Executive power comes with perks: On the first day of his 10-day Martha’s Vineyard vacation, President Obama was spotted with Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, Freedom—which won’t officially be released until August 31. The New York Times Book Review editor called the book “a masterpiece of American fiction.” Obama also bought John Steinbeck’s The Red Pony and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Politico reports that Obama was given an advance galley copy of Franzen's novel as a gift from the bookstore owner.
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