List Of Books That Marilyn Read Share | Options

[mmfa]

Hi,

Does anyone here have a list of around 400 books that Marilyn Monroe used to read? I used to see it in one of the website but i think it was no longer available anymore... pls do let me know, here or through messages, thanks in advance. (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[meztisa]

I don't know all 400 books, but I'll start the list:

How Stanislavsky Directs by Michael Gorchakov

[mmfa]

Thanks, Meztisa. Erm...anymore?

[Ileana]

Ulysses, by Joyce

[Tara]

There is a very long list in the Christies' auction catalogue. I will write up a few, more later.

1) Let's Make Love by Matthew Andrews (novelisation of the movie)
2) How To Travel Incognito by Ludwig Bemelmans
3) To The One I Love Best by Ludwig Bemelmans
4) Thurber Country by James Thurber
5) The Fall by Albert Camus
6) Marilyn Monroe by George Carpozi
7) Camille by Alexander Dumas
8) Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
9) The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt-Farmer
10) The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald
11) From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
12) The Art Of Loving by Erich Fromm
13) The Prophet by Kahlil Gilbran
14) Ulysses by James Joyce
15) Stoned Like A Statue: A Complete Survey Of Drinking Cliches, Primitive, Classical & Modern by Howard Kandel & Don Safran, with an intro by Dean Martin (a man who knew how to drink!)
16) The Last Temptation Of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
17) On The Road by Jack Kerouac
18) Selected Poems by DH Lawrence
19 and 20) Sons And Lovers by DH Lawrence (2 editions)
21) The Portable DH Lawrence
22) Etruscan Places (DH Lawrence?)
23) DH Lawrence: A Basic Study Of His Ideas by Mary Freeman
24) The Assistant by Bernard Malamud
25) The Magic Barrel by Bernard Malamud
26) Death In Venice & Seven Other Stories by Thomas Mann
27) Last Essays by Thomas Mann
28) The Thomas Mann Reader
29) Hawaii by James Michener
30) Red Roses For Me by Sean O'Casey
31) I Knock At The Door by Sean O'Casey
32) Selected Plays by Sean O'Casey
33) The Green Crow by Sean O'Casey
34) Golden Boy by Clifford Odets
35) Clash By Night by Clifford Odets
36) The Country Girl by Clifford Odets
37) 6 Plays Of Clifford Odets
38) The Cat With 2 Faces by Gordon Young

[mmfa]

Oh finally, my prayer has been answered! Thanks Tara, greatly appreciate your help and others too! (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/thumbup.gif) Hope i can have the full list, thanks alot.

[Tara]

You're welcome. I'm a big reader myself so this is fascinating to me. Some of them, like the Dean Martin book, have inscriptions to Marilyn inside. That Gordon Young book I just mentioned (The Cat With Two Faces) was a gift to Marilyn from playwright Clifford Odets. Another book had a piece of paper inside with doodlings by Marilyn. I love hearing about these personal touches.

I will try and write up more whenever I have time. Here are a few:

39) Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill
40) Part Of A Long Story: Eugene O'Neill As A Young Man In Love by Agnes Boulton
41) The Little Engine That Could by Piper Watty (with childish pencil scrawls at end, possibly MM's)
42) The New Joy Of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer & Marion Rombauer-Becker (with some cut recipes, page markers, a typed diet sheet and manuscript shopping list, apparently in MM's hand, laid in)
43) Selected Plays Of George Bernard Shaw
44) Ellen Terry And Bernard Shaw - A Correspondence
45) Bernard Shaw & Mrs Patrick Campbell - Their Correspondence
46) The Short Reigh Of Pippin IV by John Steinbeck
47) Once There Was A War by John Steinbeck
48) Set This House On Fire by William Styron
49) Lie Down In Darkness (William Styron?)
50) The Roman Spring Of Mrs Stone by Tennessee Williams
51) Camino Real by Tennessee Williams
52) A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (with notes by MM)
53) The Flower In Drama And Glamour by Stark Young (inscribed to MM by Lee Strasberg, Christmas 1955)

