Former President Obama shares his favorite books, songs and movies of 2018

By Sophie Lewis

/ CBS News

Former President Barack Obama is continuing a "favorite tradition" of his — sharing his most-loved songs, books, and films from the past year. As always, he shared the list on Facebook and Instagram.

"It gives me a moment to pause and reflect on the year through the books, movies, and music that I found most thought-provoking, inspiring, or just plain loved," Obama wrote. "It also gives me a chance to highlight talented authors, artists, and storytellers – some who are household names and others who you may not have heard of before."

Unsurprisingly, Obama highlighted "Becoming", his wife Michelle Obama's memoir as "obviously my favorite!"

His favorite books also included CBS News correspondent Alex Wagner's "Futureface: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging", "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela and "The World As It Is" by his former deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes.

As for films, Obama's tastes range from mega-popular to indie features, including "Black Panther", "Eighth Grade" and "Won't You Be My Neighbor", the Fred Rogers documentary.

Some of his favorite music from the year comes from The Carters, Janelle Monáe, Cardi B and Chance the Rapper.

Obama ended the list with a tribute to Nancy Wilson, "one of the great jazz singers of all time", who died this year.

See the full list of Obama's favorite things:

As 2018 draws to a close, I’m continuing a favorite tradition of mine and sharing my year-end lists. It gives me a…

Posted by Barack Obama on Friday, December 28, 2018

First published on December 28, 2018

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Obama shares his favorite books, songs and movies of 2018

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