Sunday, February 1, 2009

Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama

Although it has taken me forever to get through The Audacity of Hope, I really did enjoy it. Obama's perspective on the future of the United States is very optimistic in this book, especially in comparison to his first book, Dreams of my Father. Obama approaches a number of issues, including health care, race relations, and the Supreme Court. If you're at all interested in politics, I'd suggest reading this book, but be warned that much of it was discussed throughout the campaign. I think the reason it took me so long to get through this book was because I read it after the campaign and had already heard much of what Obama has to say. Still, it was nice to have a longer version of his goals and some clarification on what we can expect from our new president.

Also, for those of you who have a hard time reading nonfiction or political books, a friend of mine told me that the audio version of this book is actually read by Barack Obama and is wonderful. I think if I were to do it again, I'd probably get the audio version myself.

5 comments:

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

I'd never really considered listening to an audio version of a book before, but I'm not big into non-fiction books. It might be worth looking into..

Molly said...

Ooohhh...now this might be an audio book that I could actually enjoy. I normally have a difficult time concentrating on the oral readings (my mind wanders since I don't have words to view on the page to keep my eyes focused), but Obama is such an eloquent public speaker, I think my attention may hold hearing him read his own material.

Becca said...

Molly: I've never like listening to audio books either. Mostly because I have no attention span when it comes to listening to books, but also partly because I just really love holding a book in my hands. I think this one would be different though.

I've only listened to one other audiobook: I am America and so can you by Stephen Colbert. Listening to a book by the author can sometimes make all the difference.

E said...

thanks for this review. I'll look into the audio version.

Katie said...

Hi Becca! I just found your blog and I love it! I absolutely loved the Audacity of Hope and like you, it took me awhile to get through it all. I was also looking at your list of reviews from 2008 and a lot of my TBR books are on your list, so I'm looking forward to reading all your reviews. Great blog :)