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
- Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life
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.