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Complete List of Books Marilyn Monroe Read

Table of Contents

Inside Marilyn’s Personal Library

This list comprises books from Marilyn Monroe’s private library. She was an avid reader and deeply enthusiastic about books.

Most of the works listed here were published in the auction catalogue The Personal Property of Marilyn Monroe (Christie’s, 1999). In addition, about thirty books are known to have been read by Monroe through Randall & Riese’s The Unabridged Marilyn and from various published and anecdotal sources.

I have sorted the books she read into various categories.

Credits for this list goes out to The Marilyn Report and Tara Hanks, providing us with the complete Marilyn Monroe reading list! 

@cinemawurlds Looks like Marilyn has her priorities straight! 😂 📻: Rare Audio Interview with Marilyn Monroe from 1955. #MarilynMonroe #goldenage #goldenageofhollywood #interview #50s #celebrity #marilynmonroefans ♬ original sound - cinemawurlds
“I was never told what to read, and nobody ever gave me anything to read. You know the way there are certain books that everybody reads while they’re growing up?
So what I do is nights when I’ve got nothing else to do I go to the Pickwick bookstore on Hollywood Boulevard.
And I just open books at random or when I come to a page or a paragraph I like, I buy that book. So last night I bought this one. Is that wrong?”

Marylin Monroe

Classics

  1. God’s Little Acre by Erskine Caldwell
  2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
  3. Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson
  4. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  5. The House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  7. The Red and the Black by Stendhal
  8. Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust
  9. The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust
  10. Cities of the Plain by Marcel Proust
  11. Within A Budding Grove by Marcel Proust
  12. The Sweet Cheat Gone by Marcel Proust
  13. The Captive by Marcel Proust
  14. Nana by Emile Zola
  15. The Works of Rabelais
  16. The Sound and the Fury / As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
  17. Anna Christie / The Emperor Jones / The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill
  18. The Dubliners by James Joyce
  19. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
  20. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass / The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll
  21. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Poetry & Poem Collections

  1. A Shropshire Lad by A.E. Houseman
  2. Poet In New York by Federico Garcia Lorca
  3. Poems by John Tagliabue
  4. The Poetry & Prose Of Heinrich Heine by Frederich Ewen
  5. The Poems, Prose & Plays Of Alexander Pushkin
  6. Poems Of Robert Burns by Henry Meikle & William Beattie
  7. The Penguin Book Of English Verse, ed. John Hayward
  8. The Pocketbook Of Modern Verse by Oscar Williams
  9. The Portable Blake by William Blake
  10. The Portable Dorothy Parker
  11. Poetry: A Magazine Of Verse, Vol. 70, no. 6
  12. The Poetical Works Of Robert Browning (H.C. Beeching?)
  13. The Poetical Works Of Shelley (Richard Wilbur?)
  14. The Poetical works Of John Milton by H.C. Beeching
  15. The Poems and Fairy-Tales by Oscar Wilde
  16. The Sweeniad by Myra Buttle
  17. The Life And Times Of Archy And Mehitabel by Don Marquis
  18. Poetry by e.e. cummings
  19. Poems Of W.B. Yeats
  20. Collected Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay (2 editions)
  21. Robert Frost’s Poems by Louis Untermeyer
  22. Poe: Complete Poems by Richard Wilbur (a 2nd copy?)
  23. The American Puritans: Their Prose & Poetry by Perry Miller
  24. Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson
  25. Selected Poems by Rafael Alberti
  26. Selected Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke
  27. Selected Poetry by Robinson Jeffers
  28. Songs For Patricia by Norman Rosten
  29. Star Crossed by Margaret Tilden
  30. The Vapor Trail by Ivan Lawrence Becker (inscribed to Arthur Miller by the author, there is also a note to MM)
  31. Leaves Of Grass by Walt Whitman
  32. Yuan Mei: 18th Century Chinese Poet by Arthur Waley
  33. Wordsworth by Richard Wilbur
  34. Aragon: Poet Of The French Resistance by Hannah Josephson & Malcolm Cowley

Not sponsored. You can find links to all of the books on my Amazon Storefront. This may be helpful if you were already considering reading them. If you make a purchase, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you, which helps me continue creating content.

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Memoirs & Biographies

  1. Act One by Moss Hart
  2. An Mands Ansigt by Arthur Miller
  3. The Autobiography of Lincoln Steffens
  4. Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie
  5. Close to Colette by Maurice Goudeket
  6. The Biography of Eleanora Duse by William Weaver
  7. God Protect Me from My Friends by Gavin Maxwell
  8. Gertrude Lawrence as Mrs. A by Richard Aldrich
  9. Goodnight Sweet Prince by Gene Fowler
  10. Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It by Mae West
  11. His Brother’s Keeper by Milton Gross
  12. I Married Adventure by Osa Johnson
  13. The Life of Michelangelo by John Addington
  14. Memories of a Catholic Girlhood by Mary McCarthy
  15. Minister of Death: The Adolf Eichmann Story by Quentin Reynolds, Ephraim Katz, and Zwy Aldouby
  16. Napoleon by Emil Ludwig
  17. Oh Careless Love by Maurice Zolotow
  18. Plutarch’s Lives, Vols 3-6 by William and John Langhorne (only volumes 3–6)
  19. The Summing Up by W. Somerset Maugham
  20. This Demi-Paradise by Margaret Halsey
  21. Troubled Women by Lucy Freeman
  22. Carl Sandburg’s 12-Volume Biography of Abraham Lincoln

