DubaiReader

I started this a while ago, but then I seemed to just grind to a halt. I didn't stop for any particular reason; the book group I was reading it for had passed and I suppose other things got in its way. So, now I've picked it up and completed it - I didn't want it to go the same way as her husband's book, Dreams From My Father, which also sits half-read on my shelf.

I'm not a follower of politics and this would never have been a book I would have chosen, but I'm glad I've read it. Actually, I listened to the author narrating herself, which added another dimension; I just wished I could have sped her up a bit.

I have a lot of respect for the Obamas, totally apart from US politics. I think they were motivated to do good and genuinely help people, a rare enough characteristic for politicians these days.
It was interesting to learn about Michelle's childhood; her piano lessons on a cronky old instrument and her family relationships. She was motivated to work hard throughout her life, but always put the greater good above her own ambitions. I can see how she would have found her soul-mate in Barak Obama.

The insider view of life in The White House was fascinating: the vegetable garden that Michelle instigated and then shared with local school children, the constant bodyguards who flanked her and her daughters wherever they went, and the sudden transition once she leaves, and suddenly finds herself with her own kitchen and no staff...silence.

This was a fascinating book and well deserving of the accolades it has received.