“I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year, deliberately omitting what I think is a pretty good book – A Promised Country – of a certain 44 presidents,” Obama joked. “I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I do.”
“Homies Elegies” by Ayad Akhtar
“Jack” by Marilynne Robinson
“Caste” by Isabel Wilkerson
“The Splendid and the Poor” by Erik Larson
“Chandelier” by Raven Leilani
“How Much of These Hills is Gold” by Pam Zhang
“Long Bright River” by Liz Moore
“Memorial Drive” by Natasha Trethewey
“The Twilight of Democracy” by Anne Applebaum
“Deacon King Kong” by James McBride
“Undocumented Americans” by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
“The Half That Disappears” by Brit Bennett
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
“The Hidden Valley Road” by Robert Kolker
“Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson
“Sharks in the Time of Saviors” by Kawai Strong Washburn
“The Missionaries” by Phil Klay