2025 Mount TBR Challenge

 

January 2025 kicks off the fourteenth 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 my own books in the coming year. In both 2021 and 2022 I actually planted a flag on Mount Olympus...I'm not sure that will ever happen again (the siren call of the Virtual Mount TBR mountainscapes have been more persistent this year and real life has been a bit of a challenge as well). 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.

Challenge Levels:

Pike's Peak: Read 12 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Blanc: Read 24 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Vancounver: Read 36 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Ararat: Read 48 books from your TBR pile/s
Mt. Kilimanjaro: Read 60 books from your TBR pile/s
El Toro*: Read 75 books from your TBR pile/s (*aka Cerro El Toro in South America)
Mt. Everest: Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s
Mount Olympus (Mars): Read 150+ books from your TBR pile/s

The Rules:
*Once you choose your challenge level, you are locked in for at least that many books. You are welcome to voyage further and conquer taller mountains after your commitment is met. All books from lower mountains carry over towards the next peak.

*Challenge runs from January 1 to December 31, 2025

*You may sign up at any time--no matter when you see this challenge. All qualifying books read after January 1st count.

*Books must be owned by you prior to January 1, 202--items requested or ordered prior to January 1, may count even if they arrive in the new year. No library books. If you're looking for a library book challenge or one that counts books on your non-owned TBR list, then please see Mount TBR's sister challenge: the Virtual Mount TBR Challenge.
   ~The ONLY exception to the library rule: If you own the book in any form and have a reason to check out a version from the library instead, then you may count it. For example--if you own a hard copy, but are planning on taking a trip where listening to the audio version would be a great way to knock out a book while you drive, then by all means check out the audio version and have a wonderful trip! Please check with me if you have questions.

*Rules for Rereads: Any reread may count, regardless of how long you've owned it, provided you have not counted it for a previous Mount TBR Challenge.

*Audiobooks and E-books may count provided they are yours prior to January 1. ARCs are also fine.

*You may count any "currently reading" book that you begin prior to January 1--provided you had 50% or more of the book left to finish when January 1 rolled around. I will trust you all on that. The only exception is if you have participated in Mount TBR in 2024 and were unable to finish the book in time for the final Check-in Post. Then--if you finish the book post-January 1, you may count it as your first step of the new challenge.

*You may count "Did Not Finish" books provided they meet your own standard for such things, you do not plan to ever finish it, and you move it off your mountain [give it away, sell it, remove from e-resources, etc.]. For example, my personal rule (unless it's a very short book) is to give it 100 pages. If I decide I just can't finish it and won't ever, then off the mountain it goes and I count it as a victory--the stack is smaller!

*No page limit--if it was published as a book, it counts. No single short stories--but collections of short stories do count.

*Books may be used to count for other challenges as well.

*Feel free to submit your list in advance or to tally them as you climb. 

*A blog and reviews are not necessary to participate. If you have a blog, then please post about the challenge and link that post (not your home page) in the form below. My link provider has limited the number of link "parties" I can have open at a time--so I will be using Google forms for all my sign-up links this year. Non-bloggers may enter their names only without a blog link OR members of Goodreads are welcome to join the Goodreads group HERE. 

 

*Anthologies which contain more than one full-length book may count for the number of books included in the edition--provided that you read all books included AND that the books were published individually at some point. For instance, I own a large number of 3-in-1 Detective Book Club editions. Those three books count as three separate entries on Mount TBR. Occasionally, publishers put together editions of "previously unpublished works." Those editions would only count as one entry since those works have not been published separately at any time.

*If you post on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media to log a book, please use #MountTBR2025.

* As I have in the past, I will have a headquarters link in the left hand side-bar which will offer links to this original post, monthly review links, and the final wrap-up. I will update it at the beginning of the new year The Headquarters will also have a link to a list of our climbing crew with their commitments. 

Happy climbing!