Oprah Winfrey has chosen former First Lady Michelle Obama's memoir Becoming (Crown), which was released yesterday, as the latest Oprah's Book Club Pick. "She just opens up herself; it's so vulnerable," Winfrey said. "It is Michelle Obama's personal story, of course, but I believe it's going to spark within you the desire to think about your own becoming."
Winfrey told the Associated Press that the book "is everything you wanted to know and so much you didn't even know you wanted to know.... It's so well-written I can hear her voice; I can hear her expressions; I can feel her emotion. What she allows us to see is how she was able to discover, define and then refine her voice."
"Thank you, Oprah!" Obama tweeted: "I've been so grateful for your friendship and advice for so long. And now I'm honored to join your amazing book club! #IAmBecoming."
Noting that Becoming "is Winfrey's first pick by an author from the political world since she started her club in 1996," the AP wrote that Winfrey, "publishing's most established hit maker, knows the Obamas well, to the point where Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres once teased each other over who was closer to her. Winfrey was a prominent backer of Barack Obama's candidacy in 2008 and has interviewed both Obamas over the years."
On Thursday, November 15, OWN will feature a prime-time special, Oprah Winfrey Presents: Becoming Michelle Obama, and an extended unedited version will be available on Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations podcast starting the same day, with part two following on November 19. In addition, the full interview will be streamed on Oprah's Facebook page November 18.