Welcome to Litsy!

I love Michelle, but this wasn't that great for me. #roll100 @PuddleJumper

🍁 Michelle Obama's The Light We Carry (tagged)
🍁 🍁 A couple of years I think.
🍁 🍁 🍁 My daughter. Having her, and giving her the childhood, and relationship with her mom that I didn't have.

@Eggs
#WonderousWednesday

ATLWC feels like it leans into self help.
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Organized most of my nonfiction as BeReal popped off. This is where the truly insightful Becoming lives on my bookshelf.

Listening to Michelle Obama talk about how she worked out issues in her life was like talking to your wise friend about things. What was interesting to me though is that, while I always viewed her as calm, cool, and collected, being that way is apparently a real struggle for her. I started Death Comes to Marlow as my new #audiowalk book.

I‘d hoped to finish this today, but that didn‘t happen; I‘ve got less than 2 hours left though, so it should be soon. We were able to get to the beach today, which was nice. It did rain a little while we were there but then stopped and didn‘t start up again until we were almost home. #audiowalk

It was supposed to rain all day, but it didn‘t so I got to get out of the house. Yay! Michelle Obama‘s discussion of loneliness is interesting. I knew it became a problem during COVID lockdowns, but I hadn‘t realized it was increasingly becoming an issue well before COVID. #audiowalk

Michelle Obama‘s discussion of the fearful mind and how it can hold us back and hurt us really resonated with me. I see the results of allowing the fearful mind to prevail every single day. The streets are filled with leaves from last night‘s storm; then, almost as soon as I got home from my walk today, the storms started again. #audiowalk

Is it a pick? Yes, of course. Nothing really new per say to be gleaned from this optimistic lil pick me up of a book but hope is always a lovely thing, especially these days.

Soft pick for me. I think it's great advice for someone in their 30s. However, as a 51-year old, I've already learned it for myself through experience! 😉

One part that will stay with me is greeting people with gladness. She quotes a statistic of a 20% increase in academic performance in the classroom when a teacher welcomes each child individually in the morning.

📷 from Allure

Read for our faculty book club. I may have appreciated it more if I didn't try to read it during my grading crunch.

There are so many gold nuggets peppered throughout this one. A deep dive on things touched on in her book “Becoming” to find the things that matter and understand why they matter, especially with the perspective of the pandemic 😷 clear front and center. A terrific read!

Fabulous!!!

1) My husband and I are following Ted Lasso and Mrs. Davis - both have a bunch of plot threads out that we're waiting to see how they get pulled together!

2) Long Beach Island, NJ - a 30 year family tradition of reading on the beach.

3) It's sold as Telestrations, but my friend group calls it Flair, after someone said "I may have rendered this with more flair than is strictly necessary" while playing it.

#WondrousWednesday @Eggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One of my favorite books is Becoming, so I was very excited about TLWC. Obama's writing and story are easy to relate to, for even though there are differences between us, she is so good at connecting to what makes us all human - our flaws, struggles, hopes, and potential.
Some sections were less relevant to me (ex: the one on raising children), but others truly struck a chord. Will definitely return to portions of this over time!

"When someone chooses to lift the curtain on a perceived imperfection in her story, on a circumstance or condition that traditionally might be considered to be a weakness, what she's often actually revealing is the source code for her steadiness and strength." (p. 227)

🌟Final thoughts from The Light We Carry

There were several statistics shared about how skewed the representation is in memorials to old white men. The mermaid stat really stood out to me though.

Such a breath of fresh air. Perseverance strategies presented through memoir-type writing, but generalized just enough to inspire and provoke thought. If you‘re going through a rough patch, highly recommend this audiobook, read by the author, to remind you of why progress will triumph.

"In trying to spare yourself the worry and discomfort of taking a risk, you're potentially costing yourself an opportunity. In clinging only to what you know, you are making your world small. You are robbing yourself of chances to grow." (p.59)
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Picked this from my shelves because it tied into my previous read, but boy, did it turn out to be timely. Almost painfully so.

The light We Carry by Michelle Obama is another inspiring book by an inspiring woman. Filled with personal stories about her childhood and family, growing up,
relationships, her kids... The truly honest, interesting, and inspiring behind the scenes details. From light hearted amusing anecdotes to important current topics on race, diversity, and more. From seeing and acknowledging and understanding a level of depression (cont in comments)...

Closing out a day where I finished many of my partly started books, I‘m glad I knew in advance that this was part memoir, part self-help/inspirational. I originally expected more of Becoming, and while there was that, there was also a look into how she (and others around her) deal with adversity, diversity, and being “other” or unique in the world or where you live. Overall, a solid, thought-provoking book.

Very well written, but ultimately not for me. I‘ve never been a fan of self-help books, and this is very much written in that vein.

Part self help, part memoir, but in true Michelle Obama fashion, all parts classically beautiful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sunday afternoon with Michelle Obama and Maximillian 🐶

Logging some reading time on a Sunday afternoon.

When you get a surprise gift card, then the answer is “OF COURSE” 💸

When asked to describe the book, former First Lady Michelle Obama said it was not a self help book. But it is. Not a good one either. It won‘t tell you anything you don‘t already know much like most self help books. ‘Do not let fear stop you, choose your partner well, surround yourself with good friends, how to raise good kids, go high when they go low‘ ..

Perhaps because Michelle is such a public figure, I could hear her voice as I read her words on the page. I have always admired her so found this an enjoyable read.

