Barack Obama’s Annual Flex: His Favorite Movies and Books of 2022

This long, arduous year has almost come to an end, which means it’s time for former President Barack Obama to flex on everybody by sharing just how much cool shit he’s read and watched during retirement.

The 61-year-old Obama (or the team of Gen Z/millennial aides that actually craft these lists) first presented his picks for his favorite books of 2022, including a grand total of 13 titles—and a mix of fiction and non-fiction. First on the list, of course, was The Light We Carry by his wife Michelle, accompanied by the disclaimer, “I’m a bit biased on this one.” Other titles in the carefully curated list were Sea of Tranquility, a time-travel novel by Emily St. John Mandel (HBO Max has picked up adaptation rights); Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake, a novel about unraveling a family mystery in the wake of a death; and National Book Award finalist South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation, author Imani Perry’s exploration of the American South.

On the movie front, Obama has apparently been quite busy burning through his DVD screeners. He included 17 films on his best-of breakdown, among them: the documentary Descendant, from his own production company Higher Ground; Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical drama The Fabelmans; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s epic The Woman King, a Viola Davis-starrer about the all-female West African warriors the Agojie; and the Tom Cruise blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick.

Obama also included the Asghar Farhadi film A Hero, even though the Iranian drama was first released in the U.S. in November 2021 and its idea was reportedly stolen by Farhadi from one of his students.

From Rolling Stone US.