Over the weekend, I picked my choices for Erin’s next book challenge which runs from July 1-October 31. Can’t wait to get into some of these books! Usually it takes me ages to narrow down my choices but I picked almost all of these from my “check out soon” shelf on Goodreads meaning that they were already on my 2017 radar. 

What do you think of my picks? Any thoughts on any of these books? I’ll share all of my thoughts on them when I get through them!! 

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (Thank you, Erin for mailing this to me!!!!) I have heard numerous fantastic reviews of this book, and apparently it is a rapid read so I look forward to getting into it!! 

Beach Music by Pat Conroy (comes highly recommended by Steph) OR Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio (have heard good things and I am anxious to try one of her books!) 

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (thinking of doing this one on audio; it has been on my radar for awhile and was discussed several times on the WSIRN podcast)

The One & Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (my most trusted book recommender Kristen’s review of this one pushed this close to the top of my list for this year) 

The Other Girl – Erica Spindler (A publicity agent at Netgalley sent this to me without me requesting it, and it looks quite good and fits with my reading mood for 2017 so I’m looking forward to it)

North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell (This is highly recommended for fans of Jane Austen, plus, I am DYING to watch the mini series on Netflix but I’ve promised myself that I’d read the book first…I already have it on Audible but I have the whispersync so might switch back and forth a bit)

25 points:  The ALA’s “Banned Books Week” occurs while our challenge is happening.  Read a book from this list of the most commonly banned books in America: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States (submitted by Christina)

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (This book has been on my TBR for years and it popped up in Everything Everything so I made a mental note to just get to it already! Side note – can you believe some of the books that have been banned?!?!) 

30 points:  Read a fictional book about mental illness (submitted by Jamie); several helpful links: http://bookriot.com/2016/05/23/100-best-books-about-mental-illness/; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness_in_fiction; https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/mental-illness-fiction

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (This will be my first Sophie Kinsella book ever and deals more with mental health – but I felt like it fit the category enough?) 

30 points:  Read a book with a non-human main character; i.e. animals, elves, gods, robots, merpeople, etc. (submitted by Bev); helpful links: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/non-human-characters; https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/99906.Books_with_Nonhuman_Characters; http://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/polls-and-discussion/the-33-best-books-with-a-non-human-protagonist/3704

A Court of Thorns & Roses by Sarah J. Maas (This might change…I have a few other books on my list that would fit this category but I want to see what all the fuss about Sarah J Maas for myself) 

35 points:  Read a book a Disney movie was based on OR a book based on a Disney movie (submitted by Kirsten); Don’t forget to check that the book is at least 200 pages: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:Novels_first_published_in_serial_form&pageuntil=Dune+Messiah#mw-pages; https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/11716.Books_Turned_Into_Disney_Movies

Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers (I haven’t seen the Disney movie since I was a kid, but I think this will be a good read!) 

Can’t wait to get reading!! I have a huge stack of library holds, Netgalley books on my shelf, and other assorted reading goals for the summer, but I’m excited for all of these book choices too.