Obama unveils his 6-book summer reading list that covers Nazis, racism and mass extinction (but will he read them with all that golf?)

• Obama lists his books each year as indication of issues he cares about
• This year's list includes novel about Indian brothers that was on 2013 list
• Also includes book on black Americans by one of Obama's fiercest critics
• And one predicting a natural disaster akin to the one that wiped dinosaurs

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com

Published: 14:27 EST, 13 August 2015 | Updated: 17:21 EST, 13 August 2015

Each year President Barack Obama ceremoniously unveils his summer reading list.

But it seems he may have a backlog.

Among the six tomes he's taken to Martha's Vineyard this month is The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri, a novel about two Indian brothers - which was on his 2013 reading list as well.

Perhaps he is keen to re-read the story of one brother who makes it in America while the other becomes sidelined by politics back home. Perhaps all that golfing leaves little time for books.

Bit of a backlog? President Obama's summer reading list includes a novel from his 2013 list

Obama is pictured (left) in 2013 buying the Man Booker shortlisted novel The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (right)

When the president bought the novel in 2013, soon after it was shortlisted for the Man Booker prize, author Ms Lahiri was delighted.

Expressing her excitement to the Washington Post, she said the book may remind Obama of his internal struggle with his Kenyan and American identities. 

'He has a sort of double vision of America as I do, as many people do, many people who have been both brought up and bred within America but also have a different perspective of the country,' Ms Lahiri said.

'In a sense, part of him comes from outside America and he embodies both that contradiction and that richness.'  

The list, released by the White House on Thursday, is typically released as an indication of issues the president finds important. 

For the first time, the books he has taken to his Massachusetts retreat is an even mix of non-fiction and fiction. Usually he leans towards novels.

This year's collection includes a book about life for black Americans by one of Obama's fiercest critics, Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

Between The World And Me, released last month, is non-fiction account of Coates' own experiences.

Coates, a writer for The Atlantic, has written numerous long-reads and blog posts criticizing the rhetoric Obama uses to discuss issues of race. 

The president even took him aside at a meeting with writers in 2013 to say he'd been unfair in a blog post. 

In the piece, titled On The Death Of Dreams, Coates slammed Obama for saying some Africans Americans had 'lost our way' and needed to take more personal responsibility. 

As Coates has risen in prominence to become one of the most widely-discussed critics of Obama, it seems the president is keen to keep tabs on what he writes. 

Another timely non-fiction book on the list is The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, about the effects of man-made climate change.

This year's list includes a book about life for black Americans by one of Obama's fiercest critics, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Between The World And Me, released last month, is non-fiction account of Coates' own experiences

A George Washington biography (left) and a bleak non-fiction piece about climate change (right) are on the list 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which came out last year, predicts that America will soon be hit by a natural disaster akin to the one that obliterated the dinosaurs - but caused by climate change.

Appropriately, 21 children in Oregon filed a lawsuit against the president on Wednesday accusing him of leaving their generation with crippling effects of fossil fuels.   

Other books on the list include this year's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; Washington: A Life, a biography of the first American president George Washington by Ron Chernow; All That Is, a novel about love in post-war America by James Salter. 

According to the White House, Obama skipped golf on Thursday for a day at a private beach with family and friends.

Novels: All That Is, a love story, and All The Light We Cannot See, a wartime journey, are on the list

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