Holiday reading: Barack Obama shares his favourite books of 2021

Former US president Barack Obama is a voracious reader and keeps sharing his reading list with people. After sharing a bunch of his favourite books during the summer, Obama has now released a list of his most favourite reads of 2021. Sharing the list, he wrote, "Art always sustains and nourishes the soul. But for me, music and storytelling felt especially urgent during this pandemic year—a way to connect even when we were cooped up." Scroll down to know about his favourite books from this year that can be the perfect read this holiday season. (File Photo)

Shortlisted for the National Book Award 2021, it is a historical novel that captures the journey of Marie de France who was expelled from the royal court to become the prioress of an abbey. (Source: Amazon.in)

This book is a deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history. It illustrates how the the country's most essential stories are hidden in plain view. (Source: Amazon.in)

It is a novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic interracial rock duo in the 1970s, their sensational breakup and dark secrets unearthed when they try to reunite decade later for one last tour. (Source: Amazon.in)

This book is bursting with life, charm, richly imagined settings and unforgettable characters. It takes the readers to an extraordinary journey through 1950s America. (Source: Amazon.in)

The book follows eight dramatic years in the life of a girl whose imagination is as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn shelter. It captures some of the most critical issues in contemporary America through the life of that girl and is based on nearly a decade of reporting. (Source: Amazon.in)

Driven by an intricate plot that plays out in a recreated Harlem of the earky 1960s, it is a family saga masquerading as a crime novel, a morality play, a social novel about race and power, and a love letter to Harlem. (Source: Amazon.in)

The book brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds. It is a tale of hope and profound human connection. (Source: Amazon.in)

This deeply personal collection of essays reflects on home, family, friendships and writing. It is infused with the author's grace, wit and warmth. (Source: Amazon.in)

This book by Michelle Zauner is an unflinching and deep moving memoir about growing up mixed-race, Korean food, losing her Korean mother and forging her own identity in the wake of her loss. (Source: Amazon.in)

This deeply moving memoir is a nuanced portrait of globalisation from the inside in a fractured world in crisis. It is the intimate story behind the news of immigration and division dominating contemporary politics. (Source: Amazon.in)

Set in a historical moment of moral crisis, Crossroads is the foundation of an investigation of human mythologies, as the Hildebrandt family navigate the political and social crosscurrents of the past fifty years. (Source: Amazon.in)

The book explores the history of an African-American family in the American South, from the time before the American civil war and slavery, through the Civil Rights Movement, to the present. (Source: Amazon.in)

The book is an essential American story about a family fracturing under the weight of invisibility, and a girl coming of age in the shadows, living in poverty in the richest country in the world. (Amazon.in)