It's known that former US President, Barack Obama is an avid reader and every few months he shares his book recommendations with his fans and fellow readers on social media. Obama recently released a list of 11 books which he read this summer and would like to recommend to others.
Interestingly, he also paid a special tribute to Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison who died on August 5 at the age of 88. Sharing his 2019 summer reading list, Obama wrote, "It's August, so I wanted to let you know about a few books I've been reading this summer, in case you're looking for some suggestions."
Obama's 2019 summer reading list is an eclectic mix of 11 old and new books. Check out the list here. Don't forget to add these books to your reading list for this year, if you haven't read them already.
The Collected Works of Toni Morrisson
On top of Barack Obama's 2019 reading list is the collected works of Toni Morrison, who passed away this year at the age of 88. Urging fellow readers to re-read her acclaimed works, Obama wrote, "To start, you can't go wrong by reading or re-reading the collected works of Toni Morrison. 'Beloved', 'Song of Solomon', 'The Bluest Eye', 'Sula', everything else — they're transcendent, all of them. You’ll be glad you read them." He further added saying, "And while I’m at it, here are a few more titles you might want to explore."
'The Nickel Boys' by Colson Whitehead
'The Nickel Boys' by Colson Whitehead is a follow-up novel of his Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'The Underground Railroad'. It's a dramatized retelling of a piece of United States history. The story follows two young boys who were sentenced to a hellish reform school in Florida which operated for 111 years and destroyed the lives of thousands of innocent children.
'Exhalation' by Ted Chiang
Ted Chiang's 'Exhalation' is a collection of nine science fiction short-stories; through each story, he tries to understand the nature of the universe and what it means to be human. For instance, the story titled 'Exhalation' is about an alien scientist who makes a shocking discovery which has the power to change reality. While the story ‘The Lifecycle of Software Objects’ is about a woman who cares for artificial intelligence for 20 years and in the process, succeeds in transforming her digital pet into a real being. The book also has two previously unpublished stories.
'Wolf Hall' by Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel's 2009 novel 'Wolf Hall' is a historical book and the first in a trilogy. This Man Booker Prize-winning novel is a fictionalised biography about the rise of Thomas Cromwell's power in Henry VIII's court after Sir Thomas More died. The story is set between 1500 to 1535, and it is named as one of the best historical novels by The Observer in 2012.
'Men Without Women' by Haruki Murakami
'Men Without Women' is a collection of heart-touching short stories by Japanese master storyteller Haruki Murakami. Translated and published in English in 2017, these short stories are about men who have lost women in their lives either to other men or to death.
'American Spy' by Lauren Wilkinson
Lauren Wilkinson's debut novel 'American Spy' is an espionage thriller inspired from real-life incidents. Set in 1986, during the Cold War, the story follows intelligence officer with the FBI, Marie Mitchell who is given an opportunity to join a task force to undermine Thomas Sankara. Known as “Africa’s Che Guevara”, Sankara is the revolutionary president of Burkina Faso. Marie soon seduces Sankara and brings him down, even though she secretly admires his work; but doing so changes her own ideologies in the process.
'The Shallows' by Nicholas Carr
Nicholas Carr first posed the question "Is Google is making us stupid?" in his cover story for Atlantic Monthly. In this book, he explores this idea and writes about how the internet is changing us over time. He points out that each piece of information technology has an intellectual ethic. For instance, while reading a physical book helps in focussing and promotes creativity, the Internet promotes rapid and distracting bits of information from different sources. Thus even as we are getting better with skimming large pieces of info but we are losing our ability to contemplate and reflecting, he argues. In this book, Carr points out such profound questions about the modern psyche.
'Lab Girl' by Hope Jahren
American geochemist, geo-biologist and professor Hope Jahren's 2016 memoir 'Lab Girl' is a moving story about achieving impossible tasks when love and work come together. In this book, Jahren writes about her childhood, how she discovered her love for science, how she met her lab-partner and best-friend Bill, and the places science and her research has taken her over the years.
'Inland' by Téa Obreht
Téa Obreht's 'Inland' is set in 1893 drought-ridden Arizona and follows the lives of two people--Nora and Lurie. Nora is a frontierswoman, waiting for the men in her life to come back. She lives with her youngest son, who believes their land is haunted by a mysterious beast and her husband's 17-year-old cousin brother who can communicate with spirits. Meanwhile, Laurie is an ex-outlaw who is haunted by ghosts who want something from him. 'The way in which Lurie’s death-defying trek, at last, intersects with Nora’s plight is the surprise and suspense of this brilliant novel,' reads the book's blurb.
'How to Read the Air' by Dinaw Mengestu
Dinaw Mengestu's 2010 novel 'How to Read the Air' explores immigrant experience across two generations. Jonas Woldemariam is newly divorced and desperate to understand the relationships that have forged him. 'He hits the road, tracing the route that his parents - young Ethiopians in search of an identity as an American couple - took thirty years earlier to Nashville, Tennessee... In a stunning display of imagination he weaves together a history that takes him from the war-torn Ethiopia of his parents' youth to a brighter vision of his own life in contemporary America, a story - real or invented- that holds the possibility of reconciliation and redemption,' reads the book's blurb.
'Maid' by Stephanie Land
'Maid', as the title suggests, is Stephanie Land's memoir about facing poverty and working as a maid in America. At 28, Stephanie plans to break free from her hometown and decides to chase her American Dreams of becoming a writer. But when a summer fling leads to an unexpected pregnancy, she takes up housekeeping to financially support herself and her daughter. During this time, she also took classes online to get a college degree and began writing true stories of overworked and underpaid Americans. 'Maid' is not just Stephanie's story; it is a story of struggles and ultimate triumph of the human spirit during adverse times.