New Delhi: Over the years, former US President Barack Obama has often shared updates on his reading list. Now, he is going back to six books that have stayed with him throughout these years.
A Great Book With Barack Obama, a six-part podcast from Audible and Higher Ground, the media company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama, will be available on Audible from 24 September.
The series will centre on six books Obama says helped him understand himself and the world around him:
- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
- Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
- All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
- Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
- All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré
Each episode will pair Obama with a writer, thinker, or artist. While the guests are yet to be announced, the discussions will revolve around why the books have endured, what they reveal about people and relationships, and what literature can still offer readers.
A diverse selection
The podcast arrives as Obama has continued to make reading part of his public life. Since leaving the White House in 2017, he has regularly shared lists of books he has read. This time, rather than simply naming what is on his shelf, he is sitting down to talk about why six particular books have remained there.
The selections span multiple genres and decades. Baldwin and Morrison bring questions of race, identity, and American life. McCarthy and Robinson turn inward, toward violence, faith, and memory. Warren offers a political novel, while le Carré brings the world of espionage. Five of the six books were published in the 20th century; Gilead, published in 2004, is the only 21st-century selection.
Obama also hopes the podcast will remind people of the “joy and power” of reading. At a time when fewer people are sitting down with books, he said, some books can still change the way we see the world.
The podcast is the latest collaboration between Audible and Higher Ground. Their previous projects include Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast as well as programmes involving journalist Michele Norris and author Malcolm Gladwell.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)
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