2023-04-23 09:37:52
The first time Barack Obama published an official list of book recommendations was in the summer of 2009, a few months following taking office, writes the American magazine. He then turned it into something of a tradition. The only years he did not make the list were in 2012 and 2013. In 2017, following his term ended, the former president also began publishing a list of the best books of the year, alongside similar lists for movies, television and music.
And very quickly, his recommendations became highly anticipated. Julianne Buonocore, founder of the book and lifestyle blog The Literary Lifestyle, told Esquire that she and her more than 800,000 monthly readers look forward to Obama’s book list every year. “Firstly, it’s exciting to see what books you’ve read and what books a former president has read, and secondly, he always offers a range of diverse reading, so you know you’re sure to find something new and impactful to keep reading,” she said.
There are also people who do not believe in the authenticity of his recommendations. “I don’t think the list is entirely real in the sense that he actually sits down and reads all these books and then picks his favorites. I think he reads, of course, but with his schedule and responsibilities, he just can’t. It seems more likely that the highly curated list is made up of his team’s suggestions, and then everyone works to pick the best ones that fit his important agenda or other trends happening in the world,” said Grace Astrove, bookstagrammer and director of development at Magazzino Italian Art.
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„ÎAs a publisher, we do not influence his choices”
The reporter sought to find out if Obama was indeed behind the lists, but her sources in the publishing industry quickly distanced themselves from the suggestion that they played any role. “The books he chooses for his annual reading list are all his personal choices, and as a publisher we do not influence his choices. His choices are his own,” said Carisa Hays, vice president, director of publicity at Random House Publishing Group, “and Obama’s in-house publicist for his own books.”
“It’s hard to imagine that any publicist who has the opportunity to get their book into the hands of the former president doesn’t try. Given the lucrative boost in sales and publicity that Obama’s election will undoubtedly bring, why wouldn’t they?” asks the journalist from Esquire.
“These lists come from him. This is not a staff-driven exercise, and I think if it was, it wouldn’t have been sniffed at,” says Eric Schultz, who served as senior adviser and deputy press secretary to President Obama, specifying that publicists don’t have ” no influence on what he chooses to read and release as part of his reading list’.
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“Being a former president, one of the advantages is access to people and communities and stories from every corner of the planet, from every industry, from every sector, from every vector… Whether it’s people in business or sports, whether it’s whether it’s his daughter or other friends, these are all people he hears regarding books from,” Schultz says.
The titles Obama selects are incredibly diverse in both subject and author, of the 13 titles included in Obama’s Favorite Books of 2022, nine are works of fiction and four are works of non-fiction, including books of eight women. Including a novel regarding a dystopian school for mothers, a graphic novel regarding work and survival in Canada, a journey through the history, rituals and landscapes of the American South, and a collection of beautifully crafted short stories.
“As someone who spent the better part of a decade working in Big Five book publishing, I can tell you that the former president has a impeccable taste”, concludes Sophie Vershbow.
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What was the reaction of the authors who found themselves on the list
The news that it was on Obama’s list of endorsements came as a surprise to many authors. Rumaan Alam, whose novel Leave the World Behind was on the summer 2021 list, said his reaction when he found out was one of “disbelief”. Alam said: “I had no idea my book would be on this list – I was at the beach with my kids and a friend texted me saying Congratulations. I had no idea what he was referring to – but what a wonderful surprise.”
“With Say Nothing, it didn’t even occur to me that the book might be on the list. Then, with “Empire of Pain”, I assumed there was no chance it would end up on the Obama list, because “Say Nothing” had done it”, said Radden Keefe, who suspects that “the lists are not made by a committee, but of the reading habits of one man, albeit a man who reads quite a lot, is himself a highly gifted writer, and happens to be the former President of the United States.”
“It’s part of being a good leader”
The question of how the most powerful man on the planet found time to read Fates and Furies in the midst of major world events like the Arab Spring and the killing of Osama bin Laden is a perfectly valid reason for skepticism – the guy has been and is busy – , but Schultz says Obama found time to read because he believes reading is necessary and makes it a priority in his schedule. “He considered that [cititul] it’s part of being a good leader, part of being a good president, part of being a good father, a good husband and a good man,” Schultz said.
The former president told The New York Times in 2017 what books mean to him, that he has enjoyed reading since childhood, and that he rediscovered reading and writing during college. Books “reintroduced me to the power of words as a way to figure out who you are and what you think and what you believe and what’s important,” he said of the time he moved to New York in 1980.
The journalist concludes that following contacting editors, authors and experts in the field, she found no evidence that the former president’s book recommendations were designed by someone else.
“For a minute, I give you permission to be grateful that one of the most influential people on the planet makes it a priority not just to promote books, but to be personally moved by them,” the journalist concluded.
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