President Obama Recommends: 8 Years of Presidential Book Recommendations

BRAILLE AND TALKING BOOK LIBRARY

(800) 952-5666; btbl.ca.gov; [email protected]

President Obama Recommends: 8 Years of Presidential Book

Recommendations

President Barack Obama is a prolific reader and has made many excellent book

recommendations during his presidency. Below is a comprehensive list of the

books he has recommended throughout his presidency. This list was adapted

from the Entertainment Weekly article written by Ruth Kinane. To order any of

these titles, contact the library by email, phone, mail, in person, or order through

our online catalog. Most titles can be downloaded from BARD.

President Obama recommended these titles for his oldest daughter, Malia:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

Read by Peter Gil

14 hours, 33 minutes

1820s to 1920s. Latin American epic tale follows seven generations of the

Buendía family through triumphs and disasters that parallel the fortunes and

misfortunes of their utopian town, Macondo. By the Colombian Nobel Prize-

winning author. Some descriptions of sex and some strong language. 1967.

Download from BARD: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Also available on digital cartridge DB059490

The Woman Warrior Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts by Maxine

Hong Kingston

Read by Catherine Byers

6 hours, 52 minutes

Girlhood recollections of a Chinese American in California, where her parents

had settled and operated a laundry. Her mother's "talk-stories" filled the girl's

head with mythic Chinese figures and traditions as she coped with daily life in

America. Some strong language. Nat'l Book Critics Circle Award. 1976.

Download from BARD: The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood…

Also available on digital cartridge DB050624

President Obama Recommends Page 2 of 26

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

Read by Sally Darling

29 hours, 38 minutes

A complex novel that explores the intimate details of the life of Anna Wulf, a

writer evolving as a woman in relationships with men, as an artist, as a

communist, and as a mother. Points up the differences between life and art as

conveyed in Wulf's notebooks. Some strong language and some explicit

descriptions of sex.

Download from BARD: The Golden Notebook

Also available on digital cartridge DB023376

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

Read by Bruce Huntey

26 hours

Classic novel of World War II. An American infantry platoon invades the

Japanese-held island of Anopopei. Mailer explores the soldiers' behavior and

emotions under the extreme stress of jungle warfare. Strong language and

some violence. 1948.

Download from BARD: The Naked and the Dead

Also available on digital cartridge DB053839

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR18541

Also available in braille BR018541

Books purchased by President Obama for himself and his family from the

independent bookstore Politics and Prose in Washington D.C.:

Heart of Darkness, and The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad

Read by Jack Hrkach

6 hours, 40 minutes

Two short allegorical novels based on real events and related by the central

characters. 'Heart of Darkness' concerns a journey into the center of the Congo.

The further Marlow, the narrator, penetrates into the interior, the more

compelling becomes his confrontation with the potential for inhumanity in

himself and others. In 'The Secret Sharer' a sea captain faces his own nature

when he conceals an escaping murderer with whom he identifies.

Download from BARD: Heart of Darkness, and The Secret Sharer

Also available on digital cartridge DB012613

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR11418

President Obama Recommends Page 3 of 26

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Read by Peter Johnson

12 hours, 38 minutes

Seventy-seven-year-old Dorrigo Evans thinks back on his life and relives his

time in a Japanese POW camp, where he served as a surgeon, trying to save

fellow prisoners from injury and cholera. Strong language, some violence, and

some descriptions of sex. Man Booker Prize. Bestseller. 2013.

Download from BARD: The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Also available on digital cartridge DB080095

Being Mortal Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

Read by Gary Telles

9 hours, 33 minutes

Surgeon and author of Complications (DB 56061) and The Checklist Manifesto

(DB 70422) examines the state of end-of-life care in the twenty-first century.

Discusses medical advances which have extended life expectancy, limited

training of physicians to discuss mortality with patients and family members, and

ways to be honest. Bestseller. 2014.

Download from BARD: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the...

Also available on digital cartridge DB080380

Redwall Abbey Series By Brian Jacques

The first book is: Redwall

Next books in the series: Mossflower, Mattimeo, Mariel of Redwall,

Salamandastron, Martin the Warrior, The Bellmaker, Outcast of Redwall, Pearls

of Lutra and others

Read by David Palmer

11 hours, 28 minutes

The peaceful life at ancient Redwall Abbey is threatened by the evil rat Cluny

and his villainous hordes. So young mouse Matthias resolves to find the

legendary sword of Martin the warrior, convinced it will help Redwall's

inhabitants destroy the enemy. Sequel to Mossflower (BR 13471). For grades 5-

8. 1986.