Social Commentary

  1. Rededication to Freedom by Benjamin Ginzburg (2 copies)
  2. Snobs by Russell Lynes
  3. The Hero Maker by Akbar Del Piombo & Norman Rubington
  4. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year by Phyllis McGinley
  5. Wake Up, Stupid by Mark Harris
  6. VIP Tosses A Party by Virgil Partch
  7. A View of the Nation – An Anthology: 1955-1959 ed. Henry Christian

Historical

  1. A Piece of My Mind by Edmund Wilson
  2. A Socialist’s Faith by Norman Thomas
  3. American Rights: The Constitution in Action by Walter Gellhorn
  4. America the Invincible by Emmet John Hughes
  5. Background & Foreground – The New York Times Magazine: An Anthology ed. Lester Markel
  6. Commonwealth vs Sacco & Vanzetti by Robert P. Weeks
  7. Das Kapital by Karl Marx
  8. De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius
  9. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
  10. Dr. Newman, M.D. by Leo Rosten
  11. Greek Mythology by Edith Hamilton
  12. Lidice by Eleanor Wheeler
  13. The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion Starkey
  14. The Hero Maker by Akbar Del Piombo & Norman Rubington
  15. The Jury is Still Out by Irwin Davidson and Richard Gehman
  16. The Right of the People by William Douglas
  17. The Roots of American Communism by Theodore Draper
  18. The Study of History by Arnold Toynbee
  19. The Truth About the Munich Crisis by Viscount Maugham
  20. The Unfinished Country by Max Lerner
  21. The World Underworld by Andrew Varna
  22. The Alienation of Modern Man by Fritz Pappenheim
  23. The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion Starkey
  24. Red Mirage by John O’Kearney
  25. Report from Palermo by Danilo Dolci
  26. Spartacus by Howard Fast
  27. The Jury is Still Out by Irwin Davidson and Richard Gehman
  28. Lust for Life by Irving Stone
  29. Mythology by Edith Hamilton
  30. The Truth About the Munich Crisis by Viscount Maugham

Politics

  1. Add A Dash Of Pity by Peter Ustinov
  2. The Building by Peter Martin
  3. The Law by Roger Vailland
  4. The Mermaids by Boros
  5. The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine
  6. The Shook-Up Generation by Harrison E. Salisbury
  7. They Came to Cordura by Glendon Swarthout

Science

  1. Our Knowledge of the External World by Bertrand Russell
  2. Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare by Bertrand Russell
  3. Out of My Later Years by Albert Einstein
  4. Men and Atoms by William Laurence
  5. Of Stars and Men by Harlow Shapley
  6. From Hiroshima to the Moon by Daniel Lang
  7. The Open Mind by J. Robert Oppenheimer

Biology & Related Topics

  1. The Forest and the Sea by Marston Bates
  2. Pet Turtles by Julien Bronson
  3. A Book About Bees by Edwin Way Teale
  4. Codfish, Cats & Civilization by Gary Webster

Gardeaning and Home 

  1. The Wise Garden Encyclopedia (ed. E.L.D. Seymour – 2 editions)
  2. Landscaping Your Own Home by Alice Dustan
  3. Outpost Nurseries – Publicity Brochure
  4. Flower Arranging for Fun by Hazel Peckinpaugh Dunlop

Language

  1. Hugo’s Pocket Dictionary: French-English and English-French
  2. Spoken French for Travellers and Tourists by Charles Kany & Mathurin Dondo
  3. Roget’s Pocket Thesaurus by C.O. Mawson & K.A. Whiting

Travel & Travel Guides

  1. The Sawbwa and His Secretary by C.Y. Lee
  2. The Twain Shall Meet by Christopher Rand
  3. Kingdom of the Rocks by Consuelo de Saint-Exupéry
  4. The Heart of India by Alexander Campbell
  5. Man-Eaters of India by Jim Corbett
  6. Jungle Lore by Jim Corbett
  7. My India by Jim Corbett
  8. A Time in Rome by Elizabeth Bowen
  9. Russian Journey by William O. Douglas
  10. New York State Vacationlands
Photo by Jock Carroll.

