Barack Obama Shares His Latest Summer Reading List
It’s the most wonderful time of year! What we’ve all been waiting for! Back to school? No, friends. It’s President Obama’s Summer Reading List Time!
On Sunday, President Obama shared his summer reading list with his followers on Facebook, and as ever, we all basked in the glow of a leader who loves and cares about books and stories and people.
And who, might you ask, made his list? Well, notably, the former President and Oprah Winfrey have similar taste as Tayari Jones’s novel An American Marriage was listed among his favorites of the summer. Joining her is Tara Westover’s memoir Educated, the story of Westover’s childhood in a survivalist family in the mountains of Idaho, and her subsequent departure in search of education. In memory of V.S. Naipaul, the President re-read A Home for Mr. Biswas, Naipaul’s first novel. Michael Ondaatje’s book Warlight captures a post-WWII world. And in the beautiful shade we’ve come to know and love, Obama rounded out his list with Factfulness by Hans Rosling, a book the President calls “hopeful,” about the capacity for human progress when we work off of facts rather than our biases.
Tayari Jones, classy and amazing as ever, responded with an offer of signed copies to the President and Mrs. Obama.
Tara Westover expressed her gratitude as well. I think all of us would be a bit speechless.
So update your TBR lists and enjoy this shining moment of the President Obama’s Summer Reading List. (Say it soft, and it sounds like praying.)
Need some more bookish Obama content, President Obama’s 2017 book recommendations; Rioter Elizabeth Allen’s ultimate guide to Obama memoirs and books; and Obama’s summer reading recommendations from earlier this summer, featuring extraordinary African writers.