Download from BARD: Redwall

Also available on digital cartridge DB029729

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR13472

Also available in braille BR013472

President Obama Recommends Page 4 of 26

The Laughing Monsters by Denis Johnson

Read by Andy Pyle

7 hours

Roland Nair, who calls himself Scandinavian but has a U.S. passport, reunites

in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with fellow fortune hunter Michael Adriko, who has

another scheme. Adriko's girlfriend comes along, and all three are keeping

secrets from each other. Strong language, some violence, and some

descriptions of sex. 2014.

Download from BARD: The Laughing Monsters

Also available on digital cartridge DB080389

Age of Ambition Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China By

Evan Osnos

Read by George Backman

16 hours, 43 minutes

Journalist uses his experiences living in China between 2005 and 2013 to

examine the state of the country--especially that of individuals. Features stories

of a soldier who defected to China from Taiwan, a scholar who began an

influential dating service, and subversive artist Ai Weiwei. Unrated. Commercial

audiobook. Pulitzer finalist. Nat'l Book Award. 2014.

Download from BARD: Age of Ambition Chasing Fortune, Truth, and...

Also available on digital cartridge DB079724

Junie B. Jones Series by Barbara Park

The first book is: Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus

Next books in the series: Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business, Junie B.

Jones and Her Big Fat Mouth, Junie B. Jones and Some Sneaky Peeky Spying,

Junie B. Jones and the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake and others

Read by Susan McInerney

54 minutes

Junie B. is almost six years old and is starting kindergarten. She worries for a

week about riding the yellow school bus and doesn't like her first trip on it at all.

So she decides not to ride it home after school. For grades K-3. 1992.

Download from BARD: Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus

Also available on digital cartridge DB054794

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR17950

Also available in braille BR017950

President Obama Recommends Page 5 of 26

Nora Webster a Novel by Colm Tóibín

Read by Gabriella Cavallero

10 hours, 49 minutes

Newly widowed Nora Webster tries to cope with the well-meaning but misplaced

sympathies of her neighbors. They share predictable advice--how to raise her

young sons without their father, how to get a job, and how to live as a solitary

entity--but Nora can use none of it. Bestseller. 2014.

Download from BARD: Nora Webster a Novel

Also available on digital cartridge DB080260

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

Read by Jacqueline Woodson

3 hours, 58 minutes

In this autobiography told through vivid poems, Woodson explores her

childhood as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s and her growing

awareness of the civil rights movement. Reflects on the joy of finding her voice

through writing stories, despite her difficulties with reading as a child.

Commercial audiobook. For grades 4-7. 2014.

Download from BARD: Brown Girl Dreaming

Also available on digital cartridge DB080026

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR20541

Also available in braille BR020541

Books from a Summer reading list shared by President Obama in 2016:

Barbarian Days A Surfing Life by William Finnegan

Read by William Finnegan

18 hours, 10 minutes

Memoir of an obsession and a way of life by a writer who started surfing as a

child. Describes chasing waves all over the world, wandering for years through

the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, and Africa. Details the intricacies of famous

waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Pulitzer Prize. Unrated.

Commercial audiobook. 2015.

Download from BARD Barbarian Days a Surfing Life

Also available on digital cartridge DB082098

President Obama Recommends Page 6 of 26

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Read by Louise Brealey

11 hours, 1 minute

Rachel's train commute to London passes her former house--now inhabited by

her ex-husband and his new family. She also observes a happy young

neighboring couple--but then the wife goes missing. Rachel believes she

witnessed a critical clue, but her alcoholic blackouts make her an unreliable

witness. Strong language, descriptions of sex, and some violence. Commercial

audiobook. 2015.

Download from BARD: The Girl on the Train

Also available on digital cartridge DB080635

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR20688

Also available in braille BR020688

H Is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

Read by Martha Harmon Pardee

10 hours, 41 minutes

Cambridge lecturer describes the year she spent training a goshawk, a decision

she came to after the sudden death of her father in 2007. Discusses the field of

falconry, which her father avidly practiced, the grieving process, and author T.H.

White's book The Goshawk (DB 42687). Bestseller. 2014.

Download from BARD: H is for Hawk

Also available on digital cartridge DB081386

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

Read by Madelyn Buzzard

34 hours, 37 minutes

A catastrophic event forces humanity to band together to survive, though only a

handful succeed and flee Earth. Five thousand years later, their descendants

number three billion and comprise seven distinct races. They embark on a

journey into the unknown, to an alien world--Earth. Some strong language.

2015.

