Who’s on Obama’s 2026 summer reading list? George Saunders, Ann Patchett, Roopika Risam

Former US president Barack Obama shares his summer reading list every year. (Wikimedia Commons) Former US president Barack Obama has locked his 11-book strong reading list for the summer. He has been sharing his highly popular reading list since 2009. As always, he has made sure to include authors from diverse backgrounds, giving space to debutants alongside established authors, and delving into an assortment of themes, whether data, the consciousness, loneliness or American history. The books that made it to his list: Kin by Tayari Jones The ‘An American Marriage’ author returns to his preoccupation with what makes a family. Is it the people we are related to or the people we choose? Kin is a multigenerational story of two motherless girls, Annie and Niecy, who have been raised as “cradle