The Curator: presidents who read good

why reading should be the first requirement for office. Books from Obama's summer reading list by Hernan Diaz and Rumaan Alam.

Jul 13, 2023

I love a man who reads. I love an elected official that reads. By my records, Mr. Obama you are two for two!

There are 100 million celebrity book clubs and recommendations and reading lists, but the only one I really care about year after year is Obama’s. Perhaps it’s because these lists started while he was president, meaning that his time to read for leisure was practically NON EXISTENT and yet he still found time to read these Very Important Books.

He also has the greatest vantage point of any American as a two-term president pre-Cheeto who led this country through most of a wild decade (2010’s I’m looking at you). He was given the secret codes and the alien reports and the near-miss disaster intelligence briefs and still finds the humanity to read FOR FUN.

What bigger endorsement for any individual book could there be?

……

I don’t think it’s controversial to say our elected officials should be smart, intelligent, informed, and honest. Now, we all know that’s a pipe dream - it takes quite the ego to willingly subject yourself to the scrunity of public office (let’s admit media of all kinds is absolutely BRUTAL to famous people). Hence any remaining vestiges of these positive traits you best believe I will snap up faster than the last pink sprinkle donut in the office. I will take concessions to get a decent human in office.

But.

THE LEAST WE CAN DO IS REQUIRE THEM TO READ. Do I need to create The Natalie McGlocklin Center For Public Officials Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too???

At the core of it, reading requires and signals intellectual curiosity. It shows a recognition that no man is infallible, no matter how high his station. I do not expect a president to also be a scholar - someone in the public eye has different skills perhaps than a person of letters - but the desire to learn from the past and the stories we tell shows a commitment to understanding humanity - our past, present, and future. Certainly, this is the crux of any good public policy.

In this newsletter edition, I review two of my favorite’s from Obama’s backlog of summer reads. It was a mighty struggle to pick just two, as he certainly has a gray thumb for reading (gray for smudged ink, yes, no?). He has such magnificent taste that the majority of any list is either in my read or TBR pile. Therefore, I present one current read and one backlist read that highlights the wide variety in his summer fiction selections. I hope you enjoy, dear friend.

BOOK REVIEWS📚→

Trust by Hernan Diaz

Ahh the pressure of winning the Pulitzer! Of winning and living up to the hype. THE PRESSURE.

You know who was used to pressure? The Royal Tenenbaums.

And that’s exactly what the first book of this novel reminds me of - young, precocious children as entertainment for bored rich (or rich-leeching) adults. GET YOUR OWN MONEY ROYAL!

However, that’s just the start (book one) - after that, we are served three more books-within-a-book that nest you into a cocoon of unreality, each layer questioning the validity of everything that came before. Trust is about the [un]reliability of narrative and our human desire to view written relics as objective truth (the lesson - don’t).

It’s also about the power of wealth to shape history, the illusion of money, and how we instinctually trust those with it. It’s about who gets to tell their story [rich white guys] and who is silenced [ladies who marry the rich white guys].

For I’ve come to think one is truly married only when one is more committed to one’s vows than the person they refer to.

While the unique narrative structure was very well executed, the third book became tedious at points (for me). The liveliness of the first book, the abandonment of the second, and the profundity of the fourth is contrasted with the disillusionment of the third book. While I am certain this is the point, it made for tough reading. I still respect the genius of this man - if you have any interest in a challenging and unique read, get on down to the bookstore for a copy (newly released in paperback too!).

—>Check out this interview on LitHub with the author if you want to get to know him deep down and appreciate this book EVEN MORE.

Moodometer: Weird, quirky, so smart, requires the dictionary app, and reminds you of the precocious troubled Royal Tenenbaums if Royal was an old controlling rich white guy instead of just poor.

I give this a Gimme All Your Money 4.5 Stars.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Look, listen. If you require a fast-paced Christopher Nolan film of a book to stay awake reading please do not select this book. While it may be haunting, eerie, and creeptastic, no one would ever describe Leave the World Behind as fast-paced (although one blurb called it “propulsive” and that person should be fired immediately).

Also, do not come here expecting a jolly good fun time with all the answers and everything tied up neatly. This book is low-key weird and unsettling precisely because it tells you very little. Add it to the list of strangely prescient novels about uncanny world-ending (maybe?) events that were written PRE-VID times like some crystal ball reading gone wrong.

Because of and not in spite of these features I say THIS is the epitome of a really scary book. Isolated from civilization and caught in limbo with strangers, these two families must figure out how to move forward in a shapeless new reality.

ALSO. I’m just really proud of a man who sticks to his ending knowing it’s going to piss A LOT of people off. I’m ALSO really proud of him for mentioning genitals which all people (usually) have and also seems to really upset the Goodreaders (for some unknown reason).

I think this 3-star review on Goodreads by our girl Kat really says it all:

this was an odd one! idk reading it was a constant flip between "pls let this shit end" and "ok wowowowow mind blown"

Moodometer: Your perfect night in includes Hitchcock movies, a mountain of questionable snacks, and then falling asleep covered in butter popcorn before you get any answers.

I give this a 4 Unsettling Stars.

READING 📖→

Started Allie Rowbottom’s Aesthetica in prep for Barbie mania and I am CRINGEING all over myself it’s so good but also clinically depressing. Can’t wait to hype it up for you all in a full review next week.

PLAYING🎮→

My newest obsession: MURDLE. That’s right Murdle, a combo of Clue and Sudoku, it’s the best new game since Wordle (or my mother might argue Quordle). I discovered it from this Crime Reads article where the creator gives THE best advice ever: “Write for your friends”. I hope to be doing this every day.

WATCHING 📽️→

On rec from my fiance, I devoured The Girl in the Blue Mustang from Dateline - it’s got wrongful convictions, eccentric lawyers, tragedy, twistaroos, and of course, Keith’s impeccable style. A limited series podcast that will have my fellow true crime lovers bingeing all six episodes in a day, I only wish Dateline would do more of these.
We watched Insidious: The Last Key last weekend and while the acting may have been questionable, it legit almost stopped my heart full body frozen in terror style. From our screams, my neighbor probably thought we were either being murdered or into some kind of sex cult but heck it was worth it. Can’t wait to see the fifth series installment [out next week] so I can sh*t my pants again (this time, in public!).

BOOK NEWS 📰→

The Millions - top book predictor extraordinaire - has finally released their second half of the year Great Book Preview and it’s got some gems. Most excited about Strip Tees (an LA memoir about working at American Apparel), Tomb Sweeping (George Saunders endorsement say no more), and Rouge (the font on the cover is all I needed to see about this new Mona Awad).

Pottery Barn now sells color packs of books designed to look good on your shelf - whether you even know what they are or not. Now you can select books not for the content but for the aesthetic look everyone craves! All I want to know is what lackey they got to run around a Barnes & Noble undressing hundreds of hardbacks to find just the right sage green color combo for Ashleigh’s fake Instagram bookshelf. Consumerism at its FINEST.

LET’S CHAT☺→

This week: leave a comment with your favorite read from any of Obama’s reading lists. Mine have to be either of the three Emily St. John Mandel titles or the Jennifer Egan, or wait maybe Trust is on there but what about all the others I haven’t read yet…
Or per ush, let me know what you’ve been reading in the comments. I’m always game for a good rec (or warning, grievances, etc. ). If you tell me your favorite TV show or movie lately, I’ll give you a book recommendation.

In Case You Missed It 🖤

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See you around the bookshelf!

Natalie