Download from BARD: Seveneves

Also available on digital cartridge DB083040

President Obama Recommends Page 7 of 26

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Read by Bahni Turpin

10 hours, 45 minutes

Cora, a third-generation slave, flees the plantation where she lives. She

escapes with a man who claims to know how to get to the Underground

Railroad. Once there, she discovers it is an actual railroad, and every stop

shows her moments of horror and joy. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2016.

Download from BARD: The Underground Railroad

Also available on digital cartridge DB085212

Books from a Summer Reading list shared by President Obama in 2015:

Washington A Life by Ron Chernow

Read by Michael. Scherer

38 hours 59 minutes

Award-winning author pens a comprehensive biography of America's first

president. Uses previously unavailable letters and papers to delve into the

personality behind the icon. Details Washington's private life, including his

beliefs about slavery, while chronicling the wars and political conflicts that

shaped the country's path. Some violence. Pulitzer Prize. Bestseller. 2010.

Download from BARD: Washington a Life

Also available on digital cartridge DB072132

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Read by Ta-Nehisi Coates

3 hours, 37 minutes

Columnist and editor for the Atlantic Monthly examines the history of

contentious race relations in America. He reflects on the ways racial inequality

plays out in his personal past and in the twenty-first century, and imagines the

world his teenage son may inherit. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. Bestseller.

2015.

Download from BARD: Between the World and Me

Also available on digital cartridge DB082201

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR21183

Also available in braille BR021183

President Obama Recommends Page 8 of 26

All the Light We Cannot See a Novel by Anthony Doerr

Read by Jill Fox

16 hours, 3 minutes

When Paris is invaded by the Nazis, Marie-Laure LeBlanc's father evacuates

her to St. Malo to stay with her great-uncle. Blind since the age of six, Marie-

Laure must learn the town by the scale model her father has left. Then, the

Germans arrive. Violence and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. Pulitzer

Prize winner. 2014.

Download from BARD: All the Light We Cannot See

Also available on digital cartridge DB079182

The Sixth Extinction an Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert

Read by Kerry Dukin

11 hours, 20 minutes

Editor of The Ends of the Earth (DB 66582) examines the causes of the five

prehistoric mass extinctions and compares previous conditions with those

existing in the twenty-first century. Posits that humanity is on the brink of the

sixth mass extinction and is the primary cause of it. Bestseller. Pulitzer Prize.

2014.

Download from BARD: The Sixth Extinction an Unnatural History

Also available on digital cartridge DB078463

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR20478

Also available in braille BR020478

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Read by Andy Pyle

13 hours 55 minutes

Brothers Udayan and Subhash grow up on the outskirts of Calcutta. In the

1960s Udayan falls in with a radical movement and helps plot revolution.

Subhash disapproves, but begins a new life in America--until he's called back

home. Some violence and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2013.

Download from BARD: The Lowland

Also available on digital cartridge DB077581

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR20304

Also available in braille BR020304

President Obama Recommends Page 9 of 26

All That Is by James Salter

Read by Erik Sandvold

12 hours, 2 minutes

World War II veteran Philip Bowman becomes an editor at a small New York

publishing house. He marries a wealthy Virginian, divorces, and has affairs with

both a married Englishwoman and a divorcée. But true love eludes him. Some

strong language and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2013.

Download from BARD: All That Is

Also available on digital cartridge DB076675

During a visit to a public library in 2015, President Obama revealed these

titles as some of his favorite classics from childhood:

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Read by Alexander Scourby

4 hours, 56 minutes

The glitter and recklessness of the Jazz Age is the backdrop for this novel about

Jay Gatsby's desperate attempt to recapture the past, and along with it, the love

of Daisy Buchanan. Amid extravagant parties at Gatsby's palatial estate, his

neighbor narrates the story of his obsession with the American dream. 1925.

Download from BARD: The Great Gatsby

Also available in digital cartridge DB16147 or DB055714

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Read by Graci Ragsdale Miller

3 hours, 12 minutes

A tale of the far-reaching bonds of friendship between two itinerant ranch

workers: George, the more levelheaded, and Lennie, more dependent. Their

dream of owning a small farm is doomed by Lennie's unintentional overuse of

his physical strength and George's honorable attempt to resolve the problem it

causes. Some strong language. 1937.

Download from BARD: of Mice and Men

Also available on digital cartridge DB048515

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR08851

Also available in braille BR008851

President Obama Recommends Page 10 of 26

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Read by J. Michael McCullough

4 minutes

After being sent to bed without supper for misbehaving, Max puts on his wolf

suit and sails away 'through night and day and in and out of weeks and almost

over a year' to where the wild things are. An imaginative fantasy for grades K-3.

Caldecott Medal 1964.

