If you don't feel like you've read enough great books, you could pick up worse than the four books on President Obama's reading list for his daughters. Related to Michiko Kakutani, Chief Book Critic for The New York Times, the books President Obama recommended to Malia — who will attend Harvard this year — are fantastic and feminist.
The POTUS knows his daughters will read a lot when they go off to college, and so he didn't want to pick books they would almost certainly be assigned in one class or another. He tells Kakutani: "Part of what was interesting was me pulling back books that I thought were really powerful, but that might not surface when she goes to college."
Unfortunately, President Obama only told Kakutani the titles of four books on his recommended reading list, but the U.S.'s Reader-in-Chief obviously had many, many more ideas for Malia and Sasha to read. I'm sure one of the girls will eventually come out with a funny story about how her father loaded her Kindle down with great books and told her to get cracking.
Check out the books on President Obama's reading list for his daughters below, and share your favorite college-prep reads with me on Twitter!
1
'The Naked and the Dead' by Norman Mailer
Set on a fictional island during World War II, The Naked and the Dead focuses on a U.S. Army platoon tasked with driving back Japanese forces to clear a path into Philippines. Like many mid-century war novels, Norman Mailer's book questions the legitimacy and efficacy of armed conflict.
2
'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel García Márquez
This saga follows the Buendía family through seven generations. After leaving his hometown, José Arcadio Buendía founds Macondo, a "city of mirrors," on the riverside. Both the city and its founder's descendants become allegorical representations of Colombian history in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
3
'The Golden Notebook' by Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook centers on bestselling author Anna Wulf, who decides to combine the stories from her color-coded journals into an eponymous fifth volume. Mixing stories from Anna's journals with the "real-life" tales of her adventures with her friend, Molly, The Golden Notebook is a must-read for every young woman.
4
'The Woman Warrior' by Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston's 1976 memoir, The Woman Warrior, blends Chinese folktales with excerpts from the author's life. In "No-Name Woman" — the book's first, most famous portion — Hong Kingston recalls her immigrant mother's cautionary tale of a Chinese aunt who gave birth out of wedlock and killed both herself and the baby out of shame.
