There’s More! 5 More Novels On Barack Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List

As summer winds to an end, there’s still some time to fit a few more books into your summer reading list. Who better to take suggestions from than the POTUS himself?

Shortly after dropping his 2016 summer music playlist, President Barack Obama shared his summer reading list with the world, the topics of which range from surfing to space travel!  Without further ado, here’s your one-way ticket to the inner workings of Barack Obama’s mind:

1. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life is William’s Finnegan’s touching memoir about water polo…just kidding. It’s about the joys and dangers of surfing; a heart-pounding adrenaline rush of a pastime that can easily turn into an addiction. Finnegan speaks out about his life as a young boy growing up on the California and Hawaii coasts, his pursuit of the perfect wave all over the world, and his eventual careers as a novelist and political journalist in this Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir.

Barbarian Days

Source: Amazon

2. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad is a heart-wrenching story about a journey into womanhood, a journey to freedom, and a glance back into the shared history of a nation. Cora, a slave on a plantation in Georgia, flees from her former life on the treacherous Underground Railroad, all the while hunted down by a relentless slave catcher in this reflection on the brutality of slavery in the pre-Civil War era and the will to be free at any cost.

The Underground Railroad

Source: Amazon

3. H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

It may not be a bald eagle, but there’s something presidential in the fierce, stern gaze of the hawk. Helen Macdonald’s New York Times best-seller is a story of the bond between a woman and a fierce goshawk named Mabel. With the inspiration from the adopted hawk’s fierce will and guidance from T.H. White’s The Goshawk, Helen Macdonald learns to accept the loss of her father and understand her own humanity.

H is for Hawk

Source: Amazon

4. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Every day is the same for Rachel Watson. She rides the London train home on a daily basis, fantasizing about the people outside the windows and the lives they lead. Then, one day, through the glass, she sees something that she wasn’t supposed to see. In this New York Times No.1 best-seller, a daily routine plunges a woman into a world of scandal, lies, obsession, and eventually the uncovering of a terrible crime. Check out the movie trailer, starring Emily Blunt, here.

The Girl on the Train

Source: Amazon

5. Seveneves: A Novel by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson’s sci-fi thriller asks one question: “What would happen if the world were ending?”  The answer lies in international cooperation, a five-thousand-year journey into the unknown, science, survival, philosophy, and, ultimately, the Earth itself. It’s fun to think of this one as the president’s personal manual for what to do if ever faced with the threat of global extinction.

Seveneves

Source: Amazon

So, what do you think of the president’s reading list? Did he hit the mark, or should he go back and hit the books? Check out even more of the President’s TBR, here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S1loAe0ZoQ

YouTube Channel: Democracy Watch

 

Featured image via MSNBC

h/t The White House

Leave a Reply