Obama way ahead Oprah in popularising books

Barack Obama's book choices have apparently overshadowed the popularity of Oprah Winfrey's book club, for people are running to grab all the titles that the US president was planning to read on a holiday.

When Obama headed to Martha's Vineyard over the weekend, the White House announced that he was hoping to make it through five books during his stay.

And the books were-George Pelecanos's The Way Home, Richard Price's The Lush Life, Tom Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded, David McCullough's John Adams and Kent Haruf's Plainsong.

But ever since the news of Obama's reading picks went public, sales of the books have skyrocketed on Amazon.com, reports the Politico.

'The Way Home' shot up to No328 on Amazon.com's Best Seller list on Tuesday from No. 33,349 when Obama's list was first announced on Monday.

And the same trend for all other picked by the president- A Lush Life went from No 74,289 to No 10,295 on Wednesday, Hot, Flat and Crowded went from No 231 to No 4.

John Adams shot from No 14,301 to No 7,067, while Plainsong rocketed to as high as No 189 from its Monday position of No 8,155.

In fact, Obama's book plugs are even helping these authors eclipse his own books.

The popular paperback version of Obama's Audacity of Hope was at No 17,543, and Dreams From My Father was at No 468.