My 2022 Summer Reading & Music Lists

Barack Obama
3 min readJul 26, 2022

Summer Reading List

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?

  • Sea of Tranquility — Emily St. John Mandel
  • Why We’re Polarized — Ezra Klein
  • The Candy House — Jennifer Egan
  • A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance — Hanif Abdurraqib
  • To Paradise — Hanya Yanagihara
  • Silverview — John le Carré
  • Black Cake — Charmaine Wilkerson
  • The Family Chao — Lan Samantha Chang
  • Velvet Was the Night — Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Mouth to Mouth — Antoine Wilson
  • The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure — Yascha Mounk
  • The School for Good Mothers — Jessamine Chan
  • Razorblade Tears — S. A. Cosby

For Hoops Fans:

  • Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks — Chris Herring

Summer Music Playlist

Every year, I get excited to share my summer playlist because I learn about so many new artists from your replies — it’s an example of how music really can bring us all together.

Here’s what I’ve been listening to this summer. What songs would you add?

  • Break My Soul — Beyoncé
  • Vibe Out — Tems
  • Music for a Sushi Restaurant — Harry Styles
  • Mighty Love — The Spinners
  • Feelin’ Alright — Joe Cocker
  • Energy — Sampa the Great ft. Nadeem Din-Gabisi
  • SAOKO — Rosalía
  • Split/Whole Time — Lil Yachty
  • Let’s Go Crazy — Prince
  • That’s Where I Am — Maggie Rogers
  • I Can’t Get Next To You — Al Green
  • More Than You Know — Dr. John
  • Blue in Green — Miles Davis
  • Last Last — Burna Boy
  • ​​Persuasive — Doechii
  • Cherries — Hope Tala ft. Aminé
  • Save Me — Aretha Franklin
  • Nobody Knows Me — Lyle Lovett
  • Ojitos Lindos — Bad Bunny & Bomba Estéreo
  • Pull Up — Koffee
  • Dancing in the Dark — Bruce Springsteen
  • Angelica — Wet Leg
  • When I B On Tha Mic — Rakim
  • Too Good — Drake ft. Rihanna
  • Spanish Joint — D’Angelo
  • Do I Move You? (Version II) — Nina Simone
  • Take Five — Dave Brubeck
  • Finesse — Pheelz & BNXN fka Buju
  • Bliss — Amber Mark
  • Found — Jacob Banks
  • Apple Tree Blues — CAAMP
  • I’ve Been Loving You — Otis Redding
  • Guantanamera — Wyclef Jean ft. Lauryn Hill
  • I’m Shakin’ — Jack White
  • I Just Want to Thank You — Big John Hamilton
  • Praise You — Fatboy Slim
  • Many Times — Dijon
  • Better — The Foreign Exchange ft. Shana Tucker & Eric Roberson
  • Tamagotchi — Omar Apollo
  • The Furthest Thing — Maren Morris
  • Under Control — The Internet
  • Die Hard — Kendrick Lamar ft. Amanda Reifer & Blxst
  • Magic — Vince Staples & Mustard
  • Keep Looking Up — Kacey Musgraves

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