It’s the beginning of the school year and the only books on your mind are probably textbooks. Paying for them and starting assignments take priority over Harry Potter.

But if you spent all summer not reading (there is nothing wrong with that) then it might be hard jump back into school mode and read a 60-page chapter for class.

You might have trouble focusing on the words, your mind wanders and you get tired.

So take a break by reading something fun.

Breaks are essential to study time, but by including more reading time into that you are helping your brain get back into the groove.

From fiction to non-fiction and even graphic novels, reading anything is beneficial.

Books widen vocabulary, improve cognitive skills and help the student remember grammar rules.

This is much a better way to spend a study break than playing video games.

To get you started, here are three books that every student should read before they graduate college:

1. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. If you enjoyed Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides, you’ll definitely love this one. Although the tone of The Marriage Plot is far less dream-like than that of The Virgin Suicides, it’s a very intimate book.

The book centers around three main characters Madeleine, Leonard and Mitchell. It starts the day they graduate college in 1982.

The novel gives us their backstory and then follows them during their first year out of college.

It’s not so much about love or a marriage as it is about coming into adulthood.

The novel teaches you about the ups and downs of post-graduation life and the value of gaining life experience even through failure.

2. The Women’s Room by Marilyn French. This book was written in the 70s but takes place in the 50s. It’s about a woman who ditches the housewife lifestyle to become a Harvard student.

This novel touches on feminism and the social constraints placed on women during that time period, some of which still hold true today.

French also expresses the lives of women who left education to get married in the 50s, and life before and after the Feminist Movement.

3. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer. According to this novel, “the kind of creativity that is rewarded at age 15 is not always enough to propel someone through life at age 30.”

The story follows a group of inseparable teenagers through to their middle ages.

As the friends grow into adulthood, their talents and dreams diverge.

Some of the friends achieve their life goals while some settle for the more practical.

While their friendships prosper over the decades, the novel takes a look at their different fates and paths of life.

This novel is a great look into how life isn’t always going to turn out how you expected and the nature of talent, envy and class roles.