Dreams from My Father on Heart of Darkness: “"I'm trying to tell Brother Barack here about this racist tract he's reading." He held up a copy of Heart of Darkness, evidence for the court.”
A Promised Land on The Second Coming: “Between Republican attacks and Democratic complaints, I was reminded of the Yeats poem "The Second Coming": My supporters lacked all conviction, while my opponents were full of passionate intensity.”
A Promised Land on The Old Man and the Sea: “At times, I felt like the fisherman in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, sharks gnawing at my catch as I tried to tow it to shore.”
A Promised Land on Crime and Punishment: “Ever practical, she did suggest I might want to focus on my class assignments before digging into Crime and Punishment.”
A Promised Land on Team of Rivals: “I had been influenced by Doris Kearns Goodwin's book Team of Rivals and was self-consciously mimicking Lincoln by placing a former political opponent in my cabinet.”
A Promised Land on What to Expect When You're Expecting: “attending Lamaze classes, trying to figure out how to assemble a crib, reading the book What to Expect When You're Expecting with pen in hand to underline key passages.”
Americanah on Dreams of My Father: “She read Dreams from My Father in a day and a half, sitting up on the couch, Nina Simone playing on Blaine's iPod speaker.”
Becoming on The Audacity of Hope: “Barack was writing what would become The Audacity of Hope—thinking through his beliefs and his vision for the country, threshing them into words on his legal pads late at night.”