Usha Vance’s campaign reading list is revealed – and what it tells Americans about the potential second lady

Exactly two weeks before Election Day, Usha Vance just gave Americans the most personal look at her life since her husband, Ohio Senator JD Vance, was appointed as Donald Trump’s running mate.

And this rare insight has been brought to light by the books the aspiring second lady is carrying during her campaign.

The Yale Law graduate mother of three has been a regular presence on the campaign trail since her husband, himself the bestselling author of Hillbilly Elegy, was asked by Trump to join the ticket in July.

In fact, photos of Usha always seem to capture her walking around with one or more books, whether it’s ‘North Woods’ by Daniel Mason, ‘In the Woods’ by Tana French or a copy of ‘The Iliad’.

Her copy of Homer’s Greek epic is the edition translated by Emily Wilson and released in 2023. Wilson’s translation of ‘The Odyssey’, released in 2017, also received critical acclaim.

But Vance read the book thanks to their son Ewan.

“That’s because our now seven-year-old decided in the spring that he was obsessed with mythology,” Vance told NBC News of the eldest of three of the Vances, in a rare telephone interview.

“He picked up a children’s version of ‘The Odyssey’ and then ‘The Iliad’ and all this other stuff and became completely obsessed. So to keep up with him, I decided it was time to pick up ‘The Iliad’ itself,” she said.

Wilson’s translation of ‘The Iliad’ is over eight hundred pages, but it is not the only big book on her list.

Vance with her husband at a rally in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio on July 22, just after he was named Donald Trump’s running mate at the Republican National Convention

Vance walks with her husband before speaking at a campaign event in Byron Center, MI, on August 14

Usha Vance boards the plane ahead of her husband JD on August 7, 2024

Mason’s critically acclaimed “North Woods” is a 2023 novel about a house in the woods in New England and those who inhabited it for more than three centuries, starting with the earliest colonies to the present.

French’s book ‘In the Woods’, released in 2007, is a mystery novel about a pair of Irish detectives investigating the murder of a 12-year-old girl.

Vance, a Yale-educated litigator who left her job at a DC law firm shortly after her husband was picked as Trump’s running mate, has also been seen carrying a copy of “Cloud Cuckoo Land.”

The more than 600-page 2021 novel is by Anthony Doerr, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author behind ‘All the Light We Cannot See’.

It tells the story of five characters from eight centuries, ranging from a young seamstress in the 15th century to a young girl on a spaceship in the 22nd century.

Her taste in literature, based on the selections she has made about the country, includes a diverse range of topics, genres, and authors.

Usha Vance stands next to her husband JD with money in a Varsity on the campaign trail in Rome, Georgia

The Vances pack on the PDA with a hug at a campaign rally in Rome, Georgia on October 4

Although Usha has been spotted with her husband at numerous campaign stops in battleground states, Vance has not made any public comments about the campaign since introducing her husband at the Republican National Convention in July.

She also hasn’t shared what kind of work she would like to do as second lady if the Trump-Vance ticket wins in November.

Instead, Vance has been seen smiling by her husband’s side or on the sidelines of events as he shakes hands, gathers support and visits a range of businesses during their travels.

‘Obviously at the convention I was asked to introduce JD, so that was an active role,” Vance told NBC News. “But what JD asked, and I certainly agreed to, is to keep him company.”

She said her husband’s support along the way “makes her excited to do it.”

Behind the scenes, she said, they discuss her perception of how an event went, or talk about completely unrelated matters.

Vance said she shares her perspective “as his wife and his best friend, as opposed to the perspective that other people on the plane can provide.”