Mount TBR 2016 discussion

This will be the fourth year for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge and I don't seem to be getting those mountains moved at all. Despite the fact that I will have knocked over 100 books off of my 2015 Mount TBR by the end of December, there are still whole mountain ranges waiting to be conquered. As fast as I read 'em and get them off the stacks, my bookaholic ways help me replace them. I own over 2600 books and have about 1000 that need reading.

So, once again, I plan to concentrate on reading primarily from my own books in the coming year. And you're invited to join me in knocking out some of those books that have been waiting in the wings for weeks....months...even years.

I'd love it if you'd tell us a bit about yourself and maybe give us an idea what your mountain range looks like. How you acquired it...any little thing you'd like to share about yourself.

Hello again!
I will be participating in Mt. TBR for the second time, and boy did it help me with my TBR last year! Although I did not only read but also purge books, I lowered my TBR pile by a third!
So 2015 marked the year of regaining control of my TBR. In 2016, I hope to further reduce it to half its current size. In the meantime I moved to a big city, with a book shop and a public book swap / bookcrossing shelf just around the corner. Acquiring new books has become dangerously easy - and thus the stacks are higher to conquer my mount.
My first stop: Mt. Vancouver.

Thanks, Bev, for organizing Mt. TBR! And good luck to you :)

Sam wrote: "Hello again!
I will be participating in Mt. TBR for the second time, and boy did it help me with my TBR last year! Although I did not only read but also purge books, I lowered my TBR pile by a thir..."

So glad this has helped you and that you'll be back again. I hope to do better at lowering the numbers on my stacks (instead of replacing....).

I'm back for another year of climbing! Just saying hello for now as I haven't decided which mountain to attempt yet - I want it to be a challenge yet not an impossible one.

My mountain of already-owned but unread books seems enormous but I still regularly succumb to the siren call of the public library, so I need challenges like this to make me take the time to read some of my own books!

How I acquired such a mountain is primarily from the 2 big purges my parents made in their books prior to moving -- I got boxes and boxes of books & I love it but I need to read them now! And that doesn't cover the hundreds of Kindle books I have (I went a bit crazy when I discovered public domain classics!)... I have a smaller pile of unlistened-to audiobooks as well.

Leslie wrote: "I'm back for another year of climbing! Just saying hello for now as I haven't decided which mountain to attempt yet - I want it to be a challenge yet not an impossible one.

My mountain of already-..."

Welcome back, Leslie!

Hi there, I'm new to this group, I followed Leslie when I saw her joining (**Hi Leslie** :P).

Last year I challenged myself to read from my TBR at least 48 books and so far I read 116, really happy about this!
I try to keep my TBR in order by periodically culling books, however my TBR level is steady thanks to an influx of recommendations and by "borrowing" books from my GR friends shelves and past reads.

I have read the group rules for this challenge and I would like a clarification, do you need to own the books for the challenge?

I have a wonderfully stoked public library which I adore and use frequently, plus I have a year "book budget" for my Kindle and physical book purchases, so I don't own all the books currently on my TBR although I am committed to read them. Would I still be able to participate in the challenge by reading books present on my TBR before 1 Jan 2016?

This is my first time participating in this challenge. I actually followed Kiwi to the group after I saw her latest updates. Hi Kiwi! :)

Coincidentally, I just compiled a list of all my long ignored kindle books, hoping it would serve as a reminder to read some of them in 2016. Since I did not include classics in my list, I will need to go back and those in.

So happy to have found out about this challenge since I was planning on doing something similar on my own. Plus I am hopeful it will be fun and provide some motivation while participating as part of a group.

Kiwi wrote: "Hi there, I'm new to this group, I followed Leslie when I saw her joining (**Hi Leslie** :P).

Last year I challenged myself to read from my TBR at least 48 books and so far I read 116, really hap..."

Hi Kiwi!! And Lisa Ann too :)

I'll let Bev clarify the rules -- for myself, I don't count library books no matter how long they've been on my to-read shelf because I need the push to read my own books (as I mentioned in my earlier post). Like you Kiwi, I love my library so that makes it more of a challenge!

Thanks Leslie for the clarification, I had an “owned” book challenge this year but I don’t own that many unread books at the moment. I’m thinking of cutting down on the number of challenges for next year (from the 21 this year) to reduce the maintenance time required to update book lists rather than actual reading haha
I think I’d better stick to my general TBR challenge and drop the “owned” one, but I want to wish good luck to the participants in this group, reading challenges are great fun!

