The most recommended Michelle Obama books

I picked up It Starts with Us and was instantly drawn into the narrative. I think the characters' authenticity and their battles with real-world issues made the story relatable.

I am sure anyone who's navigated the waters of love and loss will see a reflection of their own experiences. The narrative, with its raw emotions and an underlying note of hope, makes it a heart-tugging read that leaves a lasting impact. The book also opens up conversations about important but often unspoken topics, making it a worthy read

This book gave me courage when I was at a low ebb. 

Clover bravely describes the ferocity of her longing and grief over her mother following an accident. Her mother is alive but is not the person she knew and loved, more a toddler in an adult body. Clover takes flight as a teenager, and in her mission to understand her own shock and turmoil, she is drawn into challenging and sometimes dangerous situations with people, which she handles with fortitude.

I was left feeling that in the face of adversity, if we are brave and walk towards our grief, we can handle it eventually, bringing it forward into a new landscape (in Clover’s case, adulthood) and learning from it every step of the way. 

Because he is only two, Mommy has to do some guessing here as to why he likes this book so much. His older brother and sister like it, and it is one they have been able to read to him even before he was born.

I believe there is comfort in the rhyme and simplicity of the story, but in a beautiful way that helps him to fall asleep.

This is also one of the first books where we were able to have him be part of the reading experience, so as I read it to him and say, “Goodnight to the old lady whispering…” he will say “Hush” in a whispered tone.

It is adorable and so sweet. He also loves Goodnight Baseball, but Goodnight Moon is a must-have at bedtime.  

I greatly admire Michelle Obama and thought I knew her story. I didn’t. In this version of her memoir Becoming, adapted for young readers and full of engaging photos, she shares how her father’s multiple sclerosis marked her life: she was a young child when he first needed a cane, a freshman in college when he needed two, and a young professional in love with a man named Barack Obama when her father died. Though he never wanted his multiple sclerosis to limit his children’s lives—and it didn’t—her father’s illness may also explain Michelle Obama’s remarkable strength in the face of adversity and her genuine compassion and concern for others. 

I have admired and respected Michelle Obama for most of her husband’s political career. She managed the delicate balance of motherhood, career, supportive wife, and political wife with such grace and elegance as the first African-American First Lady of the United States of America.

So when she wrote this book, I was happy to dive in to find out how life had been post-presidency. And I was not disappointed to know that the same grace and elegance that I saw the 8 years in the White House continues to inspire and uplift other people. One of those people is a distant cousin who serves as her right-hand woman; how she was so kind when she found out that my cousin’s father had been incarcerated.

The Light We Carry is one of kindness and love in the face of unkindness and darkness. And we are all empowered to share it at… show more.

I’ve read Weak Teeth twice now, as I was lucky enough to read it in its proof stage as well. It’s an anti-love story about Ellis, an Edinburgh girl, which opens with her long-term partner cheating on her before chucking her out of their shared flat.

Sounds depressing? But in the hands of Lynsey May, it becomes a bleakly, blackly hilarious, razor-sharp dissection of human relationships, along with a beautifully rich exploration of family and what it means to be strong in life. 

The characters are so utterly identifiable, from Ellis’s poison-tongued but ferociously loyal big sister to her wet drip of an ex. It’s a book to hold your hand through the worst times of life and remind you that strength can be found where you least expect it. 

If your favorite song is “You Belong With Me” try I Hate You, Fuller James, by Kelley Anne Blount.

It’s very much the story of a nerdy awkward girl pining after the handsome jock, and is full of sweet moments. I love the similarities between it and 10 Things I Hate About You and the nods to other 90’s rom coms.

I’m a sucker for the enemies-to-lovers trope, and it was fun to watch a young female character fall in love but also learn to stand up for herself.

Daisy is searching for her mother, an eco-journalist who has gone missing in the Amazon. When I am wearing my other hat, I am a travel journalist who specialises in plants and gardens I could not fail to be intrigued by this situation.

Daisy finds a portal in Kew Gardens and enters a universe called Greenwild, where a group called The Botanists are preserving magical flora. Full of exciting adventures that children find entertaining, I loved this book because it nevertheless subtly indicates that plants are a very real source of magic. 

The First Lady of the United States is a challenging role that has been navigated by an incredibly wide array of women over the years. Brower has interviewed many of them, and the insights she gives readers into their day-to-day lives—at turns uplifting and heartbreaking—make for an incredibly relatable and inspiring book. This is as behind-the-White House-scenes as you can get. From Jaqueline Kennedy to Michelle Obama, Brower offers an incredibly intimate look at this often misunderstood role in American politics.

Though it never mentions the word ‘multiverse’, it has many aspects of a story about travelling through worlds beyond worlds, going somewhere from nowhere, taking things that don’t exist in another place.

I found this book interesting because it includes a mystery, as the protagonist goes through her journey, she uncovers mysteries and hidden truths about her abilities.

A different concept of multiverse travelling, as well as worlds that are aware of each other, it was still an interesting read that leaves a satisfying conclusion.