JUST STOP IT, CHERYL STRAYED OH MY GOD

While Strayed was among the Portland authors supporting their local bookstores on Saturday by pulling shifts at stores like Powell's, Broadway Books, and Green Bean*, Obama was supporting his local bookstore, Politics and Prose in Washington, by buying a long list of titles that include Strayed's Wild: From Lost to Found On the Pacific Crest Trail. The film adaptation of Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon and adapted by Nick Horby, is currently in production in Oregon.

Also on the list: E.L. Doctorow, Anthony Marra, David Epstein, Carson McCullers. The next time Obama wants to distract me from the fact that, oh, I dunno, the government is engaged in massive and illegal surveillance activities, he just needs to remind me that he once purchased Ballad of the Sad Cafe. Hey! It's working! Click through for some book-nerd president porn.

*I don't have a lot of need for kids' books in my day-to-day operations, but I love that Christmas shopping usually gives me an excuse to swing by Green Bean, possibly the best bookstore in Portland.