Download from BARD: Where the Wild Things Are

Also available on digital cartridge DB022906

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR16352

Also available in braille BR016352 or BR005919

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Read by Erik Sandvold

7 hours, 38 minutes

Young Jim Hawkins finds a map in a dead seaman's possessions. His friends,

Squire Trelawney and Doctor Livesey, realize it's a treasure map. They hire a

ship, unaware that the crew includes the pirate Long John Silver. For grades 6-9

and older readers. 1881.

Download from BARD: Treasure Island

Also available on digital cartridge DB052436

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR13682

Also available in braille BR008055 or BR013682

According to President Obama’s Facebook page and an interview with the

New York Times, these titles are some of his all-time favorite books:

Parting the Waters America in the King Years,1954-63 by Taylor Branch

Read by Ralph Lowenstein

48 hours, 5 minutes

Wide-ranging chronicle of a turbulent decade when the civil-rights movement

launched its determined, nonviolent battle for America's social conscience and

soul. Branch focuses on the period that begins with Martin Luther King's 1954

arrival as pastor of Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and ends with

the assassination of President Kennedy. Pulitzer Prize.

Download from BARD: Parting the Waters America in the King Years…

Also available on digital cartridge DB029759

President Obama Recommends Page 11 of 26

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois

Read by Chuck Young

8 hours, 14 minutes

Fourteen essays and sketches by civil rights activist, published in 1903,

examine African American experiences in the post-Civil War South. Argues that

emancipation should have brought immediate racial equality and that racial

accommodation policies reflected a sellout. Centennial edition includes 2003

introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer/historian David Levering

Lewis. 1903.

Download from BARD: The Souls of Black Folk

Also available on digital cartridge DB063648

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR013240

Also available in braille BR13240

The Federalist Papers a Collection of Essays Written in Support of the

Constitution of the United States: from the original text of Alexander

Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay by Roy P. Fairfield

Read by Bob Butz

13 hours, 28 minutes

Written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison to urge the

voters of New York to ratify the U.S. Constitution, the "Federalist Papers" were

the first important commentary on that document and continue to provide the

basis for its interpretation. Fifty-one of these landmark essays are presented

here along with extensive notes and a guide to writings about the "Federalist

Papers."

Download from BARD: The Federalist Papers a Collection of Essays…

Also available on digital cartridge DB026691

An Autobiography the Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma

Gandhi

Read by Patrick Horgan

16 hours, 37 minutes=

Written during a prison term in the 1920s, describes the forces that molded the

Indian leader's religious and intellectual development. 1927.

Download from BARD: An Autobiography the Story of My Experiments…

Also available on digital cartridge DB018041

President Obama Recommends Page 12 of 26

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

Read by Jack Hrkach

8 hours, 7 minutes

As a fugitive Mexican priest flees from the authorities, he risks his life many

times to bring spiritual comfort to the Mexican poor. Despite his human

weakness for alcohol, Father Montez remains true to the spirit of his religious

vows.

Download from BARD: The Power and the Glory

Also available on digital cartridge DB016796

The Quiet American by Graham Greene

Read by Graeme Malcolm

5 hours, 44 minutes

Set in Saigon during the French occupation of Vietnam, this English adventure

novel centers on the clash of conflicting cultures. The story revolves around

Fowler, a skeptical British journalist; Phuong, his enthisiastic American sent out

by Washington on a a secret mission. Add Communist guerrillas to the French

presence, and the situation for this trio escalates from a moral dilemma to an

international struggle.

Download from BARD: The Quiet American

Also available on digital cartridge DB036154

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

Read by Fred Major

37 hours, 35 minutes

Study of the nature of political power, of the decision-making process that

caused U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and of key figures in the Kennedy

and Johnson administrations. 2001 foreword by Senator John McCain. Followed

in 2001 by War in a Time of Peace (RC 53021). Bestseller. 1969.

Download from BARD: The Best and the Brightest

Also available on digital cartridge DB053020

President Obama Recommends Page 13 of 26

Moby Dick, or, The Whale by Herman Melville

Read by Gordon Gould

25 hours, 36 minutes

Sailor Ishmael narrates this allegory of human potential and limitations. Seeking

adventure, Ishmael signs on as a harpooner with Captain Ahab's whaling ship.

Once at sea, the crew discovers that, despite dire warnings from other ships

and a prophet, Captain Ahab is obsessed with killing Moby Dick, the white

whale responsible for his missing leg. Violence. 1991.

