Once Upon a Time, Presidents Read Books. Here Are Obama’s Favorites From 2019.
Former President Barack Obama took a moment out of his busy schedule of building media empires and having the 2020 Democratic nominees for president kiss his ring,to carry on a time-honored tradition he started during his presidency: Releasing his annual list of favorite books from the previous year.
“This has become a fun little tradition for me, and I hope it is for you, too,” Obama wrote in an Instagram post. “Because while each of us has plenty that keeps us busy—work and family life, social and volunteer commitments—outlets like literature and art can enhance our day-to-day experiences.”
This year’s list is predictably broad and includes Sarah M. Broom’s memoir, The Yellow House; Susan Choi’s latest novel, Trust Exercise; and NBA star Andre Iguodala’s memoir, The Sixth Man, which was co-written by Carvell Wallace. Also on the list was Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino’s collection of essays about life on the Internet. If you’re looking for a few new titles to add to your own book list, this may be a good place to start. Here’s the whole list:
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, by Shoshana Zuboff
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company, by William Dalrymple
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee, by Casey Cep
Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernardine Evaristo
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, by David Treuer
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, by Jenny Odell
Lost Children Archive, by Valeria Luiselli
Lot: Stories, by Bryan Washington
Normal People, by Sally Rooney
The Orphan Master’s Son, by Adam Johnson
The Yellow House, by Sarah M. Broom
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland, by Patrick Radden Keefe
Solitary, by Albert Woodfox
The Topeka School, by Ben Lerner
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion, by Jia Tolentino
Trust Exercise, by Susan Choi
We Live in Water: Stories, by Jess Walter
A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule, by Jim Rooney
The Sixth Man, by Andre Iguodala