American Literature

54) Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
55) The Story Of A Novel by Thomas Wolfe
56) Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe
57) A Stone, A Leaf, A Door (Thomas Wolfe?)
58) Thomas Wolfe's Letters To His Mother, ed. John Skally Terry
59) A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway
60) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
61) Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
62) Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
63) Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
64) The American Claimant & Other Stories & Sketches by Mark Twain
65) In Defense of Harriet Shelley & Other Essays (Mark Twain?)
66) The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
67) Roughing It (Mark Twain?)
68) The Magic Christian by Terry Southern
69) A Death In The Family by James Agee
70) The War Lover by John Hersey
71) Don't Call Me By My Right Name & Other Stories by James Purdy
72) Malcolm by James Purdy

Anthologies

73) The Portable Irish Reader (pub. Viking)
74) The Portable Poe - Edgar Allen Poe
75) The Portable Walt Whitman
76) This Week's Short Stories (New York, 1953)
77) Bedside Book Of Famous Short Stories
78) Short Novels Of Colette
79) Short Story Masterpieces (New York, 1960)
80) The Passionate Playgoer by George Oppenheimer
81) Fancies And Goodnights by John Collier
82) Evergreen Review, Vol 2, No. 6
83) The Medal & Other Stories by Luigi Pirandello

This post has been edited by Tara: Nov 19 2006, 11:53 PM

[rose]

Thank you so much,Tara for your time and effort to write this list of books which MM red.I love to read myself,all my life,it has been one of my biggest passions.I have hundreds of books and sometimes my husband is in pain thinking where to put all those books and during moving (to another house) it was awful.But honestly,I could not live without reading and books.They really are (at least to me) much,much more important and interesting than television ever could be.

ps.There really is 3 different viruses messing in ES.Moving in ES is very,very difficult so I'm going to stay here only short time :( This is just awful!!

This post has been edited by rose: Nov 19 2006, 05:26 PM

[Guest_jennie2000_*]

Yes, thank you, Tara! I had a short list myself but was too lazy to write it down... So thanks! again, for the time and effort (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/thumbup1.gif)
Rose, yes, there is something going on, I posted about it in a different topic, let's hope it will be sorted out soon! (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/throb.gif)

[mmfa]

Tara, once again, i really thank you, from the bottom of my heart. (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/yes.gif) I really regretted not printing out a copy that time when i saw it on a website and when i return back later on, it was not longer available anymore and hence i could only ask around and crossing my finger and heart, someone can help me out on this because i know it is a very very long list. This time around i'm sure to keep an extra copy, just in case i lost it. (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/v.gif)

Do you have a scanner? Maybe you could scan it instead of having to type out one by one but still, i'm grateful for the list so far and your time and effort in putting it out, word by word, i'm sure others may also benefit from the list too.

And yes, i do greatly enjoy reading too. So i was really fascinated with what Marilyn's booklist was like and the books that she read. She wasn't just any blonde actress, she was one with a deep passion for books and knowledge. Heard that she had debts left behind to settle when she died, was some of the books that she brought...and i have been searching high and low to alot of website on Marilyn Monroe, but i never saw any section where it state of the books that she used to read...perhaps the information is not easily available as well as it is also one of a hectic work and only that one rare website which i stumbled upon had it. Nevertheless now since i had some, i will keep a lookout for the Dean Martin's book, hope it still inprint. (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Tara]

Honestly, I find it quicker to write down than make scans. My scanner is quite old so the quality isn't always great. Here are some more:

Art Books

84) Max Weber (art book - inscribed to MM by 'Sam' - Shaw?)
85) Renoir by Albert Skira
86) Max by Giovannetti Pericle
87) The Family Of Man by Carl Sandburg
88-90) Horizon, A Magazine Of The Arts (Nov 1959, Jan 1960, Mar 1960.)
91) Jean Dubuffet by Daniel Cordier

Biography

92) The Summing Up by W. Somerset Maugham
93) Close To Colette by Maurice Goudeket
94) This Demi-Paradise by Margaret Halsey
95) God Protect Me From My Friends by Gavin Maxwell
96) Minister Of Death: The Adolf Eichmann Story by Quentin Reynolds, Ephraim Katz and Zwy Aldouby
97) Dance To The Piper by Agnes DeMille
98) Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It by Mae West
99) Act One by Moss Hart

Christian Science

100) Science And Health With Key To The Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
101) Poems, Including Christ And Christmas by Mary Baker Eddy

