Obama recommends his favourite books of 2019

This fascinating book warns of a futuristic-sounding phenomenon that is already affecting us: surveillance capitalism. The author talks on the emergence of this trend, how law and the government have barely reacted and what it spells for the future.
Photo: Profile Books

This book takes us into the history of the British Empire in India. It mostly tells of the East India Company, it's charter, its aims and how a company was able to conquer a country with such a glorious past. In a world with companies becoming bigger than governments, it's an apt read for the times.
Photo: Bloomsbury Publishing

The author Harper Lee had spent time assisting her friend Truman Capote in his research for the book 'In Cold Blood' which was based on the 1959 murders of four members of the Herbert Clutter family in the small farming community of Holcomb, Kansas. This book writes about Harper Lee and these murders in a well structured and well-researched mystery story.
Photo: William Heinemann

This masterpiece has won the Booker Prize for 2019 and has received copious praise. The story is told from the point of view of 12 characters, mostly British women, navigating life and love in this modern world.
Photo: Hamish Hamilton

This book gives a new perspective to Native American history than the one traditionally taught or accepted. David Treuer grew up at a reservation in Minnesota and has researched the Native Americans for most of his life. This book tells of how they adapted and struggled to maintain their culture and identity in changing times.
Photo: Riverhead Books

This interesting book is both a self help book and a book that highlights the dangers of the values our culture currently In a world where we currently value and quantify productivity and this book teaches us the importance of doing nothing at personal and larger levels. The book is a eye opening perspective.
Photo: Melville House

This interesting book has a deceptively simple premise with staggering depth. A family of four is taking a road trip across America to the Mexican border As they travel across America, they story turns inwards and we see all the rifts in the family and hear their hopes in a beautiful tale.
Photo: Knopf

This is a compilation of short stories, all set in Houston, Texas. The tales explore many facets and flaws of American society and are all interwoven beautifully.
Photo: Riverhead Books

This multiple award-winning book has won hearts across the world. Following two opposites, Connell and Marianne we see them in high school and then growing and navigating life, unable to shake the connection they shared. It's a love story for a modern age.
Photo: Faber & Faber

This book takes us into the mind of Pak Jun Do, who grew up in North Korea. The book follows him as grows to be a spy and ends up a prisoner. It humanises those who we know little about.
Photo: RHUK

This book won the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction and was named a Best Memoir of the Decade by LitHub. It explores the many influences affected the author as she grew up in New Orleans. Though she's traveled to and lived in other places, she will always identify with New Orleans and many will undoubtedly find her tale resonates with their own lives.
Photo: Grove Pr

This nonfiction book explores the lives of many people and through it constructs a narrative of how society never seems to learn from it's past. One night in 1972 Belfast a mother of 10, Jean McConville, was abducted and the case remains unsolved. Using that as the starting point we explore the story of the first woman to join the IRA, who bombed the Old Bailey; the politician who helped put an end to the fighting but denied his past in the IRA; and of an IRA commander who broke the code of silence.
Photo: William Collins

Solitary is the hauntingly lovely and terrible tale of a man who spent more than four decades in solitary confinement. He was imprisoned —in a 6-foot by 9-foot cell for 23 hours a day, in the Angola prison in America for a crime he did not commit. This memoir tells of how he survived against the torture and resisted the bitterness that is easy to fall into given his circumstances.
Photo: Grove Pr

This book follows Gordon the son of two psychologists who's doing well in Topeka High School and with his story explores several issues in America today. Toxic masculinity, free speech, identity crisis to bullying all are highlighted in this tale.
Photo: Granta Books

This is a compilation of essays by varied authors that lays down interesting perspectives on the modern world. Covering interesting topics like feminism and the impact of the internet and deep thoughts on politics and self, this book is a great gift for one who enjoys articles and essays.
Photo: Fourth Estate

Set in a competitive drama school in the 1980s, this book follows two young artists in love. While in the shelter of the school, family, society and other outside forces can't affect their love but as time passes these influences creep in. 'Trust Exercise' won the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction 2019 and is a thought-provoking story of adults, children, love and drama.
Photo: Henry Holt and Co.

This book is a collection of short stories, with varied settings and topics. Some of them were published online earlier, with great reviews. The stories include a homeless man who's trying to raise enough money to buy his son the new Harry Potter book, a man trying to find out which of his sons is stealing from him and the title story is about a lawyer who returns to his hometown, only to find his missing father.
Photo: Harper Perennial

Obama mentioned that this recommendation is for sports fans. It is a book on Dan Rooney by his son Jim Rooney. Dan Rooney was renowned sports executive who helped make the Pittsburgh Steelers into one of the National Football League's great dynasties and premiere franchises.

Obama mentioned that this recommendation is also for sports fans. It is the memoir of Andre Iguodala, an NBA star who plays for the Memphis Grizzlies. The book tells of his life, from childhood to the high points of his career.
Photo: Blue Rider Press