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During an interview, President Barack Obama stated about literature: "And perspective is exactly what is wanted. At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted, the ability to slow down and get perspective, along with the ability to get in somebody else’s shoes — those two things have been invaluable to me. Whether they’ve made me a better president, I can’t say. But what I can say is that they have allowed me to sort of maintain my balance during the course of eight years, because this is a place that comes at you hard and fast and doesn’t let up."

This statement resonated within me because reading allows you to enter a new world where you can visually imagine the words of an author, making a movie in your mind. Creating these "movies" within your own mind is better than actual films because it allows your imagination to work, unlike movies where characters, setting, etc. is given to you. Gaining new perspectives is important because the world we live in is constantly changing, and it is vital to be able to adapt with the advancements of society. With today's growing technology it is essential to slow down for our health, and reading is a way to pause the busy lives we live and take a moment to enjoy the little things life has to offer.

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The character of Troy in the play Fences with his signature baseball bat.

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President Obama in the Oval Office on Friday during an interview with Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic for The New York Times. Credit Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic for The New York Times, These books that you gave to your daughter Malia on the Kindle, what were they? Some of your favorites? interviewed President Obama about literature on Friday at the White House. Here are excerpts from the conversation, which have been edited and condensed.
I think some of them were sort of the usual suspects, so "The Naked and the Dead" or "One Hundred Years of Solitude," I think she hadn't read yet.

Then there were some books I think that are not on everybody's reading list these days, but I remembered as being interesting, like "The Golden Notebook" by Doris Lessing, for example. Or "The Woman Warrior," by Maxine [Hong Kingston].

Part of what was interesting was me pulling back books that I thought were really powerful, but that might not surface when she goes to college.
Have you had a chance to discuss them with her?
I've had the chance to discuss some. And she's interested in being a filmmaker, so storytelling is of great interest to her. She had just read "A Moveable Feast." I hadn't included that, and she was just captivated by the idea that Hemingway described his goal of writing one true thing every day.
What made you want to become a writer?
I loved reading when I was a kid, partly because I was traveling so much, and there were times where I'd be displaced, I'd be the outsider. When I first moved to Indonesia, I'm this big, dark-skinned kid that kind of stood out. And then when I moved back from Indonesia to Hawaii, I had the manners and habits probably of an Indonesian kid.

And so the idea of having these worlds that were portable, that were yours, that you could enter into, was appealing to me. And then I became a teenager and wasn't reading that much other than what was assigned in school, and playing basketball and chasing girls, and imbibing things that weren't very healthy.
I think all of us did.
Yeah. And then I think rediscovered writing and reading and thinking in my first or second year of college and used that as a way to rebuild myself, a process I write about in "Dreams From My Father."

Thatperiod in New York, where you were intensely reading.
I was hermetic - it really is true. I had one plate, one towel, and I'd buy clothes from thrift shops. And I was very intense, and sort of humorless. But it reintroduced me to the power of words as a way to figure out who you are and what you think, and what you believe, and what's important, and to sort through and interpret this swirl of events that is happening around you every minute.

And so even though by the time I graduated I knew I wanted to be involved in public policy, or I had these vague notions of organizing, the idea of continuing to write and tell stories as part of that was valuable to me. And so I would come home from work, and I would write in my journal or write a story or two.

The great thing was that it was useful in my organizing work. Because when I got there, the guy who had hired me said that the thing that brings people together to have the courage to take action on behalf of their lives is not just that they care about the same issue, it's that they have shared stories. And he told me that if you learn how to listen to people's stories and can find what's sacred in other people's stories, then you'll be able to forge a relationship that lasts.

But my interest in public service and politics then merged with the idea of storytelling.
What were your short stories like?
It's interesting, when I read them, a lot of them had to do with older people.

I think part of the reason was because I was working in communities with people who were significantly older than me. We were going into churches, and probably the average age of these folks was 55, 60. A lot of them had scratched and clawed their way into the middle class, but just barely. They were seeing the communities in which they had invested their hopes and dreams and raised their kids starting to decay - steel mills had closed, and there had been a lot of racial turnover in these communities. And so there was also this sense of loss and disappointment.

