As one of the most literate United States Presidents, Obama discussed books with Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic for the New York Times. In an interview as he leaves office,  Obama noted “…the power of words as a way to figure out who you are and what you think, and what you believe, and what’s important, and to sort through and interpret this swirl of events that is happening around you every minute.”

Citing books he has recommended for his daughter as she prepares for college – how many have you read? –  he included:

• The Naked and the Dead
• One Hundred Years of Solitude
• The Golden Notebook 
• The Woman Warrior
• The Moveable Feast

From some of his favorite authors, I found a few familiar names and two new ones I might try:

• Marilynne Robinson
• science fiction writer, Liu Cixin (The Three-Body Problem)
• Lauren Groff (Fates and Furies)
• Toni Morrison (Song of Solomon)
• V.S. Naipaul (A Bend in the River)
• Jhumpa Lahiri
• Junot Diaz
• and leaders: Mandela, Martin Luther King, Churchill, Gandhi, Teddy Rossevelt, Abraham Lincoln

And he offered a clue about what he might be doing after January 20th, when a new President will be inaugurated:

“…and so in my post-presidency, in addition to training the next generation of leaders to work on issues like climate change or gun violence or criminal justice reform, my hope is to link them up with their peers who see fiction or nonfiction as an important part of that process.”

Read the full interview – here