Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

Team Olympus



Team Members
• Mel - Captain
• Karen - Co-Captain
• Sophie - Co-Captain
• Sam A
• Brittany McC
• Kylie (catsalive)
• Vikki
• Kat
• Claire
• Anastasia R
• Denise





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

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⛰️⚡ ALL ABOUT TOWER TEAMS ⚡⛰️

📐 RULES & POINTS


COUNTDOWN
🕰️ ⚡The challenge starts on 16 May 2026, 9am UTC.⚡🕰️

Only books STARTED after the challenge begins can count.

https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown...


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⛰️⚡Link to Team Tracking Sheet⚡⛰️

Please opne the link and request access.

📊 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

‼️Books that are finished and have been transferred already to the official sheet will be hidden by using a filter on the S column. If you want to see them, please use the triangle shape at the top of the column to unfilter it.


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‼️⚡IMPORTANT⚡‼️

‼️With Goodreads having removed the private messaging option, it is VITAL that we stay in touch!

‼️Apart from sheet updates, please, check in at least once a week to let us know that you are still playing and that we have not lost you.

THANK YOU!

⛰️⚡ MINI CHALLENGES ⚡⛰️

🧗‍♂️⛰️TIME TO CLIMB⛰️🧗‍♂️


Part One

You know them, you love them (or maybe not? haha) - the ladders!
Unlike in some of our mini challenges in previous years, you are not going to use series numbers or titles. You are going to build ladders based on the years in which a book has been originally published.

You are going to build 2 ladders of 10 books each.
The publication years range from 1990 - 2025.
Not every year needs to be read for. Each year can only be used once per ladder. You don't have to start at 1990 or end at 2025. Your ladder could, for example, be: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022.


Part Two

Mountains - and towers for that matter - are tall. They have several layers and they have a peak. What would Tower Teams be without a tower? Or a mountain in this case.

You are going to build a minimum of 2 mountains of books. For these, you are going to use page numbers. The page numbers you can use range within the standard rules of the challenge. You don't have to start at 100 pages or end at 1000 pages.
Beware though, your mountain should have a mountainous form. As a team you'll need to work your way up to one or more peak(s) and then back down the other side.

Plan carefully and communicate with your team members, for you can only climb one mountain at a time! Books for a given mountain can be completed in any order, but each climb you start must be completed before working on your next mountain. Once a mountain is completed, books are locked in and cannot be moved.

The team will build a mountain with 1 peak (20 books):

Example: 150, 209, 343, 489, 492, 562, 631, 848, 999, 802, 700, 650, 575, 501, 485, 400, 350, 289, 210, 101.

And another mountain with at least 3 peaks (30 books).

Example: 105, 150, 209, 343, 489, 492, 301, 352, 401, 502, 562, 631, 848, 999, 900, 802, 700, 780, 689, 650, 600, 575, 501, 430, 485, 400, 350, 289, 210, 101.

There will be completion bonuses for the first 2 mountains. After that, the team can choose to build other mountains throughout the challenge (of 20 or 30 books), but no more completion bonuses will be given. One partial mountain is allowed.

The Restrictions

🧳This mini challenge runs the length of Tower Teams.
🧳Each book read can only be used for one part of this mini challenge.
🧳Only one mountain can be worked on at a time, once a mountain is completed, books cannot be moved. In that way, banked books are not allowed for this mini challenge.
🧳Books can be started at any point since the start of Tower Teams XII (16th May 9am UTC).
🧳The usual book length rules apply.
🧳You will gain 10 points for each book you read.
🧳You will gain 20 completion bonus points for the 1 peak mountain and 30 completion bonus points for the 3 peak mountain.

H*O*U*S*E*K*E*E*P*I*N*G

📊 If you are a planner, feel free to add books to the tracking sheet and add the options your book works for.

🦥If you are more of a mood reader it's enough to add the books as you start reading them or when you finish them, no hurry.

🔚Once you finish a book, please make sure that the reading dates are correct and also add it both to your Read and to your TT shelves.

✅ Karen, Sophie and I will try our best to make sure that your books get assigned to claimed tasks (we can expect more Minis as the challenge kicks off), but sometimes to move forward and for the sake of points, we may need to play tetris, if its OK with you. We will let you know if some more targeted reading is needed, but otherwise will be happy to leave you to follow your own pace and mood. 😊

➕ If you are uncomfortable using spreadsheets, you are welcome to make completion posts in the thread and we will help you add the books to the sheet. Just make sure you link the right edition of the book you read and list the options the book works for.

❓Feel free to ask any questions if you something is not clear.

❗And the MOST IMPORTANT: Have fun and read good books!! 😊

📗MAY📗

The Will of the Many by James Islington

starts on 16 May
Link to BOM Discussion


The Astral Library by Kate Quinn

starts on 25 May
Link to BOM Discussion


📒JUNE📒

Zeus' spot

Hera's spot

Dionysus

Demeter

⚡⛺🏔️Welcome to our Base Camp, Mythical Mountaineers of Team Olympus!📚

Many have attempted this ascent. Some vanished beneath avalanches of impulse purchases OR were lost to tectonic shelf shifts OR maybe they wandered off the marked trail after “just starting one small audiobook”.

A few unsung heroes may still be trapped beneath the crushing weight of special editions and cannot-see-the-ending fantasy series.

But WE WILL MEET THE CHALLENGE! We climb together. 🧗‍♂️💪

No reader will be left behind during a landslide of library holds, a sudden book avalanche, or unexpected discoveries labeled “new release.” And we will not be intimidated by Team book recommendations.

Our mission is -cough- simple: survive the climb, reduce the TBR by at least ?? books, and resist adopting ??? more along the way. Let's return to this line at the end of the challenge to see how/where it all went downhill .... 🤔

Will there be setbacks?
Absolutely.

