couple of days left before we can start!

Reminder - Only books started after the challenge begins can be used for this challenge! There is a countdown link in message 4

Hi team, just checking in :)

Nice to see some familiar names and some new ones too. Looking forwards to playing with you all. I'm another one of you co-captains this round. And have played a Towers a times before and love a team challenge.

I live in the UK with my husband and our cat Pablo.

I am an electric reader and will read almost anything. I usually have more than one book on the go at once in different formats. I am also a massive mood reader so my tastes change constantly. I am currently reading romantasy, horror and a romantic suspense novel.

Honestly, I couldn't even tell you how many books I have on my tbr, but would hazard a guess it is well over a 1,000. Luckily most are on my kindle and not physical copies. I am not someone who keeps a library as such, I tend to pass on books to friends or swap at the bookshop for new reads.

My Shelf

Welcome Jade! You should have an invite from the mod account to join the captain group (the notification doesn't always come through so you may have to look for it in the group tab) :)

Hey, I haven't had anything through, I will go searching! Lol

Jade aka MrsTosh wrote: "Hi team, just checking in :)

Nice to see some familiar names and some new ones too. Looking forwards to playing with you all. I'm another one of you co-captains this round. And have played a Towe..."

Pablo the cat 😂 I love it.

Jade aka MrsTosh wrote: "Hey, I haven't had anything through, I will go searching! Lol"

If you press on your profile image, and then press on groups, the invitation will hopefully be at the top there.
Also, are you friends with Moderators of NBRC because if not, you may not have the invite...

I've added a few from the Tbr list to the sheet. They might not be the first books I read but I will try to get them done by the end of the month.

Hi all, checking in. I’m Louise from South Wales where I live with my OH and our 2 dogs. This is my 7th or 8th towers, and have met a few of you from previous team challenges. I will read most genres, although I tend to stay away from Space Opera. Finishing off some light reads so I can start a few chunksters for TT.

My shelf: Tower 26

Jessica wrote: "I've added a few from the Tbr list to the sheet. They might not be the first books I read but I will try to get them done by the end of the month."

You can read the books that you add to the ss whenever and in whatever order you want to!

Louise wrote: "Hi all, checking in. I’m Louise from South Wales where I live with my OH and our 2 dogs. This is my 7th or 8th towers, and have met a few of you from previous team challenges. I will read most genr..."

Great to have you with us, Louise!
I'm always excited to read some heavier and longer books for challenges like this ;-)

Hello team, I'm Julia from Austria. I'm a Towers virgin, really excited for this challenge. I'm a sucker for a good romance novel, mainly contemporary, but also the odd historical or fantasy novel.

My shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

I love your cute little reading assistant, Andy 😍

Charlotte wrote: "Jessica wrote: "I've added a few from the Tbr list to the sheet. They might not be the first books I read but I will try to get them done by the end of the month."

You can read the books that you ..."

Just to add to this, if you aren't going to read book straight away then try and avoid adding mini refs to them and wait until you are closer to finishing. This should make it easier to work on the mountains and lessen having to move things about. I know people aren't adding mini refs yet anyway, but it is something to keep in mind.

Julia wrote: "Hello team, I'm Julia from Austria. I'm a Towers virgin, really excited for this challenge. I'm a sucker for a good romance novel, mainly contemporary, but also the odd historical or fantasy novel...."

Welcome Julia!

Your shelf link takes us to your "Want To Read" shelf. We need you to create a new shelf just for Tower Teams where you will add books you have read during the challenge. This makes it easier for captains to check your book's details are correct when we move them to the official sheet.

Keely wrote: "Julia wrote: "Hello team, I'm Julia from Austria. I'm a Towers virgin, really excited for this challenge. I'm a sucker for a good romance novel, mainly contemporary, but also the odd historical or ..."

Jeez, trust me to give my newbie status away before the challenge even starts...

This should be the correct link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...

Julia wrote: "Keely wrote: "Julia wrote: "Hello team, I'm Julia from Austria. I'm a Towers virgin, really excited for this challenge. I'm a sucker for a good romance novel, mainly contemporary, but also the odd ..."

Haha not to worry, Julia. It's all good now :)

Alyana wrote: "It’s always great to see familiar names, and a big welcome to all the new book friends joining us this year!

I’m Alyana from Queens, NY. I work in a library, I’m married, and we have a daughter wh..."

I’ve got two very exclusive TBR shelves—one for series, one for standalones—and I try to keep the chaos contained at around 130–150 books total 😅. When I’m picking reads for challenges, I "attempt" to behave and pull from that TBR… keyword: attempt.

My plan for 2026 is to get books from my oldest years read. I still have 10 left from 2012. 2 of them I put for my recommendations so I will definitely read those. 2 others are under 200 pages so I will only read those if I am running out of time to reach my cap or they work for very specific mini tasks down the line.

So I went through the TBR Recs and have a lot of them already on my tbr. I am also planning to reread Codex Alera by Jim Butcher. Those are big books. And will also add some ongoing series but i will try to read as many from the Recs for bonus points.

Really so impressed there are so many of you who are planning on reading such long books... I'm a 250-400 pgs kinda girlie. 🙈
Hoping that this challenge will be the much needed kick in my butt to finally tackle some of the longer books on my TBR.

I have quite a few books from my tbr that are on the TBR list so I'll tackle those first, and luckily, most of them are semi-long. They'll take me a while though because lots of them are in series so I'll read the whole thing!
I really enjoy longer books or just longer series, but it is definitely more of a commitment, so something like Tower Teams makes me have the energy to do it.

Hello team, we had an update from a mod about the mini challenge - Any books over 1,000 pages cannot be used for a mountain peak.
So for those books, we would want them in the ladders if they were first published within the date rage. If not then that's okay. They will still get 100 points(+5 if from Recs list) which is still a lot of points.

If people want to be really competitive about it, they could wait until the next mini to finish a 1,000+ page book, but there is no guarantee it will fit any tasks. Taking on a book that is 1000+ is a huge undertaking for most people so I don't expect anyone to hold off on finishing them for the sake of a possible 10 extra points if it comes to it. If it doesn't fit into a mini, oh well. That goes for any book too. The main thing is to have fun reading :)

mostly a library reader so I might not be the best at planning what I'll be reading weeks (or days) in advance

not sure if this makes it to the TBR wall of shame -
the book that has languished longest on the TBR shelf for me was added on
Oct 12, 2011