White House releases president's summer book list

When he isn't golfing with basketball stars or strolling along the beach, US President Barack Obama is relaxing with a reading list as eclectic as his summer jams.

The White House today unveiled the five books the president is tucking into during his two-week vacation, which range from a surfer's memoir to a sci-fi epic.

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning self-portrait "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life" lifelong surfer William Finnegan chronicles his obsession with surfing and juggling life, work and relationships, a struggle Obama knows all too well.

As racially charged violence continues to plague the nation, America's first black president packed "The Underground Railroad" by Colson Whitehead, a novel recounting a young slave's harrowing journey toward freedom.
 

The list also includes the critically acclaimed bestseller "H is for Hawk" by Helen Macdonald, about a woman who tames a fierce predatory bird after her father's death.

The president will also tackle two page-turning novels: Paula Hawkins' dark psychological thriller "The Girl on the Train" and Neal Stephenson's "Seveneves," a sci-fi adventure about a post-apocalyptic world.

Though several memoirs are on the president's agenda, Donald Trump's famous "The Art of the Deal" did not make the cut.