Sunday Surprise: Bookish Marilyn Monroe

Did you know that the actress owned over 400 books?

I’ve always felt as though Marilyn Monroe’s image was unfairly portrayed — it’s one reason why she makes a cameo in both of my novels as smart, fearless and inspiring.

When I was researching my issue on “Why Celebrities Don’t Promote More Books,” I came across these amazing photographs of Monroe and her bookshelves, even pictures of her reading her favorite books; most of her collection was auctioned off by Christie’s in 1999. Still, these images, while certainly voyeuristic (and still the male gaze!), prove what novelist Saul Bellows allegedly once said about Monroe. That her sparkling wit and intellect were never truly taken seriously.

So what was on the actress’s bookshelves? Here’s a full list — yes, somebody actually compiled every book she owned. She had lots of cookbooks. She loved E.E. Cummings, and she gifted the men in her life books of poetry. Some of the books we share in common: Hawaii by James Michener (loved this one!), On the Road by Jack Kerouac, The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerlad, and Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, among many others.

These photographs are the earliest incarnation of People mag’s popular column: Celebrities Are Just Like Us! They read!! Shocking!

Still, it’s almost insulting that male photographers (and LIFE magazine) thought it remarkable to show a beautiful woman reading. Were people surprised by the fact that she wasn’t a one-dimensional sex kitten?

Her interest in Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman is interesting. An excerpt of Whitman’s poem “Song of Myself”:

I Celebrate myself, and sing myself,

And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

So curious to hear what you think of these photographs: Offensive or inspiring? Leave a comment!