Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

Buddy read for this book or if you've read Becoming and American Grown feel free to jump in too. The former First Lady wants to tell her story.

I don't live in the US but it seems to me this First Lady was more in touch with Americans at the time than most, though there will always be sceptic and haters.

I don't know if she's wearing a cardigan that she knitted during lockdown on the cover, maybe. She mentions knitting, but doesn't give any patterns. Her other book American Grown did have some recipes.

Selina wrote: "Buddy read for this book or if you've read Becoming and American Grown feel free to jump in too. The former First Lady wants to tell her story.

I don't live in the US but it seems to me this First..."

I did a lot of crochet during covid and haven't done any since.

I have a lot of wool my aunty gave me but haven't started any yet. I'm thinking of doing granny squares as they are easy, to crochet a blanket and because its mostly odd colours.

How old is Michelle? I think this book was written mostly for her daughters benefit as sort of an encouragement to them too.

Have you read any other First Lady books Koren and how do they compare? The only other First Lady I've read a lot of books on is Jackie Kennedy but she never wrote her own memoir.

Selina wrote: "I have a lot of wool my aunty gave me but haven't started any yet. I'm thinking of doing granny squares as they are easy, to crochet a blanket and because its mostly odd colours.

How old is Miche..."

I thought in the book she said she had just turned 50. I don't think I have any memoirs or autobios of first ladies but I have read lots of biographies. My favorite is Eleanor Roosevelt. She did a lot of good for a lot of people.

Finished the book. I thought it was pretty boring and basically powered through it (skimmed). I liked when she talked about what she had been doing since her husband has been out of politics but a lot of it seemed to be a repeat of the first book.

I did review it on the other thread, so will just copy and paste here if you didn't see it.

Yes I thought it was not much and probably written too soon after her first memoir as she didn't have that much new to write about.

To me she seems like to want to come across as an 'everywoman' like a regular person who had struggles too. But that does make her seem a bit boring, and very straitlaced. Her husband seems a bit more spontaneous and freewheeling. I think they had a good partnership, oh and both being lawyers helped.

I'm a bit bored of lawyer types though. It's a common trope that they make a lot of money through it and they work their butts off initially doing 'billable hours'. I guess someone has to explain crazy laws/legalese to people and how to get their way round them!

What bio of Eleanor Roosevelt do you recommend? I don't really know much about her, or her husband. Was FDR the President during the depression years? He seems well loved by the American public too.

My review....

I may dig up my other ones on her first two books too and post them here. I liked her first two books as I felt I got to know her. I think she comes across as strongminded to people (successful lawyer type) and that can put certain people off because they expect First Lady/President wives to not have opinions or always defer to their husbands. But it seems to me she and Obama were more equals which is kind of nice they shared the same vision.

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I will say it wasn't as good as Becoming and tends to swerve into more self-help genre and geared towards BIPOC (black, indigenous people of color?) females making their way in the world like herself but that aside, it was an easy enough read.

I wanted to know a bit more of what she ended up doing after her White House term but it seems not much except writing her memoirs, going on book tours and knitting. Malia and Sasha both moved to the west coast to attend varsity otherwise its more of a pep talk and an admission that she gets nervous making speeches too.

Michelle wasn't really concerned with foreign policy during her time at the White House and so those things are not in this book at all. I do think they tried to do as much as they could for Black African Americans by just being visible, but she seems to not be aware that if you appeal to just the minority which technically they are it won't be enough votes from the majority who don't share or have no idea about her point of view. The gap between the haves and have nots (in most countries) is a huge chasm.

It is sad that she was made to feel like she didn't belong in her own country she was born in, but thats a legacy she needs to live with and what many people encounter everyday. The thing is, to get ahead, gaining a higher education and obtaining a legal degree is not for everyone. There's probably more pressing issues and studying hard and making the grade to get into Harvard or Princeton may not be the only way to make a difference. Its possible yes because she did it herself, but you face even more challenges in that arena when people still don't accept thats what you can do.