Kiwi wrote: "Hi there, I'm new to this group, I followed Leslie when I saw her joining (**Hi Leslie** :P).

Last year I challenged myself to read from my TBR at least 48 books and so far I read 116, really hap..."

Yes--the books must be owned by you, either in physical form or an e-copy prior to January 2016.

Awww ... sorry you won't be participating Kiwi but I do understand cutting back on challenges and only doing a few that work well for you.

Hey guys, it's Krystle/Rabbit. :D

I plan on adding more genres this year, because I need to clear out my shelves of a lot of books.

I am currently mapping out which books/level I want to tackle.

Hello, fellow book addicts! 2016 will be my 3rd year scaling the peaks. In 2014, I completed 36 books for this challenge, and this year, I am on track for 48. I would like to aim for 60 in 2016!

My goal for 2016 is to clear out some of the oldest books on my TBR pile. Before I joined GR in 2011, I didn't keep track of when I acquired individual books, so I grouped them together, and still have 103 books on my "TBR 2011 and before" shelf. Also, I really acquired a lot of books in 2015, even though I thought I was doing so well! "TBR 2015" is currently at 114 books. I'd like these 2 shelves to be below 100!

Happy climbing!

Hi everybody!

I'm back for the second year of Mount TBR, and I have to say I love this group and this challenge! Thanks Bev!

In 2015 I've been trying to climb Mount Ararat and, although I am still behind with the challenge, I hope I will be able to get to the peak of the mountain as of December 31st. One of the reasons I've been slowed down is because I've been reading Don Quixote, which has been on my TBR for years - it's a beautiful book, but definitely challenging with its 1200 pages!

I don't know yet what my mountain will be in 2016, I have to think about it yet.

Anyway, I can tell you I have ca. 400 books on my TBR, which is more or less the same amount I had at the beginning of 2015 - something must have gone wrong somewhere! I swear!

Hi, I'm Carol. I searched for a group like this. I've been "collecting" TBR's for decades with the assumption that I'll read them and have plenty when I retire. I notice in the bookclubs I attend that people will often reference older books and I always think, "I have that on my shelf and intended on reading it!" So I searched for a book club like this and I found you. I'm glad you do this year after year. Like Bev, I'll never finish all of mine in a year. So I have been feverishly creating TWO piles. One is the typical pile of books I've owned forever. The other is a pile of books that people gave me because I was interested in them and they had already read them. When they gave them to me they always said, "Keep it" so I consider that I OWN them. But I do intend to read them and offer them back to the previous owner. Although I suspect they are like me and glad to have them out of THEIR house. In any case, I've had most of these for years too. I'm a "slow" reader so I am going to start with the first peak and proceed from there. As I understand the rules, I don't need to select the twelve books now. I can just pick from my piles and read until I've read 12 and then post my thoughts? Thanks for the motivation. I need it.

My second year and my full year, discovered the group late in 2015. Looking forward to this!

This will be my first experience with this. I have a history of accumulating and thinning the herd, so my library should hypothetically be astronomical, but I have plenty of books there that have been watching me out of the corner of their eyes and saying "well"? I don't see anything in the rules about graphic novels. I assume they are acceptable here? I haven't counted them yet, so I'm playing it safe and starting with Pike's Peak, and will upgrade as appropriate. My favorite genres: literary fiction, religion (all kinds), history, horror/scifi/fantasy, memoir. I'm in several other challenges as well, so this will help inspire me to integrate the books on my pile into those challenges as well! Thanks.

Winter wrote: "My second year and my full year, discovered the group late in 2015. Looking forward to this!"

Welcome back Winter!

Andrew wrote: "This will be my first experience with this. I have a history of accumulating and thinning the herd, so my library should hypothetically be astronomical, but I have plenty of books there that have b..."

Glad to have you join us, Andrew. And, yes, anything published as a book counts including graphic novels.

Bev wrote: "Winter wrote: "My second year and my full year, discovered the group late in 2015. Looking forward to this!"

Welcome back Winter!"

Thank you! Will wait for January to draw my first books (I like randomised), I have a stack of really heavy books, and I'm hoping to have some easier reads to add to my Mount-TBR-2016-shelf before it all starts ^^

I'm Nell and my TBRs are a mountain range! Re-upping again this year at the Mt Vancouver level. This will be my third year participating in this challenge. So far this year I'm behind in my TBR reading. Not sure whether I'll reach the peak of Mt Vancouver for 2015. (I think it's time to read some skinny books ;D) All the same my goal is to scale Mt Vancouver in 2016.

