Former president Barack Obama shared his lists of his favorite books, movies, and music of 2024 over the weekend, and a Boston-born author made the cut.
Arlie Russell Hochschild — a professor emeritus of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and a best-selling, Boston-born writer — earned a spot on Obama’s 2024 favorite books list for her latest work, “Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.” In Hochschild’s first book since the 2016 hit “Strangers in Their Own Land,” the former National Book Award finalist explored Pikeville, Kentucky, researching the embrace of right-wing politics by blue-collar men in the wake of the 2016 election.
Other books featured on Obama’s 2024 list included Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s memoir “Patriot”; author and NYU Stern School of Business social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation”; Irish author Sally Rooney’s latest novel “Intermezzo”; and Ethiopian-American writer Dinaw Mengestu’s new book “Someone Like Us.”
“I always look forward to sharing my annual list of favorite books, movies, and music,” Obama wrote in his post on X revealing this year’s book selections, noting that the 2024 titles “stuck with me long after I finished reading them.”
I always look forward to sharing my annual list of favorite books, movies, and music. Today I’ll start by sharing some of the books that have stuck with me long after I finished reading them.
Check them out this holiday season, preferably at an independent bookstore or library! pic.twitter.com/NNcAnaFzdU
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 20, 2024
The rest of the list included Samantha Harvey’s “Orbital”; Ayşegül Savaş‘s “The Anthropologists”; Martin MacInnes’s “In Ascension”; Daniel Susskind’s “Growth”; and Adam Moss’s “The Work of Art.”
As for Obama’s favorite music of the year, the former president’s top songs of 2024 spanned from hip-hop hits Kendrick Lamar’s “Squabble Up” and Asake and Travis Scott’s “Active” to more country fare like Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Beyoncé‘s “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Colombian star Karol G earned a spot as well, for her hit “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” while folk band Bonny Light Horseman, featuring Vermont’s own Anaïs Mitchell, made the cut, too, for the song “Old Dutch.”
Other big songs of the year that made the list included Billie Eilish’s “Lunch,” Tommy Richman’s “Million Dollar Baby,” Leon Bridges’s “Peaceful Place,” Jack White’s “That’s How I’m Feeling,” Central Cee and Lil Baby’s “Band4band,” Hozier’s “Too Sweet,” and “Jump” from Tyla, Gunna, and Skillibeng.
Here are my favorite songs from this year! Check them out if you’re looking to shake up your playlist – and let me know if there’s a song or artist I should make sure to listen to. pic.twitter.com/MK51Z77uEb
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 21, 2024
The rest of Obama’s music picks included Rema’s “Yayo,” Ezra Collective and Yazmin Lacey’s “God Gave Me Feet for Dancing,” The Red Clay Strays’ “Ramblin’,” Fontaines D.C.’s “Favourite,” Rae Khalil’s “Is It Worth It,” Jordan Adetunji’s “Kehlani,” Artemas’ “I Like the Way You Kiss Me,” Johnny Blue Skies’ “Scooter Blues,” Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman’s “Right Back to It,” Myles Smith’s “Stargazing,” Moses Sumney’s “Gold Coast,” plus FloyyMenor and Cris MJ’s “Gata Only.”
For big screen picks, Obama’s favorite movies of 2024 included a pair of Timothée Chalamet-starring blockbusters, with the sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part Two” and the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” both making the former president’s list. Director Edward Berger’s Vatican drama “Conclave,” writer-director Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora,” and “The Piano Lesson,” director Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson play, also made this year’s film list.
Obama’s other top flicks of 2024 included “Sugarcane,” “Dìdi,” “The Seed of the Sacred Pig,” “The Promised Land,” and “All We Imagine as Light.”
Matt Juul can be reached at [email protected].
This post was originally published on here
