President Obama’s Book Lists

Thanks Obama!

Recently, the NYTimes published two wonderful pieces sharing how  important reading has always been to President Obama.

• Obama’s Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books
• Transcript: President Obama on What Books Mean to Him

In the interview the President mentions giving his older daughter, Malia, a Kindle full of books he thinks she might enjoy and learn from. My first thought was “I want that book list!” Well that book list doesn’t seem to be available, though we can hope they might share it someday.

But, there are other lists! WhiteHouse.gov has a few (though for how long, who knows.) And a quick web search turns up many, many more.

From Whitehouse.gov:

• The President’s Summer Reading List – his 2015 and 2016 summer reading lists on WhiteHouse.gov (I’m putting those titles here in case that page goes away soon.)
  • Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
  • The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
  • H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
  • The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
  • All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
  • The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
  • The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

And a few more reading lists:

• Get Ready to Carve Out 89 Hours for President Obama’s Essential Reads -  Wired Magazine’s November 2016 list of 10 books that shaped President Obama.
• President Obama’s Reading List – A NYTimes follow up with authors mentioned in the other NYTimes articles.
• Barack Obama — Reader-in-Chief – To top it off, Electric Lit has the mother lode of Obama reading lists going back to 2009.

Eight wonderful years of good reads and oh so much more. Thank you President Obama.

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