For a lot of university students, the holidays can be a relief. A break from the intensity of university work, a time to visit home, or just to wind down. However, after a few weeks, the holidays can seem to drag on. Or maybe you want a change from textbook oriented reading. Reading a book that balances being entertaining, compelling, and deeply interesting can help fill that void. Here are a few novels and plays to help kick start your holiday wind down:
1. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
The perseverance of Tartt’s novel as a cult classic for decades is a testament to its powerful story telling. Following a young student as he enters an elite educational world that cultivates privilege and darkness, this narrative is unpredictable in every twist and turn. Not only is it an accessible read, but its superb plot renders the reader obsessed with the yearning to knowing more.
2. Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern
Adapted into Love, Rosie, this book details the joys, lows, hardships, and bumpy roads that life can offer. Following two best friends that are destined to fall in love but are kept apart by the circumstances of life, it details their relationship, from childhood to adulthood, through messages, phone calls, and emails alike. Equally hilarious as it is touching, it’s a classic rom-com that keeps your soul warm for the winter months.
3. You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane
Another rom-com detailing lost loves, McFarlane’s novel centres around the consequences of two unsuspecting people bumping into a blast from the past. Recapturing the semi-platonic relationship of the pair in university to their new, separate adulthood lives, their new existence around each other is filled with awkward pauses, longing looks, and confused feelings. Suffice it to say, it’s still filled with laughter, happiness, and the undeniable reality of adulthood stress.
4. The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich
Successfully adapted into The Social Network, Mezrich’s novel revels in a dramatic retelling of the founding of Facebook. Fast-paced, unsympathetic, and filled to the brim with privilege and betrayal, this provides a more tangible understanding of one of the most debated, contested, and uncertain inventive narratives of our times.
5. Posh by Laura Wade
Centred around the hedonism of a small, elite Oxford University society called the ‘Riot Club’ (adapted into a film with the same name), the levels of debauchery the audience witnesses are beyond compare. Learning that these ten boys not only revel in their entitlement, but also actively use it to their advantage, only deepens the betrayal the audience experiences, after naively supporting their joyful endeavors as mere ‘fun’. Their systematic abuse of power proves both entertaining and educative but, more importantly, makes a great read.