Obama shares his favorite books of 2023 

Former President Obama shared his favorite books of this year in a Friday post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“As I usually do during this time of year, I wanted to share my favorite books, movies, and music of 2023,” Obama said in his post.

“First up, here are the books I’ve enjoyed reading,” the former president continued. “If you’re looking for a new book over the holidays, give one of them a try. And if you can, shop at an independent bookstore or check them out at your local library.”

The former president’s list included books like “The Covenant of Water” by Abraham Verghese, “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory,” by Tim Alberta and “The Vaster Wilds” by Lauren Groff. 

Obama has insisted in the past that his annual book, music and movie lists are “stuff” he “actually” likes. 

“People, they believe the books and the movies, but the playlists, they somehow think — and this is mostly coming from young people like you — somehow you all think you invented rock ‘n’ roll, you invented hip-hop,” Obama said in an interview with comedian Hasan Minhaj from June.

“So the fact that my lists are pretty incredible, people seem to think, ‘Wow, he must have had some 20-year-old intern who was figuring out you know, this latest cut.’ No, man — it’s on my iPad right now,” he said.

However, he did “confess” to getting suggestions on his music lists. 

“So typically, at the end of the year, what happens is folks will be like, ‘Man, you need to listen to this. This is good,’” Obama said.