Obama's Year-End List of Faves Just Dropped

Former president reveals his 2025 picks in films, books, and music
Posted Dec 19, 2025 10:50 AM CST
Obama's Year-End List of Faves Just Dropped
Former President Obama reads to kids from Burke Elementary at the Bessie Coleman Chicago Public Library branch in the Woodlawn neighborhood, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025.   (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune via AP, Pool)

Former President Obama has become known in his post-Oval Office years (and even while he still resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.) for a holiday tradition of sorts: revealing his favorite books, movies, and tunes. This year's selections dropped on Thursday. "I hope you find something new to enjoy—and please send any recommendations for me to check out!" he writes on Medium. His top picks:

Favorite books

  • Paper Girl, by Beth Macy
  • Flashlight, by Susan Choi
  • We the People, Jill Lepore
  • The Wilderness, by Angela Flournoy
  • There Is No Place for Us, by Brian Goldstone
  • North Sun, by Ethan Rutherford
  • 1929, by Andrew Ross Sorkin
  • The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, by Kiran Desai
  • Dead and Alive, by Zadie Smith
  • What We Can Know, Ian McEwan
  • The Look, by Michelle Obama ("obviously I'm biased")

Favorite movies

  • One Battle After Another
  • Sinners
  • It Was Just an Accident
  • Hamnet
  • Sentimental Value
  • No Other Choice
  • The Secret Agent
  • Train Dreams
  • Jay Kelly
  • Good Fortune
  • Orwell: 2+2=5

Favorite songs

Check out more tunes, as well as the books Obama recommended over the summer, here.

Read These Next
Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X