Throughout his time in the White Office, former
President Barack Obama has recommended hundreds of books.
For the last two years, for instance, Obama
has shared with the world his recommended summer reading, leading to bookstores
selling out of his chosen novels across America.
With the Democrat leaving the Oval Office within the
week, we look back at some of the books Obama recommended over the last eight
years.
Summer reads - In 2015 and 2016, Obama recommended
various books to sit back and read while enjoying the sunshine, ranging from
sci-fi to a portrait of Alexander Hamilton’s life.
1. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, William Finnegan
2. H Is for Hawk, Helen Macdonald
3. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins
4. Seveneves, Neal Stephenson
5. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
6. All That Is, James Salter
7. All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
8. The Sixth Extinction, Elizabeth Kolbert
9. The Lowland, Jhumpa Lahiri
10. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
11. Washington: A Life, Ron Chernow
Favourite books (according to Facebook) - On his social
media account, Obama - who whoever set up his Facebook page - lists numerous
classic books along, including the Bible.
12. Song Of Solomon, Toni Morrison
13. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
14. ‘Shakespeare’s Tragedies’
15. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch
16. Gilead, Marylinne Robinson
17. Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson
18. The Bible
19. Lincoln’s Collected Writings
Favourite books (according to The New York Times) - In
an email to the NYT, Obama added a few more classics to his favourite books
list.
20. Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois
21. Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson
23. Gandhi’s autobiography
24. All the King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren
25. Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam
26. The Federalist, Alexander Hamilton
27. Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith
28. Cancer Ward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
29/30. The Power and the Glory and The Quiet American,
Graham Greene
31. Working, Studs Terkel
For his daughters - While speaking to the Times, Obama
listed the books he suggested his 18-year-old daughter read
32. The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer
33. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel GarcÃa
Márquez
34. The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
35. The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston
From independent bookstores - The NYT were once again on
hand when Obama visited an independent bookstore and picked 17 novels, some of
which were listed by the publication.
36. Redwall series, Brian Jacques
37. Junie B. Jones series, Barbara Park
38. Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson
39. Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
40. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
41. Nora Webster, Colm Toibin
42. The Laughing Monsters, Denis Johnson
43. Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in
the New China, Evan Osnos
44. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,
Dr. Atul Gawande
45. Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, Katherine Rundell
46. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan.
Favourite books (again) - When visiting the public
library in Washington’s Anacostia neighbourhood, Obama spoke to young students
about some of his favourites from childhood.
47. The Hardy Boys series, Edward Stratemeyer
48. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
49. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
50. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
51. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak
Other favourites - back in 2009, the year he officially
became President, Obama also listed numerous favourite books. A comprehensive
piece in The Telegraph also lists numerous other additions to the favourites
list.
52. Team of Rivals, Doris Kearns Goodwin
53. The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing
54. Various writings of Reinhold Niebuhr
55. Lush Life, Richard Prince
56. Philosophy & Literature, Peter S Thompson
57. Collected Poems, Derek Walcott
58. Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese
59. To the End of the Land, David Grossman
60. Lessons in Disaster, Gordon Goldstein
61. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris
62. John Adams, David McCullough
63. Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
64. Plainsong, Kent Haruf
65. The Way Home, George Pelecanos
66. Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green
Revolution, Thomas L Friedman
67. What Is the What, Dave Eggers
68. Netherland, Joseph O’Neill
69. Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet,
Jeffrey D. Sachs
70. Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph
of Hope, Jonathan Alte
71. FDR, Jean Edward Smith
72. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA,
Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, Steve Coll
73. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New
Gilded Age, Larry Bartels
74. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham
Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin
75. Fates and Furies, Lauren Goff
76. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling
77. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,
Salman Rushdie
78. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
79. The Three-Body Problem, Liu Cixin
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