Finding the time to read for pleasure in Cambridge can seem like a mammoth task. However, a really good book can be the perfect antidote to any course-related stress. So here Varsity has hand-picked selection of the best books for…

1. Making you laugh: The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. This word-of-mouth novel from author Jonas Jonasson centres on a centenarian who escapes from his retirement home and embarks upon a hilarious adventure. Throughout, there are flashbacks to his earlier life and it is revealed he has unwittingly played a part in some of the biggest events of the 20th century.

2. Bursting out of the Cambridge bubble: And the Mountains Echoed. Following the success of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini’s third novel tells the story of a young brother and sister devastatingly separated due to their family’s poverty. Expansive and moving, this book promises to take you far outside the Cambridge bubble, confronting you with the reality and hardships of life.

3. Lasting you the whole term: The Goldfinch:. At 864 pages, Donna Tartt’s newest novel is not a quick read. Ten years in the making, the intensity of this book pulls you deep inside its pages and into the world of Theo, a 13-year-old boy whose life is forever altered by the sudden death of his mother. He soon becomes deeply fixated upon her favourite painting, The Goldfinch, developing an intense obsession which will lead him into a dark and troubling underworld.

4. Making you think: The Arab Uprisings. Jeremy Bowen’s first-hand account of his time spent as a journalist in the Middle East during the 2011 Arab Spring is a lively take on a complex subject matter.

5. Thrilling: Sister. If you enjoyed Gone Girl, Sister is the book for you. Rosamund Lupton tells the story of a woman investigating the disappearance of her sister in a tale that is sure to shock and surer to please.