Barack Obama's favourite books of 2019
The top 3 according to 657 votes from people: Furious Hours — Casey Cep · The Anarchy — William Dalrymple · The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee — David Treuer. (Updated May 2, 2021.)
Twenty of the books on the reading list Barack Obama shared on 28 December 2019, from Sally Rooney to Ted Chiang.
Top 20
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1
Furious Hours — Casey Cep
True crime and Harper Lee's unfinished book.
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2
The Anarchy — William Dalrymple
History of the East India Company.
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3
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee — David Treuer
Native American history since 1890.
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4
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism — Shoshana Zuboff
Non-fiction on how tech companies profit from personal data.
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5
Girl, Woman, Other — Bernardine Evaristo
Novel; joint winner of the 2019 Booker Prize.
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6
How to Do Nothing — Jenny Odell
Resisting the attention economy.
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7
Lost Children Archive — Valeria Luiselli
Novel of a family road trip and the border.
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8
The Yellow House — Sarah M. Broom
Memoir of a New Orleans family home.
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9
Lot — Bryan Washington
Stories set in Houston.
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10
Normal People — Sally Rooney
Novel of two Irish teenagers into adulthood.
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11
Say Nothing — Patrick Radden Keefe
The Troubles and a 1972 disappearance in Belfast.
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12
Trick Mirror — Jia Tolentino
Essays on self-delusion and the internet.
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13
Solitary — Albert Woodfox
Memoir of over four decades in solitary confinement.
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14
American Spy — Lauren Wilkinson
Cold War spy novel.
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15
The Orphan Master's Son — Adam Johnson
Pulitzer-winning novel set in North Korea.
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16
The Topeka School — Ben Lerner
Novel set in 1990s Kansas.
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17
The Sixth Man — Andre Iguodala
Memoir of the NBA player.
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18
Trust Exercise — Susan Choi
Novel set at a performing arts high school.
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19
The Education of an Idealist — Samantha Power
Memoir of the former UN ambassador.
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20
Exhalation — Ted Chiang
Science fiction stories.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (7)
Added three of these to my reading list.
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell, needed that.
Girl, Woman, Other won the Booker that year, great pick.
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, scary and essential.
Love his lists every December.
The Anarchy by Dalrymple is fantastic history.
Furious Hours, Harper Lee's true crime book that never was.