Obama's 2017 Reads Challenge

[Katie]

I'm just over here inventing new challenges.

On New Years Eve, Barack Obama posted his list of best books & favorite songs of 2017 on Facebook (link). It's 10 books + 2 bonus books for basketball fans. Upon looking at it, I thought it would be really fun to make this into a challenge for 2018. Anyone else interested?

The Power by Naomi Alderman
Grant by Ron Chernow
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Janesville: An American Story by Amy Goldstein
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
Five-Carat Soul by James McBride
Anything Is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

Bonus for hoops fans (his words, not mine):
Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Basketball (and Other Things): A Collection of Questions Asked, Answered, Illustrated by Shea Serrano

[EllenZReads]

I've read (and highly recommend) Sing, Unburied, Sing and Evicted. Started Grant but had to return it to the library before finishing (trying to have less overdue fees!) so I will need to get that one again. Exit West and Five Carat Soul are on my list of to-reads.

[Michelle]

This is really cool, Katie! I'm afraid to commit to anymore challenges though. My plan this year is to work through my ATY challenge first and if I have time I'll work on my secondary challenges. I've got to get my feet wet again after a year off. ;) But I love this idea!

[Beth]

Like Emm, I'm not prepared to commit to an extra challenge, but I love this list. I've already got Sing, Unburied, Sing and The Power on my challenge list. And I have Grant and Exit West in my TBR.

In the (very unlikely) event that I run out of ATY challenge books before the end of the year, I'll be all over this! 😊

[Tracy]

We've got issues over here, lol.

3 of these are on my challenge plans for this year and another 3 are on my TBR/side reads list.

I could do a partial. I have to look into some of them I haven't heard of but the way I've been reading lately anything is possible.

[Cheri]

Love his list! I've read Anything Is Possible already and have several others on my TBR for this year (Exit West, Sing Unburied Sing, Evicted). I don't want to commit to the full list - definitely not the basketball! ;) - but I would do a partial. Also, one book on my list for this year is Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, which might work well with this challenge. The book got mixed reviews and is controversial, but sounds interesting to me.

[Sabrina]

i'd like to mention the fact that one of barack obama's best songs of 2017 is havana omg

[Lizzy]

I don't think I can commit to a side read -- instead I'll just add all of the ones not on my TBR list to the list - which doesn't help my whittling down the list, but does add some really good titles!
It helps that I got a couple of them for presents recently, because these are large books!

[Rachelnyc]

I've already read A Gentleman in Moscow and Anything is Possible and five others were already on my TBR list so I'd totally be up for this side challenge.

[Judy]

I can try to add these to the other 3 challenges I am doing. Did you find a place for these in the Around the World in 50 Books challenge?