Becoming, Michelle Obama (November 13)

In my lifetime, the most unfairly maligned and dynamic person to rest their head in the White House was not an American president. It was Michelle Obama. I’m excited for Obama’s memoir Becoming, because I do not know of another American who has publicly withstood the worst of America while consistently being expected to conjure the “best” of themselves. I don’t know that I’ve ever been more excited to read and share a memoir with my family, partially because we felt like Michelle Obama was part of our family for eight years, partially because we think that she is finally free. I’m interested in who Michelle Obama thinks she was before the eight-year detour into the White House. Who was she becoming? Who did she become? What does she really think about creating successful health initiatives in our public schools, crafting iconic speeches that would eventually be plagiarized, and popularizing a now overused phrase sure to outlive all of us. When they go low, we go high. Most importantly, I’m eager to read Michelle Obama explore life not just as a mother, a wife, and the First Lady, but as an absolutely brilliant, critical black woman who was once a brilliant and critical black girl from Chicago. I cannot wait to read this book. It feels like an event.