As has been tradition every year, Barack Obama shared his summer reading list on social media this week. The list showcases his usual mix of fiction and nonfiction, and it shows off an interest in both books that have been popular and some that are lesser-known.
This year, we’ve got a couple of heavy hitters when it comes to titles already seeing critical acclaim and award talk. There’s a biography of an American literary legend, as well as a work of nonfiction that’s generated a lot of social media discourse–positive and less-so. And genre? President Obama’s got some of that in his reading life this summer, too.
Here’s the list:
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones The Book of Records by Madeleine Thein A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson Audition by Katie Kitamura King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby Who Is Government? by Michael Lewis Rosarita by Anita Desai The Sirens’ Call by Chris HayesThe former President Obama also shared that when the Obama Presidential Center opens next year, there will be a new branch of the Chicago Public Library on site.
Check out some of former Reader-in-Chief Obama’s past reading lists, including his 2024 summer reading list, his 2023 summer reading list, his 2022 summer reading list, and his summer 2021 reading list.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
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