Barack Obama believes that these books should be read by everyone

Barack Obama is a real bookworm. In his book "Dreams of my father" he told about the history of his relationships with books throughout his life: "When I did not work, on weekends I was most often found alone in my apartment in the company of books." And more recently, now the former president of the United States of America met with the leading book critic of the New York Times, Michiko Kakutani, and the topic of their discussion was literature. In an interview, Obama touched on a huge number of books, beginning with those he read in his early youth, and ending with those that he recommended to his daughter Malia. Here are a few works that Obama most praised in an interview for the magazine.

"The Naked and the Dead" by Norman Kingsley Mailer

Written in hard journalistic details, this story shows the fate of an army platoon of infantrymen who are fighting for control of the island of Anopopes, which is in the hands of the Japanese. The book was written in 1948 and is one of the best examples of American writing skills of the twentieth century.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez

A brilliant and iconic bestseller that tells the story of the Buendia family and describes the chronicles of the insoluble conflict between the desire for solitude and the need for love. All this is described by rich figurative prose, which as a result became the definition of the whole genre, which was called "magical realism".

"The Golden Notebook," Doris Lessing

Anna is a writer, she is the author of one of the most successful novels, and now she leads four diaries. In one, with a black cover, she describes her life experience in Africa in the early years. In a red diary, she describes her political life, her disappointment with communism. In a yellow diary, she writes a novel in which the main character lives through the life of the writer herself. And under her blue cover is her personal diary. As a result, when she falls in love with an American writer and is threatened by insanity, Anna decides to bring all the threads connecting four diaries into one, with a gold cover. The most famous and influential novel Doris Lessing "Golden Diary" retains its power and relevance even decades after its first publication.

"Warrior", Maxine Hong Kingston

A Sino-American woman talks about Chinese myths, family stories and the events of her California childhood that shaped her identity.

"Underground Railway", Colson Whitehead

Bark is a slave at a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all slaves, but it is especially cruel to Korah, which is an outcast even among the other slaves. She also begins to become a woman, and this brings with her only more pain. When Caesar, the new slave who recently arrived from Virginia, tells her about the underground railway, they decide to take a terrifying risk and try to escape. However, everything goes wrong: Cora kills a young white boy who is trying to detain her. And although Cora and Caesar manage to find an underground station and head north, they begin a real hunt.

"Gilead", Marilyn Robinson

About 25 years after the publication of the book "Household" Marilyn Robertson returned with a personal history of three generations, beginning with the Civil War and ending with the twentieth century. This is a story about fathers and sons, as well as the spiritual battle that is still raging in the heart of America. This novel is as great as the nation about which it talks, but it is as quiet and touching as prayer. Unparalleled and towering over everything else, the "Gilead" will tell the story of America and break your heart.

"Three-body problem", Liu Cixin

The novel takes place at the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. The alien civilization on the verge of destruction receives a signal and plans to invade Earth. At the same time, various camps are organized on Earth with their own views on the alien issue: some people want to meet with open arms of higher beings and help them conquer a world they see as corrupt, others want to fight the alien invasion. The result is a masterpiece of science fiction of a huge scale.

"Disappeared," Gillian Flynn

On a sunny summer afternoon in a small town in Missouri, Nick and Amy Dunne celebrate their fifth anniversary. The gifts are wrapped in colored paper, invitations are sent, but here the clever and beautiful wife of Nick disappears. "Husband of the Year" Nick does not have a reader with his strange fantasies about his wife's head, however, notes from Amy's diary demonstrate that an alpha woman and a perfectionist could bring anyone to insanity. Under strict pressure from the police and the press, as well as from the negative attitudes of Amy's parents, the "golden boy" of the city weaves a whole web of lies, deceit and inappropriate behavior. Nick behaves strangely, although at the same time he is clearly upset, but is he really a murderer?

"Fates and Furies," Lauren Groff

Incredible detailed study of marriage and a portrait of creative partnership - this novel is written by one of the best writers of its generation. Each story has two sides. There are two points of view for each relationship. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to an excellent marriage is not the truth that the spouses say, but the secrets they hide. At the heart of this rich, extensive and multilevel novel, Lauren Groff laid the story of one such marriage that lasted for 24 years.

"Song of Solomon", Tony Morrison

Macon Grandfather, nicknamed Doyar, was born shortly after the local eccentric jumped off the roof in an attempt to fly. And for the rest of his life Doyar will also try to fly. In this brilliant novel, Tony Morrison transforms the history of growing as skillfully as Sol Bellow and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. As she follows Doyar from his small town to the place of origin of his family, Morrison presents the reader with a whole galaxy of heroes, fighters and visionaries, liars and murderers, the inhabitants of this black world.

"Radiance of the river", Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipol

Naipaul plunges the reader into the life of one person - an Indian who was washed from his native land by bloody waves of the history of the third world. He settled in a small town located in the bend of a river in the newly independent African country. Naipaul gives the reader the most convincing and frightening view to date of what happens in a place caught between a dangerously enticing modern world and its own past and traditions.