Former President Barack Obama posted his summer reading list to Facebook on Monday.
He also included his own reviews of the novels, written like something you might see on the back of the novel.
Here’s his list:
Educated by Tara Westover
Obama’s review: A remarkable memoir of a young woman raised in a survivalist family in Idaho who strives for education while still showing great understanding and love for the world she leaves behind.
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
Obama’s review: Set after WWII, [Warlight] is a meditation on the lingering effects of war on family.
A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Obama’s review: The Nobel Prize winner's first great novel about growing up in Trinidad and the challenge of post-colonial identity.
Obama wrote that he re-read the novel following Naipaul’s death. Naipaul passed away on August 11.
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Obama’s review: A moving portrayal of the effects of a wrongful conviction on a young African-American couple.
Factfulness by Hans Rosling
Obama’s review: [Hans Rosling] is an outstanding international public health expert, [the book] is a hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.
The former president wrote he found time to read during family vacations or during “quiet afternoons.” He also wrote that reading the books “reaffirmed [his] faith in our ability to move forward together when we seek the truth.”
The former president and his family have been active online and in the D.C. community throughout the summer. Former first lady Michelle Obama was spotted alongside the former president at a Beyonce concert in July.
Later in July, Obama and former vice president Joe Biden got lunch at Dog Tag Bakery in Georgetown.
