Today, we are going to take a look at some of the best Barack Obama book recommendations.
Barack Obama is known for being the 44th, and first African-American, president of the United States from 2009 until 2017.
Before he was elected President, Barack Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, a student-led law review.
Afterwards, he became a civil rights attorney and taught law at the University of Chicago.
He entered politics by starting in the Illinois State Senate. He served from 1997-2004, when he became a United States Senator for Illinois. In 2008, he, and his vice-president, Joe Biden, won the election for president of the United States against John McCain and Sarah Palin, and again in 2012 against Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
During his two-term presidency, he introduced the Affordable Care Act, ended military involvement in Iraq, eliminated Osama bin Laden, legalized same-sex marriage, signed the Paris Agreement, and opened up Cuba to citizens of the United States.
Barack Obama is regarded as one of the best American presidents in history.
How much does Barack Obama read?
While he was president, Barack Obama would spend about an hour late at night reading in, what Michelle Obama would call, his “Hole.”
Before that, he was a daily reader, sometimes reading multiple books at one time. I think it’s safe to say that Barack Obama is an avid reader.
What is Barack Obama’s favorite book genre?
Barack Obama doesn’t seem to have a favorite genre when it comes to reading books. Most of his favorite books are in a wide variety. Some are fiction novels, some self-help books, some sports books, some history, biography, etc…
The man just loves to read.
Barack Obama Book Recommendation List
An avid reader, former lawyer, and president of The United States, Barack Obama’s recommendations are among some of the best. Here is a list of Barack Obama’s book recommendations and their links to them on Amazon:
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen
- Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
- Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Song of Solomon was written in 1977, and is author, Toni Morrison’s third novel. It follows Macon “Milkman” Dead III, who is an African-American man that lives in Michigan. The novel follows his life from birth to adulthood.
The theme around Song of Solomon is the search for identity, specifically African-American identity. Toni Morrison makes mention that ties to one’s community and ancestral past are the keys to a person’s identity.
The book also aims to question the relationship of African Americans amongst themselves and white Americans, both as individuals and as a community.
Following Milkman throughout the novel, we see him try to become independent, gain self-realization, and to find out who he is as a person.
In 1978, Morrison won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction for Song of Solomon.
Why does Barack Obama recommend the book Song of Solomon?
Barack Obama recommended Song of Solomon in August of 2019, saying that author Toni Morrison was a “national treasure” after she passed away around the same time.
He went on to say this about her, “Toni Morrison’s prose brings us that kind of moral and emotional intensity that few writers ever attempt. From ‘Song of Solomon’ to ‘Beloved,’ Toni reaches us deeply, using a tone that is lyrical, precise, distinct, and inclusive. She believes that language ‘arcs toward the place where meaning might lie.’ The rest of us are lucky to be following along for the ride. I remember reading ‘Song of Solomon’ when I was a kid and not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think.”
Barack Obama has actually recommended Song of Solomon in multiple interviews. In another one, he’s quoted as saying, “I think Toni Morrison’s writings, particularly ‘Song of Solomon,’ is a book I think of when I imagine people going through hardship. That it’s not just pain, but there’s joy and glory and mystery.”
Author Toni Morrison was also a fan of Barack Obama himself. She attended his inauguration in 2009 and also called him “the man for this time.”
Land of Big Numbers by Te-Ping Chen
Land of Big Numbers was published in early 2021 and was written by Te-Ping Chen. The book is a collection of ten short stories, and is roughly 230 pages long.
The stories in Land of Big Numbers are all set in China, and flips through each character’s unique journey, history, and relationship with the government to see how they ended up in the present.
Stories range from twins who take different paths in life, one becoming a political activist and the other becoming a professional gamer, to a woman who works at a call center for the government while her ex-boyfriend stalks her, to a man messing around with the risky Chinese stock exchange. In one eerie story, a group of people are trapped on a subway platform just waiting for someone to give them permission to leave.
Even though she has no background in writing short stories, Te-Ping Chen uses her years of journalism to craft a remarkable literary voice.
What did Barack Obama have to say about Land of Big Numbers?
Land of Big Numbers was on Barack Obama’s favorite books list in 2021 as one of the best books of the year.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary was written by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, and was published in May of 2021. It is a science fiction novel, and was one of the best science fiction novels of 2021, as well as being a finalist in of the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2022. It’s roughly 500 pages long.
Project Hail Mary is about a middle school teacher, Ryland Grace, who became an astronaut. He wakes from a coma, slowly realizing he was sent to another solar system 12 light years from Earth in order to stop an event from happening that could cause humanity to become extinct.