And so a bunch of the short stories I wrote had to do with that sense, that atmosphere. One story is about an old black pastor who seems to be about to lose his church, his lease is running out and he's got this loyal woman deacon who is trying to buck him up. Another is about an elderly couple - a white couple in L.A., - and he's like in advertising, wrote jingles. And he's just retired and has gotten cranky. And his wife is trying to convince him that his life is not over.

So when I think back on what's interesting to me, there is not a lot of Jack Kerouac, open-road, young kid on the make discovering stuff. It's more melancholy and reflective.

Was writing partly a way to figure out your identity?
Yes, I think so. For me, particularly at that time, writing was the way I sorted through a lot of crosscurrents in my life - race, class, family. And I genuinely believe that it was part of the way in which I was able to integrate all these pieces of myself into something relatively whole.

People now remark on this notion of me being very cool, or composed. And what is true is that I generally have a pretty good sense of place and who I am, and what's important to me. And I trace a lot of that back to that process of writing.
Has that continued to be so in the presidency?
Not as much as I would have liked. I just didn't have time.
But you keep some form of a journal?
I've kept some, but not with the sort of discipline that I would have hoped for. The main writing that I've done during the presidency has been my speeches, the ones at least that were important to me.
How has the speechwriting andbeing at the center of history and dealing with crises affected you as a writer?
I'm not sure yet. I'll have to see when I start writing the next book. Some of the craft of writing a good speech is identical to any other good writing: Is that word necessary? Is it the right word? Is there a rhythm to it that feels good? How does it sound aloud?

I actually think that one of the useful things about speechwriting is reminding yourself that the original words are spoken, and that there is a sound, a feel to words that, even if you're reading silently, transmits itself.

So in that sense, I think there will be some consistency.

But this is part of why it was important to pick up the occasional novel during the presidency, because most of my reading every day was briefing books and memos and proposals. And so working that very analytical side of the brain all the time sometimes meant you lost track of not just the poetry of fiction, but also the depth of fiction.

Fiction was useful as a reminder of the truths under the surface of what we argue about every day and was a way of seeing and hearing the voices, the multitudes of this country.
Are there examples of specific novels or writers?
Well, the last novel I read was Colson Whitehead's "The Underground Railroad." And the reminder of the ways in which the pain of slavery transmits itself across generations, not just in overt ways, but how it changes minds and hearts.
It's what you said in your farewell address about Atticus Finch, where you said people are so isolated in their little bubbles. Fiction can leap -
It bridges them. I struck up a friendship with [the novelist] Marilynne Robinson, who has become a good friend. And we've become sort of pen pals. I started reading her in Iowa, where "Gilead" and some of her best novels are set. And I loved her writing in part because I saw those people every day. And the interior life she was describing that connected them - the people I was shaking hands with and making speeches to - it connected them with my grandparents, who were from Kansas and ended up journeying all the way to Hawaii, but whose foundation had been set in a very similar setting.

And so I think that I found myself better able to imagine what's going on in the lives of people throughout my presidency because of not just a specific novel but the act of reading fiction. It exercises those muscles, and I think that has been helpful.

And then there's been the occasion where I just want to get out of my own head. [Laughter] Sometimes you read fiction just because you want to be someplace else.

What are some of those books?
It's interesting, the stuff I read just to escape ends up being a mix of things - some science fiction. For a while, there was a three-volume science-fiction novel, the "Three-Body Problem" series -
Oh, Liu Cixin It's really about the fate of the universe. , who won the Hugo Award.
- which was just wildly imaginative, really interesting. It wasn't so much sort of character studies as it was just this sweeping -
I loved that structure.
Exactly. The scope of it was immense. So that was fun to read, partly because my day-to-day problems with Congress seem fairly petty - not something to worry about. Aliens are about to invade. [Laughter]
I like those structureswhere you actually see different points of view.
There were books that would blend, I think, really good writing with thriller genres. I mean, I thought "Gone Girl" was a well-constructed, well-written book.
Have there been certain books that have been touchstones for you in these eight years?
Yeah, and it was really well executed. And a similar structure, that I thought was a really powerful novel: "Fates and Furies," by Lauren Groff.