Classical Works

102) 2 Plays: Peace And Lysistrata by Aristophanes
103) Of The Nature Of Things by Lucretius
104) The Philosophy Of Plato
105) Mythology by Edith Hamilton
106) Theory Of Poetry And Fine Art by Aristotle
107) Metaphysics by Aristotle
108-111) Plutarch's Lives, Vols 3-6 only (of 6) by William and John Langhorne

Counter-Culture

112) Bound For Glory by Woody Guthrie
113) The Support Of The Mysteries by Paul Breslow
114) Paris Blues by Harold Flender
115) The Shook-Up Generation by Harrison E. Salisbury

Foreign-Language Texts And Translations

116) An Mands Ansigt by Arthur Miller
117) Independent People by Halldor Laxness
118) Mujer by Lina Rolan (inscribed to MM by author)
119) The Havamal, ed. D.E. Martin Clarke
120) Yuan Mei: 18th Century Chinese Poet by Arthur Waley
121) Almanach: Das 73 Jahr by S. Fischer Verlag

French Literature

122) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
123) The Works Of Rabelais
124) The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust
125) Cities Of The Plain by Marcel Proust
126) Within A Budding Grove by Marcel Proust
127) The Sweet Cheat Gone by Marcel Proust
128) The Captive by Marcel Proust
129) Nana by Emile Zola
130) Plays by Moliere

This post has been edited by Tara: Nov 19 2006, 08:23 PM

[Tara]

Freud

131) The Life And Work of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones
132) Letters Of Sigmund Freud, ed. Ernest L. Freud
133) Glory Reflected by Martin Freud
134) Moses And Monotheism by Sigmund Freud
135) Conditioned Reflex Therapy by Andrew Salter

Gardening & Pets

136-137) The Wise Garden Encyclopedia, ed. E.L.D. Seymour (2 editions)
138) Landscaping Your Own Home by Alice Dustan
139) Outpost Nurseries - publicity brochure
140) The Forest And The Sea by Marston Bates
141) Pet Turtles by Julien Bronson
142) A Book About Bees by Edwin Way Teale
143) Codfish, Cats & Civilisation by Gary Webster

Humour

144) How To Do It, Or, The Art Of Lively Entertaining by Elsa Maxwell
145) Wake Up, Stupid by Mark Harris
146) Merry Christmas, Happy New Year by Phyllis McGinley
147) The Hero Maker by Akbar Del Piombo & Norman Rubington
148) How To Talk At Gin by Ernie Kovacs
149) VIP Tosses A Party, by Virgil Partch
150) Who Blowed Up The House & Other Ozark Folk Tales, ed. Randolph Vance
151) Snobs by Russell Lynes

Judaism

152) The Form of Daily Prayers
153) Sephath Emeth (Speech Of Truth): Order Of Prayers For The Wholes Year In Jewish and English
154) The Holy Scriptures According To The Masoretic Text (inscribed to MM by Paula Strasberg, July 1, 1956)

[suusmarie]

Great job Tara (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif) !

[Tara]

Literature

155) The Law by Roger Vailland
156) The Building by Peter Martin
157) The Mermaids by Boros
158) They Came To Cordura by Glendon Swarthout
159) The 7th Cross by Anna Seghers
160) A European Education by Romain Gary
161) Strike For A Kingdom by Menna Gallie
162) The Slide Area by Gavin Lambert
163) The Woman Who Was Poor by Leon Bloy
164) Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson
165) The Contenders by John Wain
166) The Best Of All Worlds, Or, What Voltaire Never Knew by Hans Jorgen Lembourn (is this the same guy who later wrote '40 Days With Marilyn'?)
167) The Story Of Esther Costello by Nicholas Montsarrat
168) Oh Careless Love by Maurice Zolotow (MM biographer)
169) Add A Dash Of Pity by Peter Ustinov
170) An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser (filmed as A Place In The Sun - MM admired Elizabeth Taylor's performance)
171) The Mark Of The Warrior by Paul Scott
172) The Dancing Bear by Edzard Schaper
173) Miracle In The Rain by Ben Hecht (co-author of MM's autobiography)
174) The Guide by R.K. Narayan
175) Blow Up A Storm by Garson Kanin (later wrote screenplay 'Moviola', featurning an MM-based character)
176) Jonathan by Russell O'Neill
177) Fowlers End by Gerald Kersh
178) Hurricane Season by Ralph Winnett
179) The un-Americans by Alvah Bessie (later wrote The Symbol, a novel loosely based on MM's life)
180) The Devil's Advocate by Morris L. West
181) On Such A Night by Anthony Quayle
182) Say You Never Saw Me by Arthur Nesbitt

