Does your favourite summer song match Barack Obama's? Check out his 2016 summer playlist

When he isn't golfing with basketball stars or strolling along the beach, US President Barack Obama is relaxing with a reading list as eclectic as his summer jams.

The White House on Friday unveiled the five books the president is tucking into during his two-week vacation, which range from a surfer's memoir to a sci-fi epic. In the Pulitzer Prize-winning self-portrait Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life lifelong surfer William Finnegan chronicles his obsession with surfing and juggling life, work and relationships, a struggle Obama knows all too well.

As racially charged violence continues to plague the nation, America's first black president packed The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, a novel recounting a young slave's harrowing journey toward freedom. The list also includes the critically acclaimed bestseller H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, about a woman who tames a fierce predatory bird after her father's death.

The president will also tackle two page-turning novels: Paula Hawkins' dark psychological thriller The Girl on the Train and Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, a sci-fi adventure about a post-apocalyptic world. Though several memoirs are on the president's agenda, Donald Trump's famous The Art of the Deal did not make the cut. 

Credit: White House
 

But wait, that's not all. Want to jam like the president too? Well now you can. Obama also released what is on his playlist. Music legends Prince and Aretha Franklin made the cut this year, along with hip hop artist Common.

Find out who else he is listening to: