Have you ever wondered why presidents build libraries after they leave office? Maybe candidates should build one — stocked with titles chosen by the American people — before they even get close to the White House.

Candidates would have to spend years in the “Potential President’s Library,” reading widely and broadly before being allowed to speak in (or to the) public. Candidates could be steeped in information, history, and literature while working toward wisdom.

If what Tony Schwartz, ghostwriter of Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal, says is true, Trump would already be eliminated because he hasn’t ever read a book, not even the one he supposedly wrote. The fact that he doesn’t like to read makes me suspicious of his character.

Hillary Clinton doesn’t strike me as someone who makes time to read, so I’m not sure about her, either. So, Dear Reader, let’s think about the books our future president should read. Here are mine:

• Ironweed: A Novel by William J. Kennedy because struggle is real.
• The Other by Ryszard Kapuscinski because learning to be empathetic ought to be fundamental.
• Radiance of Tomorrow: a Novel by Ishmael Beah because when you mess in other people’s homelands, you ought to experience the consequences.
• The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota because if you’re afraid of immigrants, you ought to know that many long to return home, especially if their homes are livable.
• Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly because the president ought to know that so many more than are counted have made contributions to this great nation.
• All books by Mark Twain because the world’s leader ought to have a sense of humor, humility, and, indeed, plain old good sense.
• The dictionary so that he or she has the tools to appeal to our reason. 
• And the Bible for the grace to touch our hearts.

Joye Shepperd is senior features editor at the Washington Independent Review of Books.

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