Jessika wrote: "Hello, fellow book addicts! 2016 will be my 3rd year scaling the peaks. In 2014, I completed 36 books for this challenge, and this year, I am on track for 48. I would like to aim for 60 in 2016!

..."

Glad to have you back climbing with us!

Carol wrote: "Hi, I'm Carol. I searched for a group like this. I've been "collecting" TBR's for decades with the assumption that I'll read them and have plenty when I retire. I notice in the bookclubs I attend t..."

Carol, glad to have you join us this year. Good luck with Pike's Peak--and, yes, you are welcome to choose your books as you go. No list necessary to start.

Marina wrote: "Hi everybody!

I'm back for the second year of Mount TBR, and I have to say I love this group and this challenge! Thanks Bev!

In 2015 I've been trying to climb Mount Ararat and, although I am stil..."

So glad you like the challenge. Good luck with your climb this year!

Nell wrote: "I'm Nell and my TBRs are a mountain range! Re-upping again this year at the Mt Vancouver level. This will be my third year participating in this challenge. So far this year I'm behind in my TBR rea..."
Welcome back, Nell!

Hi everyone. This is my first year and this seems like an awesome way to clear those shelves. I've read all your comments and can't wait to get started and get to know you all better :-)

Welcome Fay! :) I am new here too but agree that this challenge seems like a great motivator to read some of those tbr books we have been ignoring.

Fay wrote: "Hi everyone. This is my first year and this seems like an awesome way to clear those shelves. I've read all your comments and can't wait to get started and get to know you all better :-)"

Welcome, Fay! Really glad to have you join the climbing crew!

Hi everybody (again), I'll participate in the Mount TBR challenge for the 4th year. I love this challenge. It has helped me enormously to rereduce my TBR list - or at least to keep it at the same number. With my little son I don't have as much time to read as I had in the first two years but I still manage reading about one book per week. As I also read many library books and ARCs I think I will start with Mt Vancouver (36 books) and then maybe move on later. I'm looking forward so much for this new climb!

Ellinor wrote: "Hi everybody (again), I'll participate in the Mount TBR challenge for the 4th year. I love this challenge. It has helped me enormously to rereduce my TBR list - or at least to keep it at the same n..."

Welcome back, Ellinor!

Howdy all!

This is my third year to participate in Bev's Challenge. I will again start at the Mt. Toro level.

This last year has been my most productive in getting books read from my pile. I made it to the top level by passing 100 books.

My aim is to make it back to the top level because like many others in the group, I've piled several onto the pile again. I have about 2K books (digital, audio and paper) on my TBR pile. Yes, I need an intervention. Haha!

I will not be listing ahead because I'm a mood reader and planning my reading rarely works out for me, but my 'want to read' shelf here on my GR page will be my list of sorts that I'll pull from.

Wish me luck! And good luck to all of you.

Here's another one following....Marina, in this instance! However, having just read the rules, I can't play as I use the library. I simply wouldn't be able to afford to keep myself alive AND in books. I would have signed up for Mt Olympus - am a bit cast down at not being able to play. I don't even have enough owned books TBR for first level because I had a massive clearout on my last shift of country.

My third year here and I'm going to 36 again because I think that I can do that one.

Sophia wrote: "Howdy all!

This is my third year to participate in Bev's Challenge. I will again start at the Mt. Toro level.

This last year has been my most productive in getting books read from my pile. I ma..."

Welcome back, Sophia! We both need an intervention. LOL. I've added more books than I've managed to read from the stacks....

Deborah wrote: "Here's another one following....Marina, in this instance! However, having just read the rules, I can't play as I use the library. I simply wouldn't be able to afford to keep myself alive AND in boo..."

Deborah: I'm sorry you won't be able to participate. When I put this together it was specifically for people like me who tend to hoard books. There are some Library Challenges out there (though I'm not sure who might be sponsoring on Goodreads. I know that Gina @ Book Dragon's Lair (http://www.bookdragonslair.com/2014/1...) has been sponsoring one on her blog. I haven't seen a notice yet about a new one for 2016.

Lynn wrote: "My third year here and I'm going to 36 again because I think that I can do that one."

Welcome back to the climbing crew, Lynn!

I read too fast to hoard books unread; I now only buy copies of practical books and most beloved of my lifetime novels that I have read and reread and - God willing! - will re-read.

Deborah wrote: "I read too fast to hoard books unread; I now only buy copies of practical books and most beloved of my lifetime novels that I have read and reread and - God willing! - will re-read."

