USA TODAY Book Club: Michelle Obama's 'The Light We Carry' is the pep talk we need to end 2022
To call these times "uncertain" is an understatement. But there's nobody we'd rather get a pep talk from to help us through it than former first lady Michelle Obama.
Her latest book, "The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times" (Crown, 336 pp., out now), is just that pep talk, a sort of self-help guide in which Obama offers hard-won wisdom about big life topics, the processes "of finding strength and light within yourself," building "relationships with others and our notions of home" and "how we may better own, protect and strengthen our light, especially during challenging times," she writes.
Though Obama makes it clear she still struggles with plenty of self-doubt and doesn't have all the answers, she provides a pretty thorough road map to living a fuller, kinder, better life – something we could all use after a grueling few years of pandemic and political unrest. That is why we'll be discussing the book for our USA TODAY Book Club on Thursday, with reporter Hannah Yasharoff and special guests to be announced.
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Obama spent a hefty portion of her eight years in the White House weighing how the public would perceive her. As the first Black first lady, Obama knew her every move, word and fashion choice would be fodder for negative, hateful comments. Obama credits her ability to overcome hateful comments to her upbringing and the mantra that her parents instilled in her: She was enough just as she was.
"That helped me create a protective layer around my life," Obama reflected with a sold-out crowd in Washington, D.C., in mid-November, kicking off her book tour with moderator Ellen DeGeneres. "I understood that I and I alone could protect my light. I had to protect it with how I reacted to what people said to me. I had to practice that time and again and tell myself, 'this is where empathy comes in.' Empathy is an important tool, especially in the White House. I had to ask myself, 'for the people throwing the arrows, what is going on in your world? Because this isn't about me – you clearly don't even know me.' "
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"The Light We Carry" debuted at No. 1 on the USA TODAY Best-Selling Books list after its release. It's not the first time Obama has debuted at the top spot on the list. Her first book, the memoir "Becoming," debuted at No. 1 in 2018 and stayed there for six consecutive weeks. "Becoming," which sold more than 17 million editions, would go on to become USA TODAY's bestselling book of 2018. It remained on the list for more than two years, returning to the No. 1 spot when the paperback edition was released the following year.
Contributing: Hannah Yasharoff and Mary Cadden, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: USA TODAY Book Club's Dec. pick: Michelle Obama's 'The Light We Carry'
