Barack Obama Releases His Summer Reading List for 2024
As has been tradition every year, Barack Obama shared his summer reading list on social media this week. The list showcases his usual mix of fiction and nonfiction, and it shows off an interest in both books that have been popular and some that are lesser-known. His 2024 list is one of the longer reading lists in recent years, and it includes a twist on an American literary classic, a memoir about growing up and loving basketball, a twisty mystery that several big book clubs have selected to read, and more.
When it comes to fiction, we still see Obama’s preference for literary realism–though he does include a genre-bendy work of time travel, romance, and spy thriller. His preferences for nonfiction include politics and history, as well as memoir and a book by a giant of American literature that explores the book of Genesis.
Here’s the list:
- James by Percival Everett
- 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
- Beautiful Days by Zach Williams
- Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
- Memory Piece by Lisa Ko
- The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
- 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 Hampton Sides
- Help Wanted by Adele Williams
Check out some of former Reader-in-Chief Obama’s past reading lists, including his 2023 summer reading list, his 2022 summer reading list, and his summer 2021 reading list.
Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.
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