There was a doco on Netflix about Michelle and her book Becoming. I think she was touched by how her book made an impact on readers, esp on book tours. It's come out in young readers editions too.

Have you seen it Koren, or read any other bios about Michelle. I haven't read any bios about her, since she's been pretty transparent about her own life already in her memoirs. There's not much dirt to dish and she doesn't really need a publicist.

Selina wrote: "There was a doco on Netflix about Michelle and her book Becoming. I think she was touched by how her book made an impact on readers, esp on book tours. It's come out in young readers editions too. ..."

No, Becoming is the only one I've read. I admire her for wanting to do something to help people, especially children. The wives of the presidents don't get paid for what they do, and as Michelle stated in the book, they really are expected to do a lot. Michelle was in the public eye a lot. Her two successors seem to keep a low profile.

Selina wrote: "What bio of Eleanor Roosevelt do you recommend? I don't really know much about her, or her husband. Was FDR the President during the depression years? He seems well loved by the American public too."

There are many bios on Franklin and Eleanor. I think one of the best is No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Doris is one of the best historians.

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "What bio of Eleanor Roosevelt do you recommend? I don't really know much about her, or her husband. Was FDR the President during the depression years? He seems well loved by the Amer..."

May check it out. I hear a lot about 'Founding Fathers' of the US, but nobody really talks about the 'Mothers of the Nation' just wondered why this was so, or is it just the US is mostly a patriarchical society.

Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "What bio of Eleanor Roosevelt do you recommend? I don't really know much about her, or her husband. Was FDR the President during the depression years? He seems well lov..."

Actually, there are many bios on first ladies.

I found it interesting to contrast Michelle's time in the White House with another First Lady who I read the most bios on, Jacqueline Kennedy.

Jackie was a younger mother but she entrusted a lot of care of her children to nannies. They were homeschooled.
Michelle had teen girls but asked her mother to come live with them as support.

Jackie took on a big renovation project for the White House and made it into an elegant home and was very interested in history. She also made a rose garden.

Michelle had a vege garden put in the White House lawn.

Jackie gave up her job as roving reporter when she married JFK

Michelle gave up her job as practising lawyer.

Both didn't like the security that always had to follow them or being on show but they stepped up. They both presented well and were usually by their husbands side in public, and made speeches etc.

I think it is interesting to note that the role of First Lady is not a paid job. And yet they are expected to do many things, including entertaining and having an agenda like Michelle's healthy eating for children campaign, which she took a lot of criticism for. I think it was either Rosalyn Carter or Hilary Clinton that tried to get it to be a paid job.

Koren wrote: "I think it is interesting to note that the role of First Lady is not a paid job. And yet they are expected to do many things, including entertaining and having an agenda like Michelle's healthy eat..."

Is the role of President a paid job? I don't really know.
I thought Michelle's healthy eating campaign was her own initiative and not something that she was required to do. I think entertaining would have been a White House tradition that first ladies would have had the most say in, but if they didn't want to do it, there would have been staff that would have carried on with it regardless.

I don't read books by politicians of any ilk, but I saw my late aunt's memorial service via Zoom, and in the eulogy my cousin gave, one of her favourite newer books (she was into Canadian history and politics for reading) was Becoming

Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "I think it is interesting to note that the role of First Lady is not a paid job. And yet they are expected to do many things, including entertaining and having an agenda like Michelle..."

The American president is definitely a paid job. They get paid 400,000$ a year. I don't think the first lady is required to have an agenda or do the entertaining, I think it is just more of a tradition.

I learned a lot about the 'behind the scenes' at the White House from this book:

Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies

Koren wrote: "Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "I think it is interesting to note that the role of First Lady is not a paid job. And yet they are expected to do many things, including entertaining and having an agend..."

hmm ok. I quite liked this one My First Ladies: Twenty-Five Years As the White House Chief Floral Designer

There's also The Butler: A Witness to History

This one I found most interesting was the memoir of one of the secret service agents to Jackie Kennedy. I'm trying to recall the title of that one.

It was this one Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir by Clint Hill