Download from BARD: Moby-Dick or The Whale

Also available on digital cartridge DB034184

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR14641

Also available in braille BR014641 or BR001608

Song Of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Read by Barry Bernson

11 hours, 58 minutes

This novel surveys nearly a century of American history as it impinges upon four

generations of a single black family. Macon Dead III, known as Milkman, is the

first black baby allowed to be born in Mercy Hospital in the 1930s. Milkman

undertakes an epic journey into an understanding of his family's heritage and,

hence, himself. Strong language and descriptions of sex.

Download from BARD: Song of Solomon

Also available on digital cartridge DB038330

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR09632

Also available in braille BR009632

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Read by Roy Avers

9 hours, 22 minutes

1950s. Dying seventy-six-year-old Gilead, Iowa, minister John Ames writes a

parting letter to his young son. John reflects on the tensions between his pacifist

father and militant abolitionist grandfather (both preachers), the death of his first

wife and child, the gospel, a friend's transgressions, and life's eternal mystery.

Pulitzer Prize. Bestseller. 2004.

Download from BARD: Gilead

Also available on digital cartridge DB059561

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR16160

Also available in braille BR016160

President Obama Recommends Page 14 of 26

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam

Smith

Read by Maurice Shroder

49 hours, 54 minutes

This 1776 publication is the first formulation of classical English economics. The

Scottish philosopher's theories of value, population and distribution have had

tremendous influence on such men as Thomas Malthus and Karl Marx, and

much of Smith's thought remains relevant today.

Download from BARD: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the…

Also available on digital cartridge DB023688

Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn

Read by Jack Hrkach

21 hours, 56 minutes

Based on his own experiences when he was a cancer patient in a Soviet

hospital, the Russian Nobel Prize Winner’s novel fearlessly attacks the

government of his country. The story focuses on Paval Rusanov, a high official

suffering from a tumor. Some strong language.

Download from BARD: Cancer Ward

Also available on digital cartridge DB015883

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren

Read by Steven Carpenter

20 hours, 57 minutes

Restored edition, reconstructed from the author's original typescript, recreates

the world of a corrupt southern politician of the 1920s and 1930s. Country boy

Willie (Stark) Talos rises to become governor of his state only to be brought

down by his personal failings. 2001 editorial afterword by Noel Polk. Strong

language. Pulitzer Prize. 1946.

Download from BARD: All the King’s Men

Also available on digital cartridge DB053553

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR13840

Also available in braille BR013840

President Obama Recommends Page 15 of 26

Recent books President Obama has read and shared:

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin

Read by Gary Tipton

13 hours, 58 minutes

A secret military project broadcasts signals into space to establish

extraterrestrial contact, but when an alien civilization on the brink of destruction

intercepts them, they decide to invade Earth. In response, sides form between

those who would fight the invaders or welcome them. Originally published in

Chinese. Some strong language. 2006.

Download from BARD: The Three-Body Problem

Also available on digital cartridge DB080931

What Is the What the Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng: a Novel By

Dave Eggers

Read by Ted Stoddard

20 hours, 46 minutes

Fictional account of real-life immigrant Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese

refugee whose Dinka village was overrun by Muslim militants. Valentino

survives a marathon march to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya. Resettled

in America, he faces further tragedies while adjusting to a strange culture.

Violence and strong language. Bestseller. 2006.

Download from BARD: What is the What the Autobiography of Valentino…

Also available on digital cartridge DB063687

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Read by Peter Jay Fernandez

20 hours, 57 minutes

Classic novel of a young black man's search for identity. Follows the unnamed

protagonist from his youth in a Southern town through the depression years in

Harlem, where he examines and rejects the values thrust on him by both whites

and blacks. Some strong language. Nat'l Book Award. 1947.

Download from BARD: Invisible Man

Also available on digital cartridge DB056346

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR14988

Also available in braille BR014988

President Obama Recommends Page 16 of 26

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Read By Mare Trevathan

17 hours, 55 minutes

Nick and Amy alternate telling the story of their troubled marriage, their move

from New York to Nick's Missouri hometown, and Amy's disappearance on their

fifth wedding anniversary. As clues begin to implicate Nick, he learns more

about Amy. Strong language, some violence, and some explicit descriptions of

sex. Bestseller. 2012.

Download from BARD: Gone Girl

Also available on digital cartridge DB074888

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR19868

Also available in braille BR019868

Purity by Jonathan Franzen

Read by Stephen Van Doren

23 hours, 13 minutes

Recent college grad Purity "Pip" Tyler wants to get away from her needy mother

and her crushing student debts. She takes an internship with the Sunlight

Project, a hacker group dedicated to uncovering Internet secrets, and meets

Andreas Wolf, the group's charismatic leader. Some strong language and some

descriptions of sex. 2015.

