10 Great Books Recommended by Barack Obama
The article presents ten fiction books Barack Obama has recommended, highlighting his interest in novels that combine compelling characters with difficult, life-affirming stories. The selections span historical settings and family dramas, showing how individual lives are shaped by political upheaval, social change and personal relationships.
The excerpt describes *Pachinko*, which follows a Korean family in Japan from 1910 to 1989, and *Intimacies*, about an interpreter at the International Criminal Court. It also covers *A Gentleman in Moscow*, set during a count’s house arrest from 1922, and *All the Light We Cannot See*, a Second World War story that won the Pulitzer Prize and spent more than 200 weeks on the *New York Times* bestseller list. The article begins its account of *The Return* with a 1997 high-school debate student in Topeka, Kansas.
- Obama’s fiction picks range from family sagas to wartime stories.
- Several recommendations explore how history shapes private lives.
- *All the Light We Cannot See* won a Pulitzer Prize.