Barack Obama has shared his latest summer reading list, recommending novelists including Hilary Mantel, Colson Whitehead and Toni Morrison, who died last week.
The former US President shared the list on his official Facebook page, with his selections a mix of novels, non-fiction works and short stories, many of which revolve around themes of race, class and gender. He wrote: “I wanted to let you know about a few books I’ve been reading this summer, in case you’re looking for some suggestions.”
He began by recommending the works of Toni Morrison, who died last week aged 88 and whom he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. “You can’t go wrong by reading or re-reading the collected works of Toni Morrison,” Obama wrote. “Beloved, Song of Solomon, The Bluest Eye, Sula, everything else – they’re transcendent, all of them. You’ll be glad you read them.”
Obama additionally recommended works by authors including Whitehead, Mantel, Ted Chiang and Haruki Murakami. He even joked that he had been very late in getting to Mantel’s work, but for good reason.
“Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel’s epic fictionalised look at Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power, came out in 2009, but I was a little busy back then, so I missed it,” he wrote. “Still great today.”
The full list is as follows…
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami
American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson
The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
Inland by Téa Obreht
How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
Maid by Stephanie Land
On Twitter, Wilkinson wrote: “I am deeply honoured to be on @BarackObama’s summer reading list, and more than a little nostalgic for a president who values reading.”
