【ALL OUT: AJ RAVAL】

When writer David Litt was 21,ALL OUT: AJ RAVAL he fell in love. This wasn't romantic love (at least not as part of this story), but he was seriously smitten with a presidential candidate.

Like many people, young and old alike, Litt fell hard and fast for then-candidate Barack Obama. Unlike most people, Litt later worked in the Obama White House, eventually as a speechwriter for the president. And now he's written a book all about it.

Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years (A Speechwriter's Memoir) may have a title nearly as long as the former president's two terms, but the memoir reads more like a series of stories told by an old college friend over a few beers. Litt, who has a talent for both succinct writing and comedy (he writes for Funny or Diethese days), is just as earnest in his retellings as he is realistic. Yes, this is a love story, but it's also a story of a young man growing up and learning hard truths.

In a special episode of the MashReads Podcast, Litt talks about spending his 20s in the Obama White House, the real work of a speechwriter, and what it means to look back on those days in our current political climate.

As always, we ended the show with recommendations, and Litt did not disappoint:

• A River Runs Through Itby Norman Maclean, which Litt reads about twice a year.

• The Chief Inspector Gamacheseries by Louise Penny, of which Litt says “it deals so much with the inner life of people as opposed to just the whodunit.”

• And finally, for budding writers Litt recommends Made to Stickby Chip and Dan Heath. “That book was kind of the Bible at the speechwriting firm where I worked. It’s about what makes an argument, a story, or a point memorable.”

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