If you’re like me, summer means you have time to read what you actually want for a change, instead of Newtonian Physics, Organic Chemistry or even a Jane Austen classic.

Reading is a great way to keep your mind stimulated. If you’re off for the summer, reading means not slipping into a beach coma before fall quarter. If you’re one of the few experiencing the tragedy of summer school, these books offer some respite from the dryness of textbooks.

Before picking up “Twilight” to see what all the fuss is about, here’s a list of six books I recommend to keep the mind-juices flowing while remaining relaxed over the summer.

“What is the What” by Dave Eggers

This book follows the true story of Valentino Achak Deng, one of the Lost Boys, the refugee children of the war in Sudan. Eggers masterfully weaves Deng’s life and trials in Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya, with one day in his life in Atlanta, in which he is pushed to his limits. Deng’s tragic story, while heavy and sobering, is also at times sweetly romantic and occasionally humorous, and is coated with his enduring faith in human beings, which leaves the reader inspired and motivated rather than simply depressed.

“A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole

Ignatius J. Reiley is a classic, yet entirely unique, comedic figure; grotesquely obese, self-centered and lazy, he has entirely too high an opinion of himself. Recent college graduates may find his inflated self-worth and obnoxiously verbose vocabulary particularly hilarious — and oddly relatable. The novel is set in New Orleans where Reiley lives with his mother after obtaining a master’s degree and tries and fails at several different career paths, making for a disturbingly comic read.

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

In this hilarious twist on the classic novel, Elizabeth Bennet is still the heroine, but in a much more obvious sense. She is driven to save her town in the aftermath of a zombie attack, but finds it difficult in light of the distraction caused by the timeless hunk, Mr. Darcy. Though the humor is less dry and more obvious than in Austen’s original, this book manages to maintain the same themes of love, vanity and the complicated mother-daughter relationship.

“Cry, the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton

With the World Cup going down in South Africa this summer, you may want to brush up on your knowledge of the country’s history of complex race-relations. Paton’s novel is a great way to do just that. It is centered around the story of black pastor Stephen Kumalo whose son has disappeared in Johannesburg and is accused of murdering a white man. Paton captures the tensions of a country with a horrific past and on the verge of social upheaval. This is one of my favorite classics for its pure ability to break your heart and still give you hope that change can come to the most dire situations.

“Everything is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer

I have to admit that this was one of those books that actually caused me to laugh out loud on several occasions and, on several others, to cry like a baby. The story teeters between Foer’s journey to find the woman who helped his grandfather escape from the Nazis in Ukraine, told by his Ukrainian guide who delightfully mangles the English language, and the history of the town they are seeking. This hilarious set-up begs thought-provoking questions, like “Is love real, and what is it?” and “How do we cope with a haunting history we had no part in?”

“Sh*t My Dad Says” by Justin Halpern

Over one million twitter followers have been enjoying reading the ridiculously non-PC things Halpern’s father says on a daily basis. While the tweets summarize good one-liners from the 74-year-old man, the book is a touching, yet hilarious, development of the relationship between him and his son and all of the shit he says along the way. This may not be one to take with you on a baby-sitting gig this summer, but you may find the real characters as fun to follow as the tweets.