What does one do after leaving the White House? Well, if you’re Barack Obama, you write a critically acclaimed memoir, work on your presidential center, take spectacular vacations with A-list celebrities, and find plenty of time to curl up with a batch of really good books.
Obama’s known as a prolific reader, and he’s also known as one of our coolest presidents in recent memory. So when he praises a title he’s loved, libraries everywhere must prepare themselves for an avalanche of requests from curious bookworms eager to devour whatever’s on the former commander-in-chief’s shelves. Lucky for us, Obama loves sharing — he posts annual lists of his favorite books, movies, and music, and they’re a yearly source of inspiration for entertainment lovers around the country.
We’ve rounded up a list of his favorites from the last few years. Obama’s tastes run the gamut, so you’ll find gripping fiction and eye-opening non-fiction (and, because he’s a dreamily devoted partner to his wife, there’s a tome by Michelle Obama, too). No matter what sort of read you’re looking for, you’re guaranteed to find at least a few well-reviewed options among Obama’s recommendations.
And because there’s been so much consternation lately about where Americans are shopping these days (and who they’re supporting by buying from certain retailers), we’ve offered links to snatch up every one of these top-notch titles from Bookshop, where you can have your order shipped from an independent local bookstore in your area that deserves community support. Sounds like something Obama would have the audacity to hope you’ll do, doesn’t it?
Obama’s favorite books of 2024
- The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
- Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
- Patriot by Alexei Navalny
- Orbital by Samantha Harvey
- The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Savaş
- Stolen Pride by Arlie Russell Hochschild
- In Ascension by Martin MacInnes
- Growth by Daniel Susskind
- Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu
- The Work of Art by Adam Moss
Obama’s favorite books of 2023
- The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
- The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut
- Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond
- How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
- The Wager by David Grann
- Chip War by Chris Miller
- The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
- Humanly Possible by Sarah Bakewell
- King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
- The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
- The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen
- All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
- The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory by Tim Alberta
- Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista
- This Other Eden by Paul Harding
Obama’s favorite books of 2022
- The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
- Trust by Hernan Diaz
- The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff
- The Furrows by Namwali Serpell
- South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry
- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
- Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
- Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong
- Liberation Day by George Saunders
- The Candy House by Jennifer Egan
- Afterlives by Abdulrazak Gurnah
Obama’s favorite books of 2021
- Matrix by Lauren Groff
- How the Word Is Passed by Clint Smith
- The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton
- The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
- Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City by Andrea Elliott
- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
- Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
- These Precious Days by Ann Patchett
- Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
- Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu
- Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen
- The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
- Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
Obama’s favorite books of 2020
- Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
- Jack by Marilynne Robinson
- Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
- The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
- Luster by Raven Leilani
- How Much Of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang
- Long Bright River by Liz Moore
- Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
- Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum
- Deacon King Kong by James McBride
- The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
- The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
- Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
- The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson
- Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
- Missionaries by Phil Klay