Will someone accidentally increase their TBR during the challenge?
Almost certainly.


So, gather your packs, choose your next read and report to Base Camp! ⛺📖⛺📖⚡

⛰️⛺ Before we begin our perilous ascent, please introduce yourselves and link your TT bookshelves.

Also here are some warm-up questions:

⛰️ How large is your current TBR mountain?
⛰️ What’s the oldest unread book lurking on your shelves?
⛰️ Which book are you most excited to finally conquer?
⛰️ Are you a careful route planner or a chaotic mood reader?
⛰️ What genre currently dominates your mountain range?
⛰️ Have you been to the actual Mount Olympus?

👋 Hello!
Super ready to climb Olympus and see those gods!

⛰️ How large is your current TBR mountain?
I use the cleaning out the closet challenge every year to read and delete old stuff and keep it manageable, so it is 289 books atm

⛰️ What’s the oldest unread book lurking on your shelves?
Because of that challenge I have cleaned up to 2017! yay

⛰️ Which book are you most excited to finally conquer?
I am finishing the Throne of Glass series and will tandem read books 5&6 when this challenge starts

⛰️ Are you a careful route planner or a chaotic mood reader?
A bit of both actually! I have books planned for the month and then will just go searching if I feel like a particular fix

⛰️ What genre currently dominates your mountain range?
HF, Mystery, Fantasy :)

⛰️ Have you been to the actual Mount Olympus?
I have never been to Greece - one day!!

Hello Olympians,

very excited to be playing/reading with you all during the Mount TBR TT Challenge. 😊

I am Mel from Hungary -living in a small lake town with my husband and my son- and I have participated in TT challenges since 2017 (Star Wars was my first one).

Together with Karen and Sophie we'll be your Sherpas to guide you through this epic climb. 😊

I have sent friend requests to those of you I have not been on a Team before.

My shelf is Mount TBR-ride-or-die


⛰️ How large is your current TBR mountain?
My TBR here on GR is quite modest, although it is mostly because I'm sure I have missed to add a book or 15 which are lurking on my physical bookshelves. But thanks to Karen and the Cleaning Out The TBR Closet, I'm mostly on track. 😊

⛰️ What’s the oldest unread book lurking on your shelves?
There are 2 books left from 2014, when I joined GR. They are Nicholas Nickelby & Foundation.

⛰️ Which book are you most excited to finally conquer?
I should really pull myself together and read Nicholas Nickleby & The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors during the challenge.

⛰️ Are you a careful route planner or a chaotic mood reader?
While I mostly like planning my reads, the last 2-3 months have been very chaotic and so has my reading, so currently my reading is pretty unpredictable, even to myself.

⛰️ What genre currently dominates your mountain range?
Historical Fiction, Non-fiction (mostly history and music), Fantasy and Classics which are also my favourite genres, so no big surprises there.

⛰️ Have you been to the actual Mount Olympus?
Funnily I have visited quite a few Greek islands -Crete, Thira, Rhodes, Zakynthos, Corfu-, but I have never been to the Greek Mainland yet.

Hello everyone 🫰

I’m Sam from Sudan! Reading has been my way of coping with everything from med school to post-graduation chaos so I’m really excited for my second TT after having an absolute blast last year.

I’m definitely a chaotic reader. My TBR is sitting at 150 books, and the oldest one on there was added back in 2022 (The Historian). The genres I reach for most are fantasy and literary fiction, but I also love historical fiction and thrillers, especially whodunnits.

I haven’t been to Mount Olympus yet, but I’ll definitely be claiming that I have after finishing this challenge 🤭😉

Excited to climb with everyone 🫰💪

My shelf:
4bc-2

Hello Sam, welcome to our Team!! 😊

Here is our tracking sheet link, please request editing access via the link. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Shelf will come. Sorting properly tomorrow.

I'm Sophie, one of your co-captains here on the epic climb up mount TBR/Olympus.

I'm based in the UK. I have 2 children and a new addition of a puppy (fox red lab) called Amber who is very sweet.

⛰️ How large is your current TBR mountain?
526 - it's been around the 500 mark for a while now.

⛰️ What’s the oldest unread book lurking on your shelves?
I added all Nora Roberts' back catalogue in 2014 so still got a lot of them to go.

⛰️ Which book are you most excited to finally conquer?
The last 2 books of the Nicolo series by Dorothy Dunnett.

⛰️ Are you a careful route planner or a chaotic mood reader?
Chaos all the way here.

⛰️ What genre currently dominates your mountain range?
Romance, Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Crime. Horror is a deep cave that is never visited.

⛰️ Have you been to the actual Mount Olympus?
No, been to a couple of the Greek Islands, but again, never the main land.

Melindam wrote: "Hello Sam, welcome to our Team!! 😊

Here is our tracking sheet link, please request editing access via the link. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/......"

Tysm 💞. Done!

⛰️ How large is your current TBR mountain?
According to my TBR list on here... over 500. There are more that I haven't added to that shelf, but some on that shelf are also wishlist books, not ones I actually own. Anyway.... it's a big mountain!

⛰️ What’s the oldest unread book lurking on your shelves? There are a few books that I added in 2011.... oh dear!

⛰️ Which book are you most excited to finally conquer?
That's a tough question. I'd like to make progress with a few more series books and some of my Fairyloot subscription books.

In challenges I like to plan out what I read. I do try to have some different genres to fit my mood.

⛰️ What genre currently dominates your mountain range? It's a mix to be honest, crime/thriller, fantasy, chick lit probably being the biggest peaks.

⛰️ Have you been to the actual Mount Olympus? Not yet

Glad to have you on the Team, Vikki. 😊