Former US president Barack Obama has shared his 2025 summer reading recommendations, continuing his annual practice of highlighting books he has recently enjoyed. The varied selection spans fiction, history, politics, crime and horror, offering readers a broad set of contemporary and non-fiction titles.

– *Mark Twain* by Ron Chernow — a biography of the influential American writer and commentator.
– *The Book of Records* by Madeleine Thien — a fable about migration, memory and shared humanity.
– *Abundance* by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson — proposals for reforming government.
– *King of Ashes* by S.A. Cosby — a crime novel about family, ambition and corruption in the US South.
– *Rosarita* by Anita Desai — a novella centred on a woman uncovering her mother’s past.
– *The Buffalo Hunter Hunter* by Stephen Graham Jones — historical horror examining violence against Native American peoples.
– *A Marriage at Sea* by Sophie Elmhirst — the true story of a couple surviving a crisis at sea.
– *Audition* by Katie Kitamura — a novel about concealed identities and self-perception.
– *Who is Government?* by Michael Lewis — a look at public servants’ work.
– *The Sirens’ Call* by Chris Hayes — an examination of social media, attention and democracy.