Inside Looks

Things that were great about Michelle Obama's Becoming:

1. Behind-the-scenes details about life in the White House.

2. The story of how she and her husband met and fell in love. (His marriage proposal alone was worth the purchase price!)

3. Her determination, growing up, to succeed and achieve, and how much she carries her little-girl self into the life she lives now.

4. Her understanding that putting some important personal things first is the pathway to giving her best to her family and others.

5. Her ability to set limits for herself and others, with both kindness and certainty.

6. Her willingness to learn better communication in order to face the rigors of campaigning and public life, things she never wanted for herself.

7. Her self-confidence, which makes a lot of these other things possible.

I'm generally not a fan of biographies, but I enjoyed this book immensely and was delighted to find her personal "voice" loud and clear throughout. She's a beautiful woman with a sure sense of her value and her values. She remains on the (very short) list of celebrities I'd love to meet.

Excerpt:

My father appreciated Barack instantly, but still didn't like his odds. After all, he'd seen me jettison my high school boyfriend David at the gates of Princeton. He'd watched me dismiss Kevin the college football player as soon as I'd seen him in a furry mascot outfit. My parents knew better than to get too attached. They'd raised me to run my own life, and that's basically what I did. I was too focused and too busy, I'd told my parents plenty of times, to make room for any man.

According to [my brother] Craig, my father shook his head and laughed as he watched me and Barack walk away.

"Nice guy," he said. "Too bad he won't last."

Note: I counted this book for the Mount TBR Reading Challenge.