Barack Obama Shares His Favorite Books & Movies Of 2022
For the last squeeze of your intellectual juices in 2022 and a glance back through a cultural lens, look no further than Barack Obama’s top reads and movies. Following tradition from the past years, the former US President has rounded up his favorite books and films that have helped broaden his thinking and scope on the world’s cultures.
As usual, Obama’s recommendations reflect a diverse America and humanity. A couple of them, he admits, are “biased” choices. His number-one book is his wife and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry… though, to be fair, it’s a New York Times bestseller. Most of the books on his list are.
I always look forward to sharing my lists of favorite books, movies, and music with all of you.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 23, 2022
First up, here are some of the books I read and enjoyed this year. Let me know which books I should check out in 2023. pic.twitter.com/NuGA7dDz9G
The other less-objective favorite is Descendant, a feature documentary produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions that follows the lineage of people who were transported illegally to the US via the last-known slave ship from Africa. Descendant also marks Obama’s first Emmy nomination.
I saw some great movies this year – here are some of my favorites. What did I miss? pic.twitter.com/vsgEmc8cn8
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 23, 2022
Spanning fact and fantasy, and mixed experiences, below are Obama’s book and movie suggestions to round up your 2022.
Books
by Michelle Obama (“I’m a bit biased on this one”)
Michelle Obama’s follow-up to her bestselling memoir Becoming invites readers to explore inspiring reflections on change, challenge, and power to confront the growingly confusing landscape with hope. The former FLOTUS is a firm believer that when we light up for others, we illuminate the potential in the world around us.
by Emily St. John Mandel
Written during the pandemic, Sea of Tranquility places readers on a time machine to experience nuances of art, love, and plague through history. Their journey begins with an 18-year-old who crosses the Atlantic by steamship, traversing two centuries later to get acquainted with a famous writer who travels across Earth but calls the second moon colony home, and disembarking at the black-skied Night City.
by Hernan Diaz
Trust is a novel circled around Benjamin and Helen Rask, two unshakeable names of Wall Street in the roaring twenties. The pair—one a prominent tycoon and the other the daughter of eccentric aristocrats—shoot to the peak of material success… but at what cost?
The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams
by Stacy Schiff
Pulitzer Prize laureate Stacy Schiff introduces the modern reader to Samuel Adams, deemed as “the most essential Founding Father,” who helped drive the American Revolution.
by Namwali Serpell
12-year-old Cassandra Williams is spending time with her little brother Wayne when an accident strikes and Wayne is lost forever, his body never to be found. Their father leaves the family and starts a new life, while their mother starts an organization focused on locating missing children. The novel poignantly illustrates the experience of grief and mourning, and how they “[break] over the present like waves in the sea.”
South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon Line to Understand the Soul of America
by Imani Perry
A Black woman and native Alabaman returns home, where she meanders through its troubling history and humiliations shared by Southerners from all walks of life. The story convinces that one must first understand the South to comprehend who America is.
by Jessamin Chan
In Jessamin Chan’s debut novel, “bad” mothers are put through a government-run reform program, where they are trained to be good parents with artificial-intelligent robot children. The tale, inspired by dystopian classics like 1984, Never Let Me Go, and The Handmaid’s Tale, challenges its reader to look at American parenting culture while underscoring the pain in state-supported family segregation.
by Charmaine Wilkerson
In Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel, a woman’s death leaves her two previously-close children with a strange inheritance: a black cake with a recipe passed down through generations, and a voice recording. In the audio, the woman recounts a young swimmer who flees her island home following accusations of murder. As they unravel heartbreaking mystery after heartbreaking mystery, the siblings’ lineage is thrown into question.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands
by Kate Beaton
Kate Beaton’s first full-length graphic narrative sheds light on the unseen side of Canada, a country that touts its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty.
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
by Ed Yong
Even as humans, our ideas of the world are unique from one another. Imagine the perceptive bubble of animals, which each have a different understanding based on their heightened senses and inclinations. Here, you’ll be introduced to the lesser-known experiences of this immense world—some beetles are drawn to fires, crocodiles’ faces are highly sensitive, and scallops have a more complex sight than you might have thought.
by George Saunders
One of the most prolific short-story writers is back with a collection of witty stories exploring power and justice.
by Jennifer Egan
The Candy House envisions a word just moments away, dynamically capturing the implications of alternate worlds, social media, and gaming.
by Abdulrazak Gurnah
This historical fiction follows Ilyas, who was stolen from his parents by German colonial troops at a young age. After being trained to fight his own people, he returns home years later to learn that the life he knew—and the family he grew up with—is gone. Ilyas falls in love and tries to get back to a life of normalcy, all while a dark cloud of an impending war looms over him.
Films
The Fabelmans
Decision to Leave
The Woman King
Aftersun
Emily the Criminal
Petite Maman
Descendant
(“I’m biased—Higher Ground-produced”)
Happening
TILL
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Top Gun: Maverick
The Good Boss
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy
A Hero
Hit the Road
Tár
After Yang