Which I have to do for this job, too. [Laughter]

I would say Shakespeare continues to be a touchstone. Like most teenagers in high school, when we were assigned, I don't know, "The Tempest" or something, I thought, 'My God, this is boring.' And I took this wonderful Shakespeare class in college where I just started to read the tragedies and dig into them. And that, I think, is foundational for me in understanding how certain patterns repeat themselves and play themselves out between human beings.

Is that sort of comforting?
It gives me a sense of perspective. I think Toni Morrison's writings - particularly "Song of Solomon" is a book I think of when I imagine people going through hardship. That it's not just pain, but there's joy and glory and mystery.

I think that there are writers who I don't necessarily agree with in terms of their politics, but whose writings are sort of a baseline for how to think about certain things - V. S. Naipaul, for example. His "A Bend in the River," which starts with the line, "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it." And I always think about that line, and I think about his novels when I'm thinking about the hardness of the world sometimes, particularly in foreign policy, and I resist and fight against sometimes that very cynical, more realistic view of the world. And yet, there are times where it feels as if that may be true.

So in that sense, I'm using writing like that as a foil or something to debate against.
I've read that Lincolnloved Shakespeare his whole life, butwhen he was dealing with the Civil War,reading thehistory plays helped give him solace and perspective.
Lincoln's own writings do that. He is a very fine writer.

I'd put the Second Inaugural up against any piece of American writing - as good as anything. One of the great treats of being president is, in the Lincoln Bedroom, there's a copy of the Gettysburg Address handwritten by him, one of five copies he did for charity. And there have been times in the evening when I'd just walk over, because it's right next to my office, my home office, and I just read it.

And perspective is exactly what is wanted. At a time when events move so quickly and so much information is transmitted, the ability to slow down and get perspective, along with the ability to get in somebody else's shoes - those two things have been invaluable to me. Whether they've made me a better president, I can't say. But what I can say is that they have allowed me to sort of maintain my balance during the course of eight years, because this is a place that comes at you hard and fast and doesn't let up.
Is there some poem or anywriting or author that you would turn to, say,after the mass killings in Newtown, Conn., or during the financial crisis?
I think that during those periods, Lincoln's writings, King's writings, Gandhi's writings, Mandela's writings - I found those particularly helpful, because what you wanted was a sense of solidarity. During very difficult moments, this job can be very isolating. So sometimes you have to hop across history to find folks who have been similarly feeling isolated. Churchill's a good writer. And I loved reading Teddy Roosevelt's writing. He's this big, outsize character.

Have you read a lot of presidential biographies?
The biographies have been useful, because I do think that there's a tendency, understandable, to think that whatever's going on right now is uniquely disastrous or amazing or difficult. And it just serves you well to think about Roosevelt trying to navigate World War II or Lincoln trying to figure out whether he's going to fire [George B.] McClellan when Rebel troops are 20, 30, 40 miles away.
I watched some of the civil-rights-movement documentary mini-series "Eyes on the Prize" after the election.
It was useful.
You do see how far we've come, and in the space of my lifetime.
And that's why seeing my daughters now picking up books that I read 30 years ago or 40 years ago is gratifying, because I want them to have perspective - not for purposes of complacency, but rather to give them confidence that people with a sense of determination and courage and pluck can reshape things. It's empowering for them.
What books would you recommend at this moment in time, thatcaptures this sense of turmoil?
I should probably ask you or some people who have had time to catch up on reading. I'll confess that since the election, I've been busier than I expected. So one of the things I'm really looking forward to is to dig into a whole bunch of literature.

But one of the things I'm confident about is that, out of this moment, there are a whole bunch of writers, a lot of them young, who are probably writing the book I need to read. [Laughter] They're ahead of me right now. And so in my post-presidency, in addition to training the next generation of leaders to work on issues like climate change or gun violence or criminal justice reform, my hope is to link them up with their peers who see fiction or nonfiction as an important part of that process.

When so much of our politics is trying to manage this clash of cultures brought about by globalization and technology and migration, the role of stories to unify - as opposed to divide, to engage rather than to marginalize - is more important than ever.

There's something particular about quieting yourself and having a sustained stretch of time that is different from music or television or even the greatest movies.

