Even as an avid reader, I often find myself in the book lovers’ downfall—a reading slump. As college students, the occurrence is only natural; many of us already have difficulties balancing our rigorous coursework while maintaining a decent social life and getting enough sleep. With the amount we already have on our plate, who even has time to read?
For me, the excuse I use for not making time to read is simply that I haven’t found a book to spark my excitement for reading. It’s difficult to pick up a book when the last time you remember reading a book, it didn’t excite you or interest you in the way you would like it to. With that being said, here are some of my favorite page-turning, easy-to-read, thought-provoking, must-read books to reignite one’s love for literature and get you out of your reading slump.
1. Normal People by Sally Rooney
Perhaps my most re-read book and re-watched TV show, Normal People is unmatched in its ability to make me feel and haunt me long after I’ve put it down. I still haven’t completely determined whether this is due to the frustrating miscommunication, my ability to relate to the characters, Rooney’s ability to capture vulnerability and love, or all of the above. It’s a beautiful and haunting story of two people whose lives continue to intersect, despite their attempts to go their separate ways. It teaches timeless lessons on love, communication, and discovering one’s self. After you read it, I highly recommend that you immediately watch the 12-episode show, which is equally as good and as compelling as the novel.
2. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The writing in this novel should be considered nothing less than excellent, and the story is simply magnificent. It explores the things we carry with us through life and the thoughts that hang over our heads like daggers, waiting to fall. I grew to love each and every character because they seem so real, and they make such real mistakes. As their lives began to intertwine, their intersecting personalities complicate the decisions they make about each other. I absolutely loved all the background Ng included and the placement of each plot point, slowly revealing more and more about the past, ultimately making the book such a page-turner. I can’t recommend this book enough.
3. Happy Place by Emily Henry
Emily Henry is a popular author and connoisseur of “the beach read”—also having written a book titled Beach Read—and is therefore known for her ability to write a romance novel that keeps the reader hooked. I enjoy how Henry draws the portrait of her characters, making the reader feel as if they personally know them and how she writes the banter and dialogue between all the characters. She painted the chemistry between the two main characters beautifully, and each word brings you deeper and deeper into their love story.
4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
This provocative novel offers a unique perspective on life through its stylistic form of mediation and narrative, the eccentric and off-beat characters, and the strikingly beautiful bildungsroman story-line that captures the dilemma of living your life or trying to run from it. The story is told through a series of letters written by the protagonist, Charlie, to an unknown receiver. As he relays the sometimes beautiful, but also devastating stories of his high school days, the novel explores dynamics of mental health and the constant turmoil that accompanies the process of growing up. It’s a hauntingly beautiful and devastatingly real portrayal of adolescence that can reveal a lot about the relationships we make and maintain and remains relevant to audiences in many different stages of life.
5. Call Me By Your Name by André Acimen
If you’re interested in powerful and all-consuming romance stories to reignite a passion for reading, Call Me By Your Name portrays the consequences of attraction between two lovers, set in the beautiful setting of a summer in Italy. The setting of the story itself allows you to escape into a beautiful and romanticized world outside of your own and explore the human bounds of passion, fascination, and desire. Its attention to contemporary issues of love and vulnerability to intimacy provoke a contemplation of love that leaves you wanting more.
6. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Everything I Never Told You is a painfully vulnerable portrayal of a family and the struggle to understand the people closest to you. We all keep secrets from one another, but the fragility of our relationships with each other ultimately comes down to whether or not these secrets can destroy us. This is a profoundly moving and all-encapsulating story on the delicate balance of a family that finds their world shattered after a traumatic event.
7. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
What would you do if you had the opportunity to explore every single path in life you could have possibly taken? Would you want to see all the different lives you could have lived? Or would you run away? The plot and premise for The Midnight Library is enough to draw anybody into the novel out of sheer curiosity. As the protagonist Nora faces this decision, she’s ultimately faced with what’s truly important and fulfilling in life—whether that’s following your dreams, searching for opportunities to grow, or building your relationships with the people around you. As we observe her undergo this eye-opening experience, we’re forced to confront what we want to change about our own lives and reflect on the choices we make every day.
8. The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han
If you haven’t heard of The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy after the TV show adaptation’s viral success, you’re missing out on the widely disputed “Team Conrad” versus “Team Jeremiah” debate. I decided to read the books after binge-watching the first season of the TV show at my friend’s request, and I blew through all three of them within two days. At this point, these books serve as a form of social currency—they’re highly consumed texts that have fostered a community concerned with the romantic entanglements of these fictional characters and their love triangles. While the reading level is slightly juvenile, if you’re interested in a feel-good, cutesy romance story, I recommend giving these books a try.
9. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Written by Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical exploration of the human psyche. It details the protagonist’s, Esther’s, account of slowly descending into madness and comes across in a way that seems questionably rational, even to a mentally stable individual. This book has been recommended by many due to its stance as a haunting American classic, yet it finds its place on this list for Plath’s compelling writing and the story’s captivating/page-turning qualities.
10. We Run the Tides by Vendela Vida
This book got me out of my own reading slump this past summer. It was a very refreshing read that made it very easy to become engrossed in the narrative. I first heard of this book and this author from TikTok, or “BookTok,” and immediately went to the library to pick it up. Vida has excellent story-telling abilities that are both witty and humorous. The characters she constructed are simply fascinating and the dialogue made me laugh. The book reflects on the dynamics of female friendships and provides lessons on how to live alongside change. It was a very easy, but nonetheless interesting, read—the kind of book that allows you to turn your mind off and become entirely captivated by the story unfolding around you.
I have read countless books in my lifetime—some that I’d recommend, some that I wouldn’t, some that have excited me, and some that have bored me. When looking at my long-running list of all that I have read, the books on this list have particularly stood out to me, as they remain relevant to who I am and who I’m becoming.
As college students, we’re all in similar stages of our lives; we’re caught in this highly transitional period, occupying this liminal space between our childhood/adolescence and becoming full-fledged adults. I chose these books not only for their exciting, page-turning qualities, but also for their explorations on the dynamic issues many of us have faced, are facing, or will face. The coming-of-age aspect of these novels will hopefully strike something within you and help you feel and remember the excitement of reading.