Download from BARD: Purity

Also available on digital cartridge DB082740

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Read by Julia Whelan

14 hours 6 minutes

The story of a marriage, told in two parts. First is Lotto's story. A failed actor, he

becomes a successful playwright with his wife, Mathilde, at his side. Mathilde's

perspective on their shared years is quite different from Lotto's, however, with

her own secrets and desires. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

Download from BARD: Fates and Furies

Also available on digital cartridge DB082476

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR21329

Also available in braille BR021329

President Obama Recommends Page 17 of 26

To the End of the Land by David Grossman

Read by Madelyn Buzzard

27 hours, 5 minutes

Israel, 2000. Ora, estranged from her husband Ilan, leaves home to avoid the

military notifiers in case her son Ofer dies in the war. She goes hiking with

Avram, her former lover and father of Ofer, and tells him about his son.

Translated from Hebrew. Some descriptions of sex. 2010.

Download from BARD: To the End of the Land

Also available on digital cartridge DB073214

Plainsong by Kent Haruf

Read by Jim Zeiger

9 hours, 6 minutes

Life in the small town of Holt, Colorado, includes a high school teacher caring

for his two young sons as his wife leaves him. His coworker, later his lover,

convinces two old rancher brothers to take in an outcast pregnant student.

Some strong language and some descriptions of sex. Bestseller. Alex Award.

1999.

Download from BARD: Plainsong

Also available on digital cartridge DB049056

Redeployment by Phil Klay

Read by Chuck Young

8 hours, 23 minutes

Twelve stories about soldiers at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the personal

wars they fight reintegrating into society at home. In the title story, a soldier who

had to shoot dogs on the battlefield must readjust to life in suburban America.

Violence. Nat'l Book Award. 2014.

Download from BARD: Redeployment

Also available on digital cartridge DB078988

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR20602

Also available in braille BR020602

President Obama Recommends Page 18 of 26

A Bend in the River by V. S. Naipau

Read by Ted Stoddard

11 hours 33 minutes

In a recently independent central African nation, Salim, a Muslim of Indian

origin, purchases a defunct store in a town at a bend in the river. Hoping to

prosper but feeling trapped, Salim describes the people, political climate, and

needs of a society in upheaval.

Download from BARD: A Bend in the River

Also available on digital DB048487

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR19152

Also available in braille BR019152

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill

Read by Robert Sams

9 hours 16 minutes

New York City. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, Dutch-born Hans van den

Broek's British wife Rachel returns to London with their son Jake. Lonely Hans

joins a local cricket league and befriends Trinidadian Chuck Ramkissoon, who

is a shady businessman but a great pal. Strong language. Bestseller. 2008.

Download from BARD: Netherland

Also available on digital cartridge DB067189

The Way Home by George P. Pelecanos

Read by Conrad Feininger

7 hours, 54 minutes

Released from a juvenile-detention facility, Chris Flynn goes to work for his

disappointed father, laying carpet. When Chris and a buddy find a stash of

money on a job, they don't take it--but it still poses a threat to Chris. Violence,

strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2009.

Download from BARD: The Way Home

Also available on digital cartridge DB070614

President Obama Recommends Page 19 of 26

Lush Life by Richard Price

Read by Jim Zeiger

15 hours, 43 minutes

New York, Lower East Side. Frustrated actor-writer Eric Cash claims two teens

mugged him and his drinking companions as they stumbled home, shooting Ike,

an aspiring writer. But when Ike dies, detectives Matty Clark and Yolonda Bello

arrest Eric for homicide. Violence, strong language, and some explicit

descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2008.

Download from BARD: Lush Life

Also available on digital cartridge DB066237

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR17827

Also available in braille BR017827

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

The first book is: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Next books in the series: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter

and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter

and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry

Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Read by Erik Sandvold

8 hours, 55 minutes

On Harry Potter's eleventh birthday, he learns that he is more than an unwanted

orphan. The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry recruits him because

he has inherent magical abilities. As he purchases his school supplies--robes,

wand, and messenger owl--Harry looks forward to attending his new boarding

school. For grades 4-7. Bestseller.

Download from BARD: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Also available on digital cartridge DB047260

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR011879

Also available in braille BR011879 OR BR017774

President Obama Recommends Page 20 of 26

Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie

Read by Robert G Slade

11 hours, 28 minutes

Interconnected fantastic tales. Centuries ago, a jinn princess fell in love with a

mortal philosopher; their descendants in the present have no idea of the power

they contain. The roots of violence in the world lie in a conflict between light and

dark forces embodied in these jinni. Some strong language and some

descriptions of sex. Commercial audiobook. 2015.