And part of what we're all having to deal with right now is just a lot of information overload and a lack of time to process things. So we make quick judgments and assign stereotypes to things, block certain things out, because our brain is just trying to get through the day.
We're bombarded with information. Technology is moving so rapidly.
Look, I don't worry about the survival of the novel. We're a storytelling species.

I think that what one of the jobs of political leaders going forward is, is to tell a better story about what binds us together as a people. And America is unique in having to stitch together all these disparate elements - we're not one race, we're not one tribe, folks didn't all arrive here at the same time.

What holds us together is an idea, and it's a story about who we are and what's important to us. And I want to make sure that we continue that.
I know you like Junot Díaz's and Jhumpa Lahiri's books, and they speak to immigration or the American Dream.
I think Lahiri's books, I think Díaz's books, do speak to a very particular contemporary immigration experience. But also this combination of - that I think is universal - longing for this better place, but also feeling displaced and looking backwards at the same time. I think in that sense, their novels are directly connected to a lot of American literature.

Some of the great books by Jewish authors like Philip Roth or Saul Bellow, they are steeped with this sense of being an outsider, longing to get in, not sure what you're giving up - what you're willing to give up and what you're not willing to give up. So that particular aspect of American fiction I think is still of great relevance today.

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Transcript: President Obama on What Books Mean to Him

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Michiko Kakutani, the chief book critic for The New York Times, These books that you gave to your daughter Malia on the Kindle, what were they? Some of your favorites? interviewed President Obama about literature on Friday at the White House. Here are excerpts from the conversation, which have been edited and condensed.

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This poem is about the author looking back on his life in the form of regret. He now as an adult realizes all of what his father did for him and the rest of his family, and also sees that his father was never shown appreciation for his hard work. The author's perspective changed as he grew, when he was young he was more concerned about himself and blindsided to the hardships of others, and as he got older he is able to relate to others more and think of more than just himself. This read is directed to readers of all ages because any age can relate to this, however the young are able to change the present from Hayden's experience and show their parent's appreciation, so that one day they may not look back and feel the same regret.

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McKay's poem "America" offers the insight into the life of an immigrant in the United States. Two identities being that of a foreigner and an American citizen make up an immigrant, according to Claude. The perspective I gained from the author's own is that obviously the life of an immigrant is challenging, but it is these obstacles that makes leaving behind a home country worthwhile. The need to find the strength to overcome any and all obstacles in the way is what makes it possible for an immigrant to prosper living in a foreign country. Reading this poem makes me feel like some foreigners could have more drive to reach goals over American born citizens because they gave up their whole life to come to America, unlike a lot citizens who were born here who take opportunities in this country for granted.

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"A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest J. Gaines

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"A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest J. Gaines

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This novel also gives the insight to what it was like for a black man during the segregation period, however it is about the death by electric chair of a wrongfully convicted innocent black man. Even though this is a fictional story, events similar to the predicament in this book actually happened in real life. Growing up, I've always been told about segregation and how horribly African Americans were treated during that time period, and I of course see what is going on in today's life. Reading this novel put me into the story, I felt as if I was actually in the book experiencing the pain. I felt the sorrow of all of the characters, I felt the frustration of being treated wrong just because of the color of black on skin. This book put me into the perspective of being a black person, and the feeling knowing that people of my race did such horrible things to people of color disgusts me. Even though I never will be able to fully comprehend the feeling it is to be black and the struggles that come along simply with the unchosen color of skin one has, from reading the book "A Lesson Before Dying", I understand a little more about the struggle of the strong, black men and women.

"A Lesson Before Dying" was my favorite read from this semester because I feel like I gained the most from this work. I really got into the book, and even cried a little when Jefferson died.

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This poem gives the perspective from a black person during the segregation period and begins with saying that when company is over they have to eat in the kitchen. They keep their head up, stay happy, full of laughter, and continue to become stronger. The strength that African American's have throughout the hardships they have had to endure is commendable at the least. The statement "They'll see how beautiful I am" tells me how people of color have chosen to see themselves even though they were being beaten down. It is this perseverance and positive outlook that made it possible for their culture to remain so strong to this day. It makes me want to strive to have a positive outlook at life no matter what comes my way.