Unfortunately, he is the sole survivor on this mission, and to make things worse, he has amnesia and can’t even remember his own name! He doesn’t even know how his crew mates died.
Even with this amnesia, he gets himself together to solve the mystery of how to stop the extinction of humankind!
What does Barack Obama have to say about Project Hail Mary?
Barack Obama recommended Project Hail Mary in his 2021 Summer Reading list that he puts out each year. His lists are worth checking out if you want even more Barack Obama book recommendations.
Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu
Aftershocks was published in 2020, written by Nadia Owusu, and is around 320 pages long. It won a 2019 nonfiction Whiting Award.
Aftershocks is a memoir in which Nadia Owusu writes about her childhood. For Nadia, her childhood was not all fun and games.
Her Armenian American mother left her when she was only two years old, and her Ghanaian father was a United Nations official who was always moving around. Because of that, Nadia never really found what she called her “home”.
Nadia was constantly moving across countries and even continents, spending most of her early life in Europe and Africa. Her father died when she was only 13 years old, leaving her with her stepmother.
Eventually she ends up in New York City. Her troubles don’t end here, though. She struggles with depression, and can barely hold her and her siblings together.
What does Barack Obama have to say about Aftershocks?
Barack Obama included Aftershocks on his favorite books of 2021 list. He said:
“Over the next few days, I’ll share my annual list of favorite books, music, and movies. Art always sustains and nourishes the soul. But for me, music and storytelling felt especially urgent during this pandemic year. I’ll start by sharing some of my favorite books of 2021”
Aftershocks was on this list.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Normal People ended up becoming a Hulu Original Series that started as a New York Times Bestseller by Sally Rooney, who has other best selling novels. The book follows two young people, Connell and Marianne, who grew up in a small town, but couldn’t be anymore different.
Connell is very popular and outgoing, while Marianne is a loner and an introvert. When these two strike up a conversation, it’s awkward, but life-altering.
They both go to Trinity College in Dublin, but the roles are flipped. Connell is now shy and Marianne has the social life. They stray and come back to each other over the years, going through thick and thin together.
The book, Normal People, aims to teach fascination, friendship and love in two people that can’t seem to stay apart.
Normal People won Book of the Year at the British Book Awards in May of 2019.
Why does Barack Obama recommend the book Normal People?
Barack Obama recommended Normal People in 2019.
In the post where he recommended the book, he said, “Over the next few days, I’ll be sharing my annual list of favorites — books, films, and music — with all of you. This has become a fun little tradition for me, and I hope it is for you, too. 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. They’re the fabric that helps make up a life—the album that lifts us up after a long day, the dog-eared paperback we grab off the shelf to give to a friend, the movie that makes us think and feel in a new way, works that simply help us escape for a bit. To start, here are the books that made the last year a little brighter for me. Most of them came out in 2019, but a few were older ones that were new to me this year. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.”
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
Haruki Murakami, a well-known Japanese author, has written several popular books, mostly very eerie books and short stories that leave you with a questioning feeling.
Men Without Women is no different. Haruki Murakami uses his same type of humor and pathos in Men Without Women that he uses in all the stories before and after this one.
The book spans over seven different stories and each follows a lonely man’s life. Each of these men have lost the woman in their lives. Men like lovesick doctors, students, ex-boyfriends, actors, bartenders, and more, all tell their stories.
All of the stories are set in Japan, and it was translated into English in 2017.
Why does Barack Obama recommend the book Men Without Women?
Again, Barack Obama recommended Men Without Women in 2019.
Here’s what he had to say about it, “Haruki Murakami’s Men Without Women examines what happens to characters without important women in their lives; it’ll move you and confuse you and sometimes leave you with more questions than answers.”
Barack Obama Book Plug: A Promised Land
Barack Obama has written several books throughout his life, including his first, the popular Dreams Dreams From My Father, that was published in 1995.
Obama’s beautifully written new book, A Promised Land, is a memoir about his time during the presidency. Obama tells us the story of searching for his identity as a young man to when he became president.
He takes you from the Iowa caucus victory to the night he won the presidency becoming the first African American in history to do so.
Barack Obama wants to bring the reader into the Oval Office, to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, and into his thoughts about everything from assembling his cabinet, to overcoming a global financial crisis, to Afghanistan and the death of Osama bin Laden.
Barack Obama aims to be candid and open about all of his experiences, no matter how hard, while running for and during his time as president of The United States of America.