“The only way to learn is to live.”
If you’re looking to get back into reading, you’re not alone. Whether you’ve stumbled into a reading slump, stopped picking up books because life got busy, or just feel like nothing is holding your attention anymore, finding the right book can make all the difference. The best books to get back into reading are typically fast-paced, easy to follow, and genuinely addictive – stories that pull you in from the first page and remind you why you adored reading to begin with. Today at What We Reading, we’re sharing the best books to get back into reading after a long break, including quick reads, page-turners, and gripping novels that are perfect for easing yourself back in. If you’re looking for easy books to help you start reading again, these picks are designed to help you rebuild the habit without pressure and rediscover the joys of a great story.
Enter Ghost – Isabella Hammad
First up on our list of books to get back into reading is Isabella Hammad’s bold, evocative novel, Enter Ghost. After years away from her family’s homeland, actress Sonia Nasir returns to Hafia to visit her older sister Haneen. This is her first trip back since the second intifada and the deaths of their grandparents. On her return, she finds her relationship to Palestine is fragile, both bone-deep and new.
At Haneen’s, Sonia meets the charismatic and candid Mariam, a local director, and finds herself roped into a production of Hamlet in the West Bank. As opening night draws closer, it becomes clear just how many violent obstacles stand before a troupe of Palestinian actors. Amidst it all, the life Sonia once knew starts to give way to the daunting, exhilarating possibility of finding a new self in her ancestral home.
The Martian – Andy Weir
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark Watney finds himself stranded and completely alone on Mars with no way to signal to Earth that he’s alive – and, even if he could get the word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills – and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit – he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after another. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds stacked against him?
Check Out The Best Books Like The Martian
If We Were Villains – M.L. Rio
Oliver Marks has just served ten years in jail – for a murder he may or may not have committed. On the day he’s released, he’s greeted by the man who put him in prison. Detective Colborne is retiring, but before he does, he wants to know what really happened a decade ago.
As one of seven young actors studying Shakespeare at an elite arts college, Oliver and his friends play the same roles onstage and off: hero, villain, tyrant, temptress, ingenue, extra. But when the casting changes, and the secondary characters usurp the stars, the plays spill dangerously over into life, and one of them is found dead. The rest face their greatest acting challenge yet: convincing the police, and themselves, that they are blameless.
Check Out Our If We Were Villains Book Review
Romantic Comedy – Curtis Sittenfeld
Sally Milz is a sketch writer for “The Night Owls,” the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love. But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called “Danny Horst Rule,” poking fun at how average-looking men are able to become entangled with beautiful, accomplished women.
Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation who has signed on as a guest for the show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah immediately. Soon, she can’t help but wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. One of the best romance books to get back into reading, Romantic Comedy is brimming with keen observations on the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.
Go As A River – Shelley Read
Seventeen-year-old Victoria Nash runs the household on her family’s peach farm in the small ranch town of Iola, Colorado – the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Wilson Moore is a young drifter with a mysterious past, displaced from his tribal land and determined to live as he chooses.
Victoria encounters Wil by chance on a street corner, a meeting that profoundly alters both of their young lives, igniting as much passion as danger. When tragedy strikes, Victoria leaves behind the only life she has ever known, fleeing into the mountains. As the seasons change, she also charts the changes in herself, finding in the beautiful but harsh landscape the meaning and strength to move forward and rebuild all that she has lost. Go as a River is a story of a deeply held love in the face of loss, making for the perfect read if you’re stuck in a reading slump.
One Day – David Nicholls
Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew meet on the 15th July 1988, the night of their graduation. Though they only spend one day together, a deep connection forms between them. Rather than becoming a couple, they go their separate ways; however, David Nicholls picks up with them on the same day – July 15th – every year for the next two decades.
Emma is idealistic and ambitious, struggling to find her place in the world, whereas Dexter is charming and privileged, pursuing a flashy career in television. As their lives take different courses, they remain constants in one another’s lives, sometimes as best friends, sometimes as something more. Through witty banter, heartache, and moments of joy, One Day is a story that explores fate, missed opportunities, and the power of enduring love.
Check Out The Best Books Like One Day
Into The Water – Paula Hawkins
A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a vulnerable teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to these dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets long submerged.
Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl. Parentless and friendless, she now finds herself in the care of her mother’s sister, a fearful stranger who has been dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from – a place to which she vowed she’d never return. With the same propulsive writing and acute understanding of human instincts that made her bestseller The Girl on the Train such a hit, Into the Water is another great thriller book to get you back into reading.
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig
When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change.
The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her past regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her decisions place the library and herself in extreme danger.
Check Out Our The Midnight Library Book Review
The Name Of The Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen. The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of travelling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivalled in recent literature.
Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind is a high-action story written with a poet’s hand; the opening entry in his Kingkiller Chronicle series, this epic fantasy tale is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard, perfect if you’re looking for books to get back into reading again.
Klara And The Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro
From her place in the store, Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, watches carefully the behaviour of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her, but when the possibility emerges that her circumstances may change forever, Klara does not want to invest too much in the promises of humans.
In Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro explores our rapidly changing modern world through the lens of an unforgettable narrator to explore a fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
Check Out Our Klara And The Sun Book Review
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
