#16 & #18: Read books, make book page

As President-Elect Obama spoke in Baltimore today, I finished reading Dreams from My Father, the book he published in 1995 and re-released in 2004.  The book is about his personal journey to understand himself and I find it remarkably fitting that I finished the book (which ends before he starts Harvard) as he is on his way to Washington D.C. to take the oath of office for President. The book does a beautiful job of tracing his childhood and young adult life in three segments: his childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia, his post-college life in Chicago, and a trip he took to Kenya before he started Harvard.  The book ends with the very poignant image of Obama at the side-by-side graves of his father and grandfather, finally feeling as though he has some answer as to who he is.

I find it surprising that the book wasn't referred to more throughout the campaign.  A lot of arguments made against him could have been refuted by reading passages from the book (like how he doesn't understand rural life, yet he lived in a rural area in Indonesia as a child and clearly understood rural life from his African relatives).  Obama's never hid any details of his life, so it was always amusing to see stories that tried to reveal secret information about him.

I am also struck (as always) by what a wonderful writer and speaker he is.  Of course I expect that he had an editor, but he is known for being a great writer and I do not fear that most of the voice in the book is his.  I'm very excited to be heading into four (eight??) years of hearing this voice and having a pensive president, a man who enjoys thinking and pondering ideas.

As for the book, the most interesting part is the section about his childhood.  He clearly struggled with his identity and was almost always viewed as a black child growing up.  In this country, you are black if you look black.  Yes, he is biracial (and I do appreciate when that term is used because it is the most accurate) but I can't believe those who feel it's "unfair" to refer to him as the first African-American president since he's only "half black".  He was treated as black his whole life, has been called the n-word, grew up in black culture (but also white culture due to his family).  I think this nation is better off for finally having a president who understands the struggle many of our citizens in a way that no other president has been able to.  The part about his time as a community organizer is a bit slow (I'll admit that I skimmed along a bit)  but I see how it is key to understanding him and his motivations as well as his skills.

It's going to be an exciting bunch of years.  Obama and Biden are law professors and Jill Jacobs Biden is an English professor so there are three professors in the first and second families.  I think this is great and am very excited by it.

So this book is the first of the 30 I will read outside the ones specifically on the list.  I also created a "books" page on this site to keep a list of the books I read.  Yay, accomplishment.  I couldn't think of a catchy title for that page.  Perhaps something will dawn on me sometime in the future and I'll adjust it.  For now it's just "books".  Clear enough.

Now on to the next book!