A Month in the Life

There's something reassuring to a president who reads real books and wrestles with their ideas. Looks like we've got four future years of a smart guy who's not afraid to tackle the brightest minds from past and present. That's encouraging on any number of fronts.

Barack Obama's Favorite Books are listed here. I always like to see how my list compares with other's favorites, and I've got to admit there's not too much overlap when it comes to the poetry and contemporary fiction by Toni Morrison (I've only ready Beloved, and had mixed thoughts), E.L. Doctorow (only read his essays), and the increasingly overrated Phillip Roth. I like his choices by Graham Greene, Melville, and Hemingway, and am familiar with most of his non-fiction choices.

Then there's all the "Huh" choices that I may never get around to reading - which is basically everything I didn't list.

Still, it's a fun list to examine and speculate how it helped form our new President.