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Barack Obama Releases His Summer Reading List for 2024

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Always books. Never boring.

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.

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.