Download from BARD: Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

Also available on digital cartridge DB082514

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR21260

Also available in braille BR021260

In Dubious Battle by John Steinbeck

Read by Jim Zeiger

11 hours, 17 minutes

Jim Nolan leads disgruntled migrant workers in a confrontation with California

landowners during the depression. Bestseller after its original publication in

1936. Conveys several levels of meaning about social forces and poverty in

addition to its portrayal of labor strife. Some strong language and some

violence.

Download from BARD: In Dubious Battle

Also available on digital cartridge DB049209

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR12516

Also available in braille BR012516

Cutting for Stone by A. Verghese

Read by Mark Ashby

21 hours, 24 minutes

Ethiopia, 1954. Twin brothers Shiva and Marion Stone's Indian-nun mother dies

during their birth and their British father abandons them. As revolution brews

decades later, Marion, a surgeon, flees to America, where he eventually

confronts his past. Some violence, some strong language, and some explicit

descriptions of sex. 2009.

Download from BARD: Cutting for Stone

Also available on digital cartridge DB070131

President Obama Recommends Page 21 of 26

Collected Poems, 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott

Read by Earle Hyman

12 hours,14 minutes

Includes generous selections from the poet's nine books of poetry and adds the

entire text of "Another Life," his autobiography in verse, which is a tribute to the

formative influence of the island of St. Lucia. Walcott is primarily a stylist who

leaves his signature in complex chains of imagery.

Download from BARD: Collected Poems, 1948-1984

Also available on digital cartridge DB026220

Books about other presidents which President Obama has said he has

turned to for advice:

Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope by

Jonathan Alter

Read by Lou Harpenau

14 hours 15 minutes

Concentrates on the beginning of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency in

1933 (the "Hundred Days"), when federal legislation was implemented to

provide immediate relief from the effects of the Great Depression. Details the

programs that were launched, including Social Security, and the failure to

implement others, including universal healthcare. 2006.

Download from BARD: Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the...

Also available on digital cartridge DB068945

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln By Doris Kearns

Goodwin

Read by Robert Sams

35 hours, 57 minutes

Pulitzer Prize-winner illustrates the political acumen of Abraham Lincoln.

Highlights the careers of Lincoln's three prime competitors in the Republican

party--William Seward, Salmon Chase, and Edward Bates, men more qualified

and educated, whom he beat for the 1860 nomination for chief executive.

Discusses their subsequent appointments to the cabinet. Bestseller. 2005.

Download from BARD: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham...

Also available on digital cartridge DB061162

President Obama Recommends Page 22 of 26

Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan

4 volumes of braille

Explores the life of Abraham Lincoln through the language of his writings. Posits

that Lincoln's boyhood readings of Burns, Byron, Shakespeare, Aesop's fables,

and the Bible shaped his ideas about liberty, love, and human nature and led to

his use of clear, common speech to convey morality and democracy. 2008.

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR18404

Also available in braille BR018404

John Adams by David McCullough

Read by Gary Telles

33 hours, 4 minutes

Award-winning author chronicles the life and times of America's second

president, New Englander John Adams (1735-1826). Examines his pivotal role

as revolutionary, diplomat, and politician as well as his friendship--and rivalry--

with Thomas Jefferson. Primary sources detail his relationship with his wife,

Abigail, four children, and notable contemporaries. Bestseller. Pulitzer Prize.

2001.

Download from BARD: John Adams

Also available on digital cartridge DB052275

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR13426

Also available in braille BR013426

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

Read by George Guidall-Shapiro

28 hours, 29 minutes

A detailed look at the colorful personality and life of the man who was a leader

in the New York State Assembly at the age of 23, second-in-command of the

Rough Riders, and President of the United States. Traces events from his birth

in 1858 until his assumption of the Presidency in 1901. Pulitzer Prize. Nat'l Book

Award.

Download from BARD: the Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

Also available on digital cartridge DB014168

President Obama Recommends Page 23 of 26

FDR by Jean Edward Smith

Read by Cashman, Marc

32 hour 45 minutes

Author of John Marshall (RC 44531) draws on archives to pen a biography of

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second president of the United States.

Chronicles his political career as governor of New York and four terms as

commander in chief. Explores his complex personal life involving his family and

mistresses. Commercial audiobook. 2007.

Download from BARD: FDR

Also available on digital cartridge DB063751

Download from BARD as Electronic Braille BR17365

Also available in braille BR017365

Recent nonfiction and informative books President Obama has read:

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Read by Gordon Heath

2 hours 15 minutes

In two essays, combining autobiography with political philosophy, Baldwin

expresses how he feels as a Black American in White America. Includes a

section on the Black Muslin movement and a meeting with its leader, Elijah

Muhammad.

