Barack Obama unveils list of his favourite books from 2019
Former US President Barack Obama has released his eagerlyawaited annual list of favourite books that made 2019 “a little brighter” for him, continuing what he said has become a “fun little tradition”. The list comprises 19 fiction and non-fiction titles on subjects ranging from surveillance capitalism and the attention economy to feminism and race in Britain, and has two volumes specifically tagged for sports fans.
“This has become a fun little tradition for me, and I hope it is for you, too. Because while each of us has plenty that keeps us busy — work and family life, social and volunteer commitments — outlets like literature and art can enhance our day-today experiences,” Obama, 58, wrote in an Instagram post recently.
Obama, who himself is an author and an avid reader, said literature and art were the “fabric that helps make up a life”.
“The album that lifts us up after a long day, the dogeared paperback we grab off the shelf to give to a friend, the movie that makes us think and feel in a new way, works that simply help us escape for a bit,” he said.
Obama’s eclectic list includes: The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana
Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple; Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep; this year’s Booker Prize-winning author
Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other and Lost Children Archive by Valeria uiselli among other nteresting titles.
The list has books “for the orts fan” too. Jim oney’s A Different Way to n: Dan Rooney’s Story From the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule and Andre Iguodala’s The Sixth Man made it in the mentions. Obama began publishing lists of book recommendations in 2015, while he was still in office.