{"id":185171,"date":"2025-08-29T17:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/185171\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T17:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:48:24","slug":"barack-obama-shares-his-10-favorite-summer-books-just-in-time-for-labor-day-weekend-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/185171\/","title":{"rendered":"Barack Obama Shares His 10 Favorite Summer Books Just in Time for Labor Day Weekend Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”<\/p>\n

Every summer, former president Barack Obama<\/a> shares his reading list\u2014and yes, they\u2019re books he really read. Eric Schultz, a senior advisor to Obama, told Esquire<\/a>, \u201cThese lists come from him. This is not a staff-led exercise, and I think if it was, it wouldn\u2019t pass the smell test. These lists wouldn\u2019t be as salient or get as much traction if it wasn\u2019t coming from him directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharing this year\u2019s list, he wrote, \u201cReading has always been an important part of my journey, which is why I couldn\u2019t be more excited that we\u2019ll have a new branch of the Chicago Public Library at the Obama Presidential Center when it opens next year. For now, I figured I\u2019d share some of the books I\u2019ve read recently, along with some notes about why I liked them \u2014 and why you might, too. Take a look and let me know what I should check out next.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here, Obama\u2019s 10 favorite books of summer 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazing, true story of a couple surviving crisis in the open seas,\u201d Obama writes. In A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst tells the story of young couple, Maurice and Maralyn, who decided to sail around the world\u2014until were shipwrecked at sea in the Pacific in 1972. Surviving for 117 days until they were finally spotted by chance, Elmhirst tells their captivating story. As Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing, blurbed: \u201cA beautiful meditation on endurance, codependence, and the power of love. A dazzling book.\u201d<\/p>\n

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$24.31 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Twain<\/p>\n

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow returns with a definitive look at Mark Twain\u2014and his life before he became Mark Twain. The biography draws on Twain\u2019s archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, to create a nuanced portrait of the writer who leaves a large impact on American history. \u201cA comprehensive biography of one of the most important writers and social commentators in American history,\u201d Obama writes.<\/p>\n

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$24.74 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Rosarita<\/p>\n

Three-time Booker finalist Anita Desai is back with Rosarita, the story of a young woman from India named Bonita. She has traveled to Mexico to study Spanish, when at the beach one day, she is approached by an elderly woman who claims to know her mother. Bonita says her mother has never been to Mexico, but is shaken by the encounter, and seeks out the woman\u2014whom she calls \u201cThe Trickster\u201d \u2014days later. \u201cA short, beautiful novella about a woman\u2019s discovery of her mother\u2019s secret past,\u201d Obama wrote.<\/p>\n

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$11.53 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

King of Ashes: A Novel<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite crime fictions writers delivers in this story of family, ambition, and corruption in a racially charged and violent South,\u201d Obama writes of King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic. The story follows Roman, summoned home after his father\u2019s car accident, who finds his brother in debt and his sister exhausted from holding the family together. The siblings soon learn that their father\u2019s car crash was no accident, and Roman is determined to save his family.<\/p>\n

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$25.91 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter<\/p>\n

\u201cA mash-up of history and horror that explores the brutal legacy of conquest against Native American people,\u201d Obama writes of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. Stephen Graham\u2019s novel follows a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice, told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab confessing his sins.<\/p>\n

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$19.61 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Abundance<\/p>\n

\u201cA must-read for progressives who want a blueprint for reforming government so it can deliver for working people,\u201d Obama writes. Per the publisher, \u201cIn a book exploring how we can move from a liberalism that not only protects and pre\u00adserves but also builds, Klein and Thompson trace the political, economic, and cultural barriers to progress and propose a path toward a politics of abundance. At a time when movements of scarcity are gaining power in country after country, this is an answer that meets the challenges of the moment while grappling honestly with the fury so many rightfully feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

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$17.34 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service<\/p>\n

Michael Lewis\u2019s Who Is Government? is about the people who work for government in public service, with essays by Casey Cep, Dave Eggers, John Lanchester, Geraldine Brooks, Sarah Vowell, and W. Kamau Bell. \u201cA timely reminder of the quiet dedication and skill of the people who work every day to make this country work,\u201d Obama says.<\/p>\n

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$21.00 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Book of Records: A Novel<\/p>\n

In The Book of Records, Lina and her father Wui Shin end up in the Sea, a haven for displaced people across centuries. Of the time-traveling work of historical fiction, Obama says, it is \u201ca beautiful fable about migration, memory, and the struggle to recognize our common humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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$23.13 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Audition: A Novel<\/p>\n

\u201cA quiet novel about hte ways we hide our true selves from others\u2014and ourselves,\u201d Obama writes. In Katie Kitamura\u2019s Audition, an older actress meets a younger man, Xavier, for lunch. Xavier believes he\u2019s the narrator\u2019s son, the narrator knows that\u2019s impossible. In the second part, Xavier is living with the narrator and her husband. \u201cPeople often talk about the performative aspect of social media or self-presentation as if it\u2019s inherently superficial. I actually think we find ourselves through performance. We find we exist in performance,\u201d Kitamura said<\/a> of her novel. \u201cWe\u2019re performing all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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$11.09 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource<\/p>\n

Obama says The Sirens\u2019 Call is \u201ca useful primer on how social media and the attention economy have warped our democracy and reshaped our lives.\u201d Authored by MSNBC and podcast host Chris Hayes, the book dives into \u201cthe assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts\u201d with the intent to \u201cwrest back control of our lives, our politics, and our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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$16.55 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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