Barack Obama’s reading lists offer a thoughtful selection of book recommendations to read like a United States President. This is the complete list of books that were recommended for summer and beyond, all the way back from his first year in the Oval Office, 2009, until the present. You’ll also learn my reviews and recommendations for specific titles. Let’s get literary!
Barack Obama’s Reading List For 2024
Summer Reading List:
James by Percival Everett (my review: ★★★★☆)
There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib
Everyone Who Is Gone Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer
Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson
Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Fallon Book Club; my review: ★★★★★)
Related Post: Book Review of The God of the Woods | The God of the Woods Ending
Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (GMA Book Club)
When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked up in the Early 1990s by John Ganz
Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What To Do About It by Richard Reeves
The Wide, Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by James Sides
Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman
(Source)
About Barack Obama’s Reading Lists
“Reading is the gateway skill that makes all other learning possible.”
– Barack Obama
Barack Obama has been sharing reading lists since his first year as President in 2009. He generally releases a summer reading list near the end of summer and a favorite books of the year list in December.
President Obama’s book list started in 2009 as a summer book list, often disclosed as he was on his annual Martha’s Vineyard vacation. It has since evolved. It now sometimes also includes yearly “best of” book recommendations or, in a few cases, no list of books at all.
Barack Obama’s reading list is something I have eagerly anticipated for years now. In fact, I was quoted in Esquire’s article, Behind the Scenes of Barack Obama’s Reading Lists about it:
“‘First, it’s exciting to see which books you’ve read that a former president has read too, and second, he always offers an array of diverse reads, so you know you’re also bound to find something new and impactful to read next,’ Buonocore said.”
– article by Sophie Vershbow
Barack Obama is known for his diverse reading tastes. He reads a mix of fiction and nonfiction and leans towards highly acclaimed books about social and/or political topics.
Methodology
I used Barack Obama’s own social media pages for most of my sourcing, then filled in the gaps with trustworthy resources, which I cited. I did not include book recommendations outside of his “official” lists, such as interviews where influential books in his life were discussed.
I have also annotated specific titles I’ve read with my personal star ratings (on a scale of 1-5 stars) and whether they were a celebrity book club pick, to further help you pick your next great read recommended by a former United States president.
Barack Obama’s Book Recommendations from Previous Years
2023
Favorite Books:
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (my review: ★★★★★)
Related Posts: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Characters | The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store Book Club Questions
The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair (Read with Jenna)
The Wager by David Grann
Chip War by Chris Miller
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Oprah’s Book Club pick; my review: ★★★★★)
Related Post: The Covenant of Water Book Review
The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta
Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista
This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Learn more about Obama’s favorite books of the year.
(Source)
Summer Reading List:
Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★★★)
Related Posts: Hello Beautiful Review | Hello Beautiful Discussion Questions
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
What Napoleon Could Not Do by DK Nnuro
The Wager by David Grann
Blue Hour by Tiffany Clarke Harrison
(Source)
2022
Favorite Books:
Aouth to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (Read with Jenna; my review: ★★★★★)
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
The Furrows: A Novel by Namwali Serpell
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
Liberation Day by George Saunders
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (my review: ★★★★☆)
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chane (Read with Jenna)
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Trust by Hernan Diaz (my review: ★★★☆☆)
(Source)
Summer Reading List:
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (Read with Jenna; my review: ★★★★★)
Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring
The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
The Family Chao by Lan Samantha Chang
The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure by Yascha Mounk
A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib
Mouth to Mouth by Antoine Wilson
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan (Read with Jenna)
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Silverview by John le Carre
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein
(Source)
2021
Favorite Books:
Aftershocks by Nadia Owuso
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (Read with Jenna; my review: ★★★☆☆)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (my review: ★★★★★)
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton (my review: ★★★☆☆)
Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in An American City by Andrea Elliott
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (Read with Jenna; my review: ★★★☆☆)
The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honoree Fanonne Jeffers (Oprah’s Book Club)
Matrix by Lauren Groff
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (my review: ★★★★☆)
(Source)
Summer Reading List:
At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop
Intimacies by Katie Kitamura
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (GMA Book Club)
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam (Read with Jenna; my review: ★★★☆☆)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris (Oprah’s Book Club)
Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert
When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut
(Source)
2020
Favorite Books:
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★★★)
Deacon King Kong by James McBride (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★★☆)
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker (Oprah’s Book Club)
Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Jack by Marilynne Robinson (Oprah’s Book Club)
Long Bright River by Liz Moore (GMA Book Club; my review: ★★★★★)
Luster by Raven Leilani
Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
Missionaries by Phil Klay
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larsson
Twilight of Democrazy by Anne Applebaum
The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (National Book Award Finalist)
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (GMA Book Club; my review: ★★★★★)
Related Post: The Vanishing Half Review | The Vanishing Half Discussion Questions
(Source)
2019
Favorite Books:
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshanna Zuboff
The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple
A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule by Jim Rooney
Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
The Heartbeat of Woulnded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present by David Treur
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 (my review: ★★★★★)
The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson
The Yellow House by Sarah H. Broom
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
The Sixth Man by Andre Iguodala
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
(Source)
Summer Reading:
The Collected Works of Toni Morrison
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (my review: ★★★★☆)
Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Inland by Tea Obreht
How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
Maid by Stephanie Land
(Source)
2018
Favorite Books:
Becoming by Michelle Obama (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★★★)
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★☆☆)
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
American Prison by Shane Bauer
Arthur Ashe: A Life by Raymond Arsenault
Asymmetry by Lisa Haliday
The Broken Ladder: How Inequality Affects the Way We Think, Live, and Die by Keith Payne
Educated by Tara Westover (my review: ★★★★★)
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Feel Free by Zadie Smith
Florida by Lauren Groff
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight
Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging by Alex Wagner
A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi was Thiong’o
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
How Democracies Die by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt
Immigrant, Montana by Amitava Kumar
In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History by Mitch Landrieu
The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti
There There by Tommy Orange (my review: ★★★★☆)
The Truth by Hisham Matar
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Why Liberalism Failed by Patrick Deneen
The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes
(Source)
Summer Reading:
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★☆☆)
Educated by Tara Westover (my review: ★★★★★)
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
(Source)
2017
Favorite Books:
Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Coach Wooden and Me by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Basketball (and Other Things) by Shea Serrano
Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Five-Carat Soul by James McBride
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (my review: ★★★★★)
Related Post: A Gentleman in Moscow Discussion Questions
Grant by Ron Chernow
Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein
The Power by Naomi Alderman
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
(Source)
2016
Summer Reading:
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (my review: ★★★★★)
H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Oprah’s Book Club; my review: ★★★★☆)
(Source)
2015
Summer Reading:
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (my review: ★★★☆☆)
All That Is by James Salter
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolber
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
(Source)
2014
Summer Reading:
Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Dr. Atul Gawande (my review: ★★★★★)
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
The Laughing Monsters by Denis Johnson
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Nora Webster by Colm Toibin
(Source)
2013
President Obama did not share a list this year.
2012
President Obama did not share a list this year.
2011
Summer Reading:
The Bayou Trilogy by Daniel Woodrell
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
Rodin’s Debutante by Ward Just
To the End of the Land by David Grossman
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
(Source)
2010
Summer Reading:
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (Oprah’s Book Club)
Tinkers by Paul Harding
A Few Corrections by Brad Leithauser
President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime by Lou Cannon
(Source: DC Library)
2009
Summer Reading:
Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Tom Friedman
John Adams by David McCullough
Lush Life by Richard Price
Plainsong by Kent Haruf
The Way Home by George Pelecanos
(Source)
Recap of the Top 10 Picks
United States President Barack Obama’s reading lists extend from his first year in the Oval Office, 2009, to the present. They include many award winners, diverse reads, selections for the best books of the 21st century, and impactful book club picks.
To recap and help you decide what to read first or next, my top 10 picks are:
TOP 10 PICKS
remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules
Do you offer a PDF printable list of all Obama’s reading lists, similar to your Oprah’s book club full list? I would really like to have one! Thanks!
If you do, how to we access it?
I do not right now, but I will consider making one soon, as I know this is such a popular topic with readers. Thanks for requesting it!
@Jules Buono, Thank you! I love PDF reading lists I can print out. At 66, I’m pretty old fashioned about paper lists, lol. Although I do use Goodreads now to keep track of what I’ve read.
You’re welcome, Mary! I have now added the printable PDF to this post.
Send the lists to my e-mail address. I would like to read them.