Watch President Obama's Surprise (Virtual) Visit to Parnassus

Celebrations for tomorrow's Independent Bookstore Day kicked off a little early — our own Parnassus Books got a surprise visit from President Barack Obama.

As part of his morning tour of six independent bookstores around the country, Obama hopped online to discuss what books mean to him with Parnassus co-owner Karen Hayes. He talks with Hayes about Parnassus being "a little oasis during a challenging time" during the past hellish (my words) year-and-change, he stans Ann Patchett, and he describes what books mean in his life. Watch it via the Parnassus YouTube channel, and embedded above. 

Obama's annual list of books always helps me make my to-read list. He's got great taste, and he's a good writer in his own right. His 1995 memoir Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, demonstrates an acute sensitivity to history and willingness to engage in personal reflection that you won’t find in the memoirs of most politicians. The first volume of his presidential memoir, A Promised Land, was published in November. The Atlantic calls it “unusually interior, unusually self-critical, unusually modern.” The New York Times writes that the former president lays himself open to “savage self-questioning.” 

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and make your own reading list. Tomorrow is the day to shop for books!