Barack Obama, the most powerful force in end of year book recommendations, has just dropped his 2020 favorites list. As we’ve come to expect from the most bookish president since John Adams (he was super into books, right?), it contains an eclectic mix of some of the year’s most acclaimed novels and nonfiction titles.
As 2020 comes to a close, I wanted to share my annual lists of favorites. I’ll start by sharing my favorite books this year, deliberately omitting what I think is a pretty good book – A Promised Land – by a certain 44th president. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I did. pic.twitter.com/UHk4RA9dow
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 17, 2020
While I don’t have the figures to hand, but I’m pretty sure that, next to a major award win or Oprah/Reese book club pick, no honor provides a bigger sales bump than an appearance on Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year list.
With a week of last-minute Christmas shopping still ahead of us, it’ll be interesting to see how many of these books see a sales spike thanks to the Midas touch of our 44th president.