Can I finish reading all the books I own?

2025 TBR Takedown Challenge

There’s nothing I like more than setting myself an impossible and highly unnecessary challenge. But what is life meant for if not chasing your own silly dreams? Whatever they may be.

One of the loftiest goals I’ve set for myself in 2025 is to read as many of the books I own that I have not yet read. I have a lot.

I did a quick inventory and here are the numbers:

130 physical books.

160 e-books.

That’s right. I have a total of 290 books that I bought or was gifted at one point in my life and still have yet to read. Some of these have been on my shelf or on my Kindle for over 10 years.

So why haven’t I read them yet?

A myriad of reasons. I bought them for some project or other that I eventually gave up on. I checked out too many library books and needed to read those first. New releases caught my attention. I have a hard time passing up the little free libraries in my neighborhood. E-book sales and freebies. Because I love books and don’t mind having them around even if I haven’t read them.

But I’ve decided 2025 is the year I finally tackle the TBR shelf. This is the year I’ll be challenging myself to read as many of the books I own as possible. I’ll be focusing on my physical TBR to free up shelf space, but there are plenty of interesting books on my Kindle that I can’t wait to read, too.

So what exactly will this project look like? What are the rules I’ve set out for myself with this challenge?

Well, I’m trying to keep it fairly simple but there need to be a few guidelines or Muse knows I’ll find myself straying into the new book section before really giving this challenge a chance.

Rule #1 is a simple one:

• Read from my own book stash physical or digital as often as possible.

Rule #2 is also straightforward:

• Unhaul any physical books I no longer want to read and mark the digital books I no longer want to read as read so I stop thinking I need to read them. (It’s hard to unhaul digital books, though I suppose I could delete them off my Kindle.)

Rules #3 and #4 are going to be a bit harder but we’re going to practice self-control:

• Except for the books I read for the two book clubs I’m a part of (and these always get read so they don’t add to the shelf count) I’m not going to buy any new books between January and March, after which I’ll reevaluate and decide whether or not this modified book buying ban should continue throughout the rest of the year.

• I will check out only 3 library books a quarter, in other words, one new library book each month. This may change as the year goes on but for the first quarter at least, I’ll be limiting my library fervor.

Rule #5 is for my own sanity:

• Abandon any book I am not thoroughly enjoying.

That’s it. Those are the 5 “rules” for this challenge. And to be clear, I do not think I will be able to get through my entire physical and digital TBR this year. That is not a reading pace I can sustain even if I tried, and I don’t want to try.

The point of this challenge is to simply focus on reading the books I own, limit new book purchases, and hopefully discover some new favorites. It’s about having fun and enjoying the journey. I’m not trying to be any’s TBR hero.

I’ll be participating in some fun reading challenges, including two created by one of my favorite Booktubers BooksandLala. And I might make up a few fun challenges of my own along the way. And of course, I’ll be taking you all along for the ride. Or should we call it a hike? After all, I am trying to scale a bookish mountain here.

Are you setting any fun challenges for your reading life in 2025?

Reply to this email or leave a comment to tell me about it!