Every year American readers look forward to Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year list.
A savvy politician, writer, and avid reader, Obama is the only literary president of the twenty-first century. We have heard nothing of Biden’s, Trump’s, or George W. Bush’s reading. During Obama’s presidency he showed his passion for literature by buying books on Small Business Saturday at Politics and Prose, a D.C. bookstore, and posting his Favorite Books of the Summer and Favorite Books of the Year lists.
Perhaps our last literary president was Jimmy Carter, a writer of novels, memoirs, and nonfiction who loved Dylan Thomas’s poetry and sent a fan letter to Erica Jong. (The latter makes sense: he told Playboy that he lusted in his heart.)
As usual, Obama’s Favorite Books list is inspiring. We have read three on the list: Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know, and Susan Choi’s Flashlight.
Some Obama fans are over-the-top. Eric Anderson of the Lonesome Reader vlog gushed about Obama’s “charming” book list tradition and suggested that Obama should be a Booker Prize judge.
“Is he saying he’s going to make this happen?” someone asked from the couch.
I’m Bookered-out this time of year. A great longlist and shortlist in 2025 – but I don’t want to think about it again till next summer. Of course Eric has always been Booker-crazy – he even films the award ceremonies. He does a good job.
Would Obama make a great Booker judge? Yes, of course. This year Sarah Jessica Parker, next year Obama – great for the Booker Prize. Great PR! Perhaps not that much fun for Obama, though. Roddy Doyle said they had to sift through a lot of very bad books.
We’ll see what happens.
Here is Obama’s Favorite Books of 2025 list.
- “The Paper Girl” by Beth Macy
- “Flashlight” by Susan Choi
- “We the People” by Jill Lepore
- “The Wilderness” by Angela Flournoy
- “There Is No Place for Us” by Brian Goldstone
- “North Sun” by Ethan Rutherford
- “1929” by Andrew Ross Sorkin
- “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” by Kiran Desai
- “Dead and Alive” by Zadie Smith
- “What We Can Know” by Ian McEwan
- “The Look” by Michelle Obama
I’d forgotten about Obama’s list this year; many thanks for bringing it to mind! You’re one up on me, as I’ve only read Flashlight and Sonia/Sunny (I AM, however, well into What We Can Know, my first novel by McEwan in years & years. So far I’m quite impressed) Although I always enjoy Mr. O’s lists, I must admit our tastes in reading don’t overlap that much — he’s far more serious & reads much, much more non-fiction, which I generally avoid (TBH I AM tempted by Macy’s Paper Girl after reading a long excerpt somewhere or other). I almost dipped into North Sun, until I read that it contained some graphic descriptions of whale slaughter (no can do); I did succumb to the hype & have a copy of The Wilderness, if I ever get to it.
So wonderful, isn’t it, to think we once had a leader who actually read a book? (in fairness, Laura Bush, who trained as a librarian, was also a reader)
I notice that Obama wisely put Michelle’s book on his list!
Obama’s list is always excellent. Although I complained that I was Bookered-out, the three books I’ve read on Obama’s list were on the shortlist! I’ll have to look up some of these because I haven’t heard of all of them.
Yes, Laura Bush, and now Jenna Bush Hager, represented the White House’s literary side.