This was on the #TimeMagazineTop100ReadsOf2022 and to be honest I came to this book not with a jaundice perception but with caution. Often those books touted to be uplifting or helpful always manage for me at least to be none of those things. This read though was all of that and more. She approached these topics with grace and kindness and at several points during the read it was thinking "she totally understands where I am."

A self book at best, which she insisted it is not… this is nothing like Becoming and doesn‘t feel like her. Not sure I‘ll finish it

I love talking books with any and everyone who will listen but I‘m especially excited when my momma reads and shows her excitement too! She‘s reading The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama and I can‘t wait to hear her thoughts. Happy reading ma!
#mymommareadstoo #thelightwecarry #michelleobama

It‘s so hard not to compare this book to Becoming, but I think it‘s important not to. Becoming was simply one of the best books I‘ve read. This is not on that level for me, but it is still a great book! Michelle Obama offers thoughtful advice on how to persevere and “go high” in hard times. I hope she keeps writing books, she always has great things to say.

Michelle inspires me to do better and be better.

Trying to deep clean my kitchen while I finished this. I don‘t have to be inspired to just save the world, right? MO is truly lovely and so is her book

January 8, 2023 Voíla! I finished the book. The book was a good pacing book and very interesting. It talks a lot about Michelle Obama, Barack Obama, her friends that she made in life, people who she cares for and vice versa, and how she fought as an African American to be seen because she was the first black female First Lady of the White House. Thus she had to adapt to the environment and make sure she was doing what she needed to do.

This was the second book I finished this year, and the first that I locked into a #52bookclub prompt (I often wait to shift things around). I'm a pretty stingy rater, so just know that four stars means a pretty great read! I listened to this on audio -- I find Michelle Obama's voice comforting, and considering this book read like a pep talk (not just a memoir), I think that's appropriate!

First book of 2023💕 #MichelleObama

January 7, 2023 Another chapter that is quite relatable to me is the chapter titled, "Partnering Well". In this chapter, Michelle speaks to the relationship with her husband, Barack Obama, and how she was able to keep her relationship with him despite the differences they had between them. They have been together for thirty years. What she emphasizes about relationships and life partners is how the mate should be honest and have values. Agree 100%

Celebrating Epiphany by taking the light away 🤣 now to get all the tubs up in the attic so I can start finding all decorations I have overlooked 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

January 5, 2023 Another quote that Michelle Obama says that I hear a lot in my own mind AND that her father mentioned is: "How you view yourself becomes everything. It's your foundation, the starting point for changing the worlf around you" {page 109}

January 5, 2023 I am on page 98; almost halfway through the book. I am on Chapter 4 specifically and it is titled, "Am I Seen?" I feel that this title relates to the present because believe it or not, racism still exists. Even though Dr. Martin Luther Ming Jr. fought for freedom and equality among ALL people, people still think it is okay to make fun of someone else or put someone else down based on WHO they are. Imagine a world free of hate...

I really enjoyed Michelle's first book and I liked this one just as much. I listened to the audiobook and I was glad I did because Michelle narrates it and I love getting to hear a memoir author's voice read their own words the way they meant for them to be heard / read.

The book is filled with insight, inspiring thoughts and memories from Michelle's life and is a thoroughly enjoyable, well-written read.

January 3, 2023 Yup. I am already on page 17 and I am "moved" by the way Michelle Obama writes. When reading, at least for me, I feel as if I am listening to her speak. The way she writes is exactly the way she speaks. She is a storyteller. This quote is the essence of the book: "I've learned it's okay to recognize that self-worth comes wrapped in vulnerabilty... This is the power of the light we carry" {pages 17-18}

January 3, 2023 You guyyssss !!! I am obsessed with the covers of these two books. My new year goal for reading is to read one nonfiction and fiction book. SO for the month of January, my tbr picks are The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama (aka queen 👸🏽) and The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager. If you have reas either of these books, no spoilers please, as I am a fan of suspense. Eeek okay hardbound books are so stunning... especially these

I haven‘t noticed this posted here. Apologies if it‘s been shared widely and I‘m spamming you! But notice his first book listed 🥰 I‘ve read 6 on his list with 4 others on my tbr.

My first completed audiobook in 2023 and it‘s a great way to start the new year. Michelle Obama is a class act and this book is a conversation with her. She gives advice on parenting, forming relationships — both friendships and romantic, and much more. She focuses on “going high” what she‘s know for, which is a way to take on the world, even in darkest times. I listened and read along but the audio is without a doubt the way to go.

I needed this. I am not a “self-help” person AT ALL but this didn‘t feel like that to me. It felt like my wiser, calmer, kinder, older sister was guiding me out of the mess in my own head and into her loving embrace. These past few years have been HARD and this was such a soothing way to kick off 2023.

Happy New Year!

Such a positive outlook on though the work is hard, show up and support others. It‘s a self help type book with wonderful anecdotes about the Obama marriage, parenting, families, work. She‘s open with struggles and is vulnerable with her worries which adds to her credibility and reliability. Parts were written for the youth and others for parents of older children. I‘d invite her to my next happy hour with my friends-she‘d fit right in😁

Enjoyed this! I especially liked the theme of accepting the inevitability of uncertainty - I for one can benefit from being reminded to do that again and again. I didn't know much about this one going into it, so I was expecting neither memoir nor self-help and felt perfectly satisfied. I also liked how she featured others' stories, not just her own (the Amanda Gorman section was a standout for me). A positive, uplifting end-of-year read. ❤️