Download from BARD: The Fire Next Time

Also available on digital cartridge DB012439

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Read by Catherine Byers

9 hours, 23 minutes

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer's 2007-2011 observations of the inhabitants of

Annawadi, a slum surrounding the luxury hotels at the Mumbai, India, airport.

Portrays the lives of disadvantaged families who battle hunger and disease and

describes India's political and religious tensions and police corruption. Violence

and strong language. Bestseller. Nat'l Book Award. 2012.

Download from BARD: Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Also available on digital cartridge DB074457

President Obama Recommends Page 24 of 26

The Power Broker Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A.

Caro

Read by Richard Blanding

68 hours, 53 minutes

Biographical critique of Robert Moses as the most powerful man in New York for

almost half a century. Behind the scenes he shaped the city's politics and

physical structure. Pulitzer Prize.

Download from BARD: The Power Broker Robert Moses and the Fall of...

Also available on digital cartridge DB017458

Ghost Wars the Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden,

from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll

Read by Bill Wallace

30 hours, 58 minutes

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Washington Post managing editor Steve

Coll describes how the United States became embroiled in the affairs of

Afghanistan from 1979 to 2001. Chronicles the efforts to control the country by

CIA spies, the former Soviet Union, local warlords, and Arab leaders. Some

strong language. Bestseller. Pulitzer Prize. 2004.

Download from BARD: Ghost Wars the Secret History of the CIA...

Also available on digital cartridge DB057940

Hot, Flat, and Crowded Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can

Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman

Read by Patrick Downer

20 hours, 8 minutes

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author of The World Is Flat (RC 60317)

examines the contributions of global warming, population growth, and the rise of

the middle class to Earth's instability. Urges the adoption of strategies for clean,

efficient, renewable energy to improve the environment and revitalize America.

Bestseller. 2008.

Download from BARD Hot, Flat, and Crowded Why We Need a Green...

Also available on digital cartridge DB067562

President Obama Recommends Page 25 of 26

Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam by

Gordon M. Goldstein

Read by Jim Zeiger

11 hours, 31 minutes

Political scientist Goldstein analyzes the decisions that maintained and

deepened America's presence in Vietnam. Highlights the involvement of

McGeorge Bundy, national security advisor in the Kennedy and Johnson

administrations, whom Goldstein knew personally. Examines the role of the

presidency and asserts that President Kennedy would have eventually left

Vietnam. 2008.

Download from BARD: Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the...

Also available on digital cartridge DB071449

Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval N. Harari

Read by Bill Burton

16 hours 56 minutes

A discussion of the development of human culture and history, from the

emergence of the first species of the genus Homo over 2 million years ago to

the twenty-first century. Examines progress from the standpoints of biology,

anthropology, paleontology, and economics. Translated from the 2011 Hebrew

edition. 2015

Download from BARD: Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind

Also available on digital cartridge DB081335

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Read by Mark Ashby

19 hours 55 minutes

Nobel Prize-winning psychologist synthesizes decades of research on intuition

versus systematic thinking. Analyzes quick, emotional thinking, which he calls

System 1, and deliberative, logical thinking, which he calls System 2. Discusses

the ways people make choices and provides techniques to use to guard against

mental glitches. Bestseller. 2011.

Download from BARD: Thinking, Fast and Slow

Also available on digital cartridge DB073958

President Obama Recommends Page 26 of 26

Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American by Richard S Tedlow

Read by Jake Williams

25 hours 14 minutes

Harvard professor traces the life of Andy Grove, from his youth in war-torn

Hungary in the 1940s to his 1987-98 leadership of Intel. Also follows Intel's

evolution, from its 1968 creation to its trajectory from semiconductors to

microprocessors under Grove's management. Discusses Grove's ability to

survive corporate setbacks. 2006.

Download from BARD: Andy Grove: The Life and Times of an American

Also available on digital cartridge DB064663

The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria

Read by Patrick Downer

9 hours 36 minutes

Author of the The Future of Freedom (RC 56018) posits that, as a result of

globalization, countries such as India and China have better economies than the

United States does. Decries U.S. geopolitical decline and suggests ways

America can become a partner with the rest of the world. Bestseller. 2008.

Download from BARD: The Post-American World

Also available on digital cartridge DB066884

Additional authors that President Obama has recommended at some point

during his presidency:

Saul Bellow

Junot Díaz

E.L. Doctorow

Dave Eggers

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Langston Hughes

Thomas Jefferson

Barbara Kingsolver

Abraham Lincoln

Friedrich Nietzsche

Philip Roth

St. Augustine

Zadie Smith

Paul Tillich

Mark Twain

Richard Wright

Malcolm X