11 books Obama thinks everyone should read
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Barack Obama is a major bookworm.
In his book "Dreams from My Father," he reflected on his lifelong love of literature: "When I wasn't working, the weekends would usually find me alone in an empty apartment, making do with the company of books."
Recently, the outgoing US president sat down with New York Times chief book critic Michiko Kakutani to discuss literature.
In the interview, Obama referenced a wide range of works, from books he's read in recent years to those he recommended to his daughter Malia.
Here are some of the works Obama praised in the New York Times interview:
'The Naked and the Dead' by Norman Mailer
Amazon"Written in gritty, journalistic detail, the story follows an army platoon of foot soldiers who are fighting for the possession of the Japanese-held island of Anopopei. Composed in 1948, 'The Naked and the Dead' is representative of the best in twentieth-century American writing."
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Amazon"The brilliant, bestselling, landmark novel that tells the story of the Buendia family, and chronicles the irreconcilable conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love — in rich, imaginative prose that has come to define an entire genre known as 'magical realism.'"
'The Golden Notebook' by Doris Lessing
Amazon"Anna is a writer, author of one very successful novel, who now keeps four notebooks. In one, with a black cover, she reviews the African experience of her earlier years. In a red one she records her political life, her disillusionment with communism. In a yellow one she writes a novel in which the heroine relives part of her own experience. And in a blue one she keeps a personal diary.
"Finally, in love with an American writer and threatened with insanity, Anna resolves to bring the threads of all four books together in a golden notebook. Doris Lessing's best-known and most influential novel, 'The Golden Notebook' retains its extraordinary power and relevance decades after its initial publication.
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