Reading for pleasure is a foreign concept to college students who are drowning in more essays and articles to read for class than they can reasonably handle. During free time, there is little else college students would like more than rest their brains for a while. Still, with the right book, there can be something peaceful and restorative in an hour spent reading fiction. Your brain is working, but it’s not worrying about your life and your problems; instead, you immerse yourself in someone else’s story. For a short while, the problems of a fictional character become more important than your own.

I’m not advocating for reading “Anna Karenina” to take a break from your chemistry notes (although if that’s what you want to do, all the more power to you). However, there are plenty of compelling, but light books to nurture your reading habits, despite the sometimes overwhelming amount of schoolwork that has piled up on your desk. Here are some books from different genres that don’t lose any of their literary merit for their easy-to-read qualities.

“We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart
Lockhart’s sharp prose and complex characters combine beautifully in this haunting novel about a wealthy family’s hidden brokenness. “We Were Liars” tells the story of Cadence Sinclair and the mysterious head injury that has left her clueless about what happened to her and her family the previous summer. The mystery slowly reveals itself to Cadence and the reader at the same time, giving the reader an unforgettable experience.

“Anna and the French Kiss”; “Lola and the Boy Next Door”; “Isla and the Happily Ever After” by Stephanie Perkins
Sometimes all you want is to live vicariously through someone else’s love story. This trio of young-adult novels delivers compelling characters and conflicts in addition to swoon-worthy romance stories. The books all take place in the same universe, which means that the protagonists of one book show up as minor characters in the others. It’s a nice twist on some already worthwhile reads.

“Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore” by Robin Sloan
There’s nothing like a book that celebrates a love of books, and this one does it while being relevant, witty and exciting. Protagonist Clay Jannon gets a job at a curious little bookstore, and as he discovers that the store is more than it seems, the mystery around it grows bigger and bigger. The reader can join him in his curiosity, as well as enter the battle between technology and old media.

“Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi
“Persepolis,” though nonfiction, puts the reader right in the shoes of someone with a compelling story. Satrapi tells her own memoir in the form of comic strips, showing that comics are not only for superheroes. Her story begins with her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, and as she grows up, her personal history intertwines with the history of Iran as she confronts the struggles of adolescence.