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One main point that Judith makes in this poem is the limited opportunities for women. She compares the blood in her woman body to that of a man's blood, calling her blood "shameful" and blood of "men in battle: beautiful". She wonders why men and women are considered different even though it is the same blood of the Christ that flows through both sexes. This woman has no control over being born into the culture where at the age of 15 is given the rites of passage that lead to adulthood. The girl sounds scared of becoming a woman, rather forced and is not ready to leave behind her life with dolls to trade it in for the obligations of a woman. Being a woman I can relate to the author and the feelings of fright to the change from a girl to woman, it can be scary trying to live up to standards. Time heals all, and the feelings of fright will be released eventually and womanhood will be embraced.

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This story, which is based upon a the real event of Jing-Mei's life when she met her half-sisters in China in 1987. Heritage, identity, appearance, and reality is what makes up this story. Jing-Mei is Chinese but has always lived in America, so even though she has the looks of a Chinese woman, she only feels American. She felt at home when she made it to China, which shows me that there will always be something for each culture about one's home country, even if they were not raised there. When Jing-Mei met her half sisters, she was frightened by how much they looked like their mom, but then realized looks had nothing to do with it. The realization is that they all shared qualities of their mom, from mouth, ears, to nose, all three of them make up their mom together, regardless of the country they were raised in. The lesson here is that there is more than what meets the eye.

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"The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros

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"The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros

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The novel by Sandra Cisneros is very relatable to the audience who reads it because it is about a young person who is embarrassed by different things about her life. I did not grow up exactly like Esperanza, but I do relate to her because I have felt ashamed/embarrassed by aspects to my identity. Esperanza faces a lot of obstacles throughout her life, and she is given hope by the three old sisters that she will be successful in life but cannot forget her past. They also tell her that she must come back to help the people, not to live behind her loved ones. The main message that I get from this story is that you can rise up no matter where you come from, but your past is what makes you who you are. You have to accept yourself along with the good and the bad in your life, and embrace everything to prosper.

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In this story, there is a Mama and two daughters, Maggie and Dee. Dee is very accomplished and is trying to understand her heritage, even changed her name to "Wangero" and wears clothing and jewelry from Africa. When her and her boyfriend visit, Dee is rude to her family, rummages around her moms items in search of some items to show her heritage, and tries to take some quilts that are meant for her sister. Her mom does not let Dee take the quilts, she will only hang them on the wall for display, not use them like they should be used. The meaning behind this story to me is that this generation cares too much about the outside, or looks, instead of the true meaning of things. Dee wanted to understand her heritage, but really was running away from it.

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This poem, in my opinion is dated in a time older than todays time, where woman didn't work and only did housework. The whole poem consists of a list of advice to the young lady, which is mean to guide the girl and scold her at the same time. To me it seems that the young girl is constantly being bombarded with lessons, never really getting to enjoy her childhood. Her mother feels that this general advice will save her daughter from a life of promiscuity, and make her daughter a respectable lady. What I take away from this story is that children sometimes have too much put on them, and some parents need to let their children be a child while they are young.

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The book/play is set during the segregation period, and tells us a story that begins with racial injustice. Reading this novel helped me see what it was like for a black man during this time period. Seeing examples of how racism impacts African Americans, such as Troy's dream of baseball being crushed, makes me open my eyes more to the struggle for black people. Since I am a white woman who was born in the 90's, and I did not directly grow up around racism, sometimes it is hard for myself to fully comprehend the difficulties for black people. This play is about more than racism though, it is about masculinity, friendship, parenthood, relationships, heartache, marriage, family, dreams, hopes, disappointments, betrayal, and this play is about life. The story of Fences is a very deep one, can teach a lot about life's struggles, and is worth being read/watched multiple times.

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The man in the suit judged the man sitting in front of him, thought he looked homeless, and assumed that he was eating his donuts. He was making judgement based upon selfishness, did not even once think that the other man could have bought his own donuts. The man who looked homeless, however, shared his last donut with the man in the suit, and never showed anger or frustration towards the man in the suit. In life, it is important to not judge people and not be selfish. If the man in the suit was not just thinking about himself, he may have realized he did not even set his bag of donuts on the table. It is important to be able to look at situations through other people's eyes and feel empathy for others, otherwise you will be selfish and make others feel weird.