
a book
Becoming
Michelle Obama · 2018 · 448 pages
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WATCH THE EMMY-NOMINATED NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY • OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • NAACP IMAGE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.
recommended by 16 people
sourced from public statements

Brené Brown
“Reading an advance copy of @michelleobama’s new memoir and it’s so damn good. Good for my heart, my head, and my soul.”↗

Oprah Winfrey
“I want the whole world to read this book. This book is everything you wanted to know and so much you didn’t even know you wanted to know. It’s a tour de force. I laughed and I cried. It is exquisitely written. She just opens up herself. It’s so vulnerable, and I’d say that even if I didn’t know her.”↗

Tyler Oakley
“love @audible #ad shoutouts for bingeworthy books!! this month, i'm recommending “Becoming” by queen @michelleobama:”↗

Priyanka Chopra
“The storytelling is extremely vivid, which I love. It’s about how she becomes the woman that she is, from Chicago to the White House, and that journey, which is so fascinating to all of us. It feels like a Cinderella story, but she gives that perspective of the hardships, trials and tribulations that she had to go through.”↗

Alice Korngold
“My favorite books (fiction & non) that have helped me understand #racialjustice: #Homegoing #YaaGyasi #TheLoveSongsofWEBDuBois @BlkLibraryGirl #IKnowWhyTheCagedbirdSings #MayaAngelou #Becoming @MichelleObama #TheWarmthOfOtherSuns @Isabelwilkerson #JustMercy #BryanStevenson”↗

Leah Solivan
“Incredible”↗





Cristina Cordova



books like Becoming
other books recommended by the same people who recommend this one

Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement
Tarana Burke
3 shared recommenders

Educated: A Memoir
Tara Westover
2 shared recommenders

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
Patrick Radden Keefe
2 shared recommenders

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Hans Rosling
2 shared recommenders

How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future
Daniel Ziblatt & Steven Levitsky
2 shared recommenders

The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead
2 shared recommenders

Homegoing
Yaa Gyasi
2 shared recommenders

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Bryan Stevenson
2 shared recommenders

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers
2 shared recommenders

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Isabel Wilkerson
2 shared recommenders

An American Marriage: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club 2018 Selection)
Tayari Jones
2 shared recommenders

Caste
Isabel Wilkerson
2 shared recommenders