BECOMING

Indulge me as I join the chorus of adoring fans heaping endless praise upon this magnificent book. Some books are meant to be read and a rare few are meant to be experienced. Do yourself a favor and experience this one. It is warm, candid, moving, powerful, vulnerable and inspiring beyond words. No mini review here can possibly do it justice. Suffice it to say, I am still mesmerized.

I am embarrassed to admit that I almost never read nonfiction. So while I felt I *should* read Becoming (because who doesn’t love Michelle? and it’s a cultural phenomenon!) I secretly worried I’d be the only person on earth to find it factual and maybe even dry, as I imagined an autobiography might be.

Instead I found myself immediately drawn in to her story, her voice, her vision. I organized my day around when I could steal away to read another chapter. I looked forward to long dark car rides to my son’s basketball practice so I could listen on Audible en route home. I was completely and wholly consumed.

Now, having finished, I feel almost too reflective to start reading anything new, wanting instead to live a bit longer with her humanity, hope and inspiration. To reread passages about her “work to create the world as it should be.” I feel a little changed, in a good way, for having read it. Which I guess is what the title is all about.

What to cook, I wondered, as I savored page after page. None of the meals mentioned sounded pretty enough to stand up to this gorgeous cover. Finally I realized I’d photograph the most obvious food of all: a tribute to the White House vegetable garden established proudly by Michelle Obama herself. “A symbol of diligence and faith,” she writes, “it was beautiful while also being powerful.” Sounds a lot like the author, to me.