This post has been edited by Tara: Nov 20 2006, 11:46 AM

[ellen]

(IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif) thanks tara

tara as a pro (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/thumbup1.gif) which would you recommend please ? (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

This post has been edited by ellen: Nov 20 2006, 11:47 AM

[mmfa]

Tara (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/worshippy.gif) I thought having a scanner would probably lessen your work but since you are coping well with the typing, keep it up! (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/thumbup1.gif)

[Paju]

Tara, thank you so much for this list! (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif)
Do you mind if I put that list on my website? I think people might be interested in it (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/smile1.gif)

[Tara]

Tara, thank you so much for this list! (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif)
Do you mind if I put that list on my website? I think people might be interested in it (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/smile1.gif)

Please do Paju, that's a great idea!

(IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/clapping.gif) thanks tara

tara as a pro (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/thumbup1.gif) which would you recommend please ? (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

Great idea Ellen - when I've finished writing them all up, I'll make a list of my 'picks'! (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[ellen]

yaaaay!!!! thanks tara (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/marilynbybrandon_190.gif) will that list be here or on a new topic? (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

[Tara]

Literature, Ctd.

183) All The Naked Heroes by Alan Kapener
184) Jeremy Todd by Hamilton Maule
185) Miss America by Daniel Stren
186) Fever In The Blood by William Pearson
187) Spartacus by Howard Fast
188) Venetian Red by L.M. Pasinetti
189) A Cup Of Tea For Mr Thorgill by Storm Jameson
190) Six O'Clock Casual by Henry W. Cune
191) Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong (the movie 'Don't Bother To Knock' was based on this novel)
192) The Gingko Tree by Sheelagh Burns
193) The Mountain Road by Theodore H. White
194) Three Circles Of Light by Pietro Di Donato
195) The Day The Money Stopped by Brendan Gill
196) The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins (Hollywood-set bestseller, featuring a Jean Harlow-based character, Rina Marlowe. Marilyn's secretary, Margerie Stengel, recalls that Marilyn was reading a Robbins novel in her New York apartment in 1961.)
197-198) Justine by Lawrence Durrell (2 editions, possibly read during filming of The Misfits)
199) Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell
200) Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
201) The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
202) The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett
203) Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Dog by Dylan Thomas (Marilyn met Thomas in Shelley Winters' apartment circa 1951)
204) Hear Us O Lord From Heaven Thy Dwelling Place, by Malcolm Lowry

Modern Library

205) The Sound And The Fury/As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
206) God's Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell
207) Anna Christie/The Emperor Jones/The Hairy Ape by Eugene O'Neill (Marilyn played Anna in a scene performed at the Actor's Studio in 1956)
208) The Philosophy Of Schopenhauer by Irwin Edman
209) The Philosophy Of Spinoza by Joseph Ratner
210) The Dubliners by James Joyce
211) Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson
212) The Collected Short Stories by Dorothy Parker (Friend of Marilyn's, lived nearby her Doheny Drive apartment in 1961)
213) Selected Works by Alexander Pope
214) The Red And The Black by Stendhal
215) The Life Of Michelangelo by John Addington
216) Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham (Niagara director Henry Hathaway wanted to film this with MM and James Dean. It was eventually made with Kim Novak and Laurence Harvey.)
217) Three Famous French Romances (W. Somerset Maugham?)
218) Napoleon by Emil Ludwig
219) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (a second copy?)
220) The Poems And Fairy-Tales by Oscar Wilde
221) Alice's Adventures In Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass/The Hunting Of The Snark, by Lewis Carroll
222) A High Wind In Jamaica by Richard Hughes
223) An Anthology Of American Negro Literature, ed. Sylvestre C. Watkins

yaaaay!!!! thanks tara (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/marilynbybrandon_190.gif) will that list be here or on a new topic? (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

I'll probably write it here Ellen (IMG:http://www.everlasting-star.net/boards/style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)