I read fairly fast, but I accumulate even faster. I'm blessed (?) to have a great Friends of the Library used book store which has new stock on a regular basis(and which holds clearance sales twice a year); a lovely community Book Fair every year; and some nice used book stores within easy travel distance where I feed my habit. If I didn't have to work (to help support the habit :-) ), I'd be better caught up on the stacks.

This is my first year to participate in the TBR challenge. I do a couple other challenges but they usually require me to add to the pile so this is great! I'm not shooting too high because I know those other challenges are still going to get in my way but this will surely help a bit!

Audra wrote: "This is my first year to participate in the TBR challenge. I do a couple other challenges but they usually require me to add to the pile so this is great! I'm not shooting too high because I know t..."

Welcome to the climbing crew, Audra!

Bev wrote: If I didn't have to work (to help support the habit :-) ), I'd be better caught up on the stacks.

Or maybe not, Bev. I'm retired and that gives me more time to go to bookstores, browse the Friends of the Library used book offerings and be on Goodreads to find more books to add to my TBR.

Hi everyone! My name is Brianna and 2016 will be my first year trying this challenge. I always try to focus on books that I own, but get distracted by new releases and the library. I hope to change that with this challenge! Hopefully it'll help me focus. I'll probably start with a smaller mountain and move up goals as I succeed. Happy to be joining other book hoarders!

Susan wrote: "Bev wrote: If I didn't have to work (to help support the habit :-) ), I'd be better caught up on the stacks.

Or maybe not, Bev. I'm retired and that gives me more time to go to bookstores, browse ..."

:-)

Brianna wrote: "Hi everyone! My name is Brianna and 2016 will be my first year trying this challenge. I always try to focus on books that I own, but get distracted by new releases and the library. I hope to change..."

Welcome, Brianna! Glad to have you join us. Good luck!

Hooray! I needed inspiration and motivation and it seems as though this is the place! Excited to start 2016 reading the books on TBR list that are stockpiled in my house. Thanks for creating this Challenge. So happy to sign up.

Hi, I am Victoria and just found this group through a post over in the Books On the Nightstand GR group. I could use some help with this problem too! I'm so glad we can include both hard copy and e-books! Great idea.

Hello, my name is Steven (I go by David in my daily life, but my readers know me as Steven, so that's who I am here.) I am a book addict and have been for most of my conscious life, having been taught to read by the age of four (my Dad was a book addict too.)

I've been doing Mount TBR for a while now, logging it on Goodreads for the past three years (or is it four? I think I did 2012 here as well.) As Bev notes, the mountains never seem to get smaller, nor are there ever fewer peaks in the ranges before me. This is not surprising, considering that I have finally lost count of what's in my real and virtual library -- before the house fire that sent me to new quarters, I had an estimate of around 25,000 books of one kind or another, and that may have been conservative. Sensible people would have belayed book-buying at that point. I, a book junkie, did not, although I've occasionally slowed down (it's been months since I did a book sale trip; on the other hand, last week I picked up two on Audible, and two for Kindle.)

So, here I am again, invoking Brian! Blessed! once more, and off to scale Mount Olympus, likely incorporating some Olympic-sized books once again!

My TBR pile is out of control and this year I seem to have been reading more slowly than ever!!
12 will hardly make a dent in the pile but it is a start and hopefully success will spur me on to greater achievements.

Wow, if ever there was a person in need of this challenge, it would be me! I have several bookcases filled with books and more piles in stacks around the shelves --and these are just the ones to be read, not the ones that I've already read and have stored in different bookcases. Lowball estimate on books TBR is 400, give or take a few (or 50). And that doesn't count the ones on my e-reader. Just joined the group and this is my first time with this challenge. Thanks for the idea and for organizing! (My husband thanks you too. He's hoping he will stop tripping over books on his way to the bathroom. ;)

Like Victoria I found this group thru a post on the Books on the Night Stand group. I don't really buy a lot of books, but once I own a book I never read it because library books have due dates and owned books don't. I get books thru library sales, an excellent local store, kindle deals, and "little libraries" (there are three in my neighborhood). I tend to buy books that will take me a long time to read (could be big, complicated or short articles that I want to spread out), or ones that I never heard of and am not sure I will ever see again. The bulk of my reading time is series I've started, monthly reads for other groups, and new books - none of which I own. My total TBR hovers around 300 and growing, of which 75 are owned. So, I'm hoping by giving the owned books a due date I will actually read them!

My goal is Pike's Peak as I doubt I will read more than one per month.