Barack Obama is ready to join the To Paradise discourse.
President Obama has released his annual summer reading list, and as ever, he’s picked some winners. (I’m particularly delighted so see Jessamine Chan’s excellent and harrowing The School for Good Mothers on there. Given that he’s the former President of the United States, maybe it will inspire him to share some thoughts on the country’s broken child welfare system?)
“I’ve read a couple of great books this year and wanted to share some of my favorites so far. What have you been reading this summer?” Obama tweeted. No word yet on whether he’s read any of the numerous critical eviscerations of To Paradise, but I’d love to hear his thoughts! Here’s the list in full:

Emily St. John Mandel, Sea of Tranquility

Ezra Klein, Why We’re Polarized

Jennifer Egan, The Candy House

Hanif Abdurraqib, A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance

Hanya Yanagihara, To Paradise

John Le Carré, Silverview

Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake

Lan Samantha Chang, The Family Chao

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Velvet Was the Night

Antoine Wilson, Mouth to Mouth

Yascha Mounk, The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure

Jessamine Chan, The School for Good Mothers

S.A. Cosby, Razorblade Tears

Chris Herring, Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks
Jessie Gaynor
Jessie Gaynor is a senior editor at Lit Hub whose writing has appeared in McSweeney's, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Her debut novel, The Glow was published by Random House in 2023. You can buy it here.



