Fiction 

  1. The Rains Came by Louis Bromfield
  2. A Lost Lady by Willa Cather
  3. The Deer Park by Norman Mailer
  4. Focus by Arthur Miller
  5. Paris Blues by Harold Flender
  6. Independent People by Halldor Laxness
  7. Who Blowed Up the House & Other Ozark Folk Tales by Randolph Vance
  8. The 7th Cross by Anna Seghers
  9. A European Education by Romain Gary
  10. Strike for a Kingdom by Menna Gallie
  11. The Slide Area by Gavin Lambert
  12. The Woman Who Was Poor by Leon Bloy
  13. My Antonia by Willa Cather
  14. Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather
  15. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers
  16. The Little Disturbances of Man by Grace Paley
  17. Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson
  18. The Contenders by John Wain
  19. The Best of All Worlds, or, What Voltaire Never Knew by Hans Jorgen Lembourn
  20. The Story of Esther Costello by Nicholas Montsarrat
  21. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
  22. The Mark of the Warrior by Paul Scott
  23. The Dancing Bear by Edzard Schaper
  24. Miracle in the Rain by Ben Hecht
  25. The Guide by R.K. Narayan
  26. Blow Up a Storm by Garson Kanin
  27. Jonathan by Russell O’Neill
  28. Fowler’s End by Gerald Kersh
  29. Hurricane Season by Ralph Winnett
  30. The Un-Americans by Alvah Bessie
  31. The Devil’s Advocate by Morris L. West
  32. On Such a Night by Anthony Quayle
  33. Say You Never Saw Me by Arthur Nesbitt
  34. All the Naked Heroes by Alan Kapener
  35. Jeremy Todd by Hamilton Maule
  36. Miss America by Daniel Stren
  37. Fever in the Blood by William Pearson
  38. Spartacus by Howard Fast
  39. Venetian Red by L.M. Pasinetti
  40. A Cup of Tea for Mr. Thorgill by Storm Jameson
  41. Six O’Clock Casual by Henry W. Cune
  42. Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong
  43. The Ginkgo Tree by Sheelagh Burns
  44. The Mountain Road by Theodore H. White
  45. Three Circles of Light by Pietro Di Donato
  46. The Day the Money Stopped by Brendan Gill
  47. The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins
  48. Justine by Lawrence Durrell (2 editions)
  49. Balthazar by Lawrence Durrell
  50. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
  51. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad
  52. The Unnameable by Samuel Beckett
  53. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog by Dylan Thomas
  54. Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place by Malcolm Lowry
  55. A Prison, A Paradise by Loran Hurnscot

Psychology

  1. Psychology of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud
  2. The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud by Ernest Jones
  3. Letters of Sigmund Freud, ed. Ernest L. Freud
  4. Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud
  5. Conditioned Reflex Therapy by Andrew Salter
  6. Man Against Himself by Karl A. Menninger
  7. The Tower and the Abyss by Erich Kahler
  8. Something to Live By by Dorothea S. Kopplin
  9. Man’s Supreme Inheritance by Alexander F. Matthias
  10. The Miracles of Your Mind by Joseph Murphy
  11. The Wisdom of the Sands by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
  12. The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol
  13. The Power Within You by Claude M. Bristol
  14. Peace of Mind by Joshua Loth Liebman
  15. The Use of the Self by Alexander F. Matthias
  16. The Open Self by Charles Morris
  17. Hypnotism Today by Leslie Lecron & Jean Bordeaux
  18. Some Characteristics of Today by Rudolf Steiner

Self-Help / Personal Development

  1. The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang
  2. How to Develop Your Thinking Ability by Kenneth S. Keyes
  3. How to Do It, or, The Art of Lively Entertaining by Elsa Maxwell
  4. How to Talk at Gin by Ernie Kovacs
  5. The Magic Word L.I.D.G.T.T.F.T.A.T.I.M. by Robert Collier
  6. Relax and Live by Joseph A. Kennedy
  7. Forever Young, Forever Healthy by Indra Devi
  8. Baby & Child Care by Dr. Benjamin Spock (pub. 1958)
  9. Doctor Pygmalion by Maxwell Maltz
  10. Sexual Impotence in the Male by Leonard Paul Wershub

Sociology & Philosophy 

  1. Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
  2. Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
  3. Of the Nature of Things by Lucretius
  4. The Philosophy of Plato
  5. Theory of Poetry and Fine Art by Aristotle
  6. Metaphysics by Aristotle
  7. The Unnameable by Samuel Beckett
  8. The Philosophy of Schopenhauer by Irwin Edman
  9. The Philosophy of Spinoza by Joseph Ratner
  10. The Wall Between by Anne Braden
  11. The Ignorant Armies by E.M. Halliday
  12. Journey to the Beginning by Edgar Snow
  13. The Failure of Success by Esther Milner
  14. A Train of Powder by Rebecca West
  15. Night by Francis Pollini
  16. The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology by Joseph Campbell
  17. Man Alive by Daniel Colin Munro (inscribed to Renna Campbell from Lorraine?)
  18. Panorama: A New Review, ed. R.F. Tannenbaum
  19. Everyman’s Search by Rebecca Beard

Art & Music

  1. Max Weber (art book – inscribed to MM by ‘Sam’ – possibly [Samuel] Shaw)
  2. Renoir by Albert Skira
  3. Max by Giovannetti Pericle
  4. The Family of Man by Carl Sandburg 
  5. Horizon, A Magazine of the Arts (Nov 1959, Jan 1960, Mar 1960)
  6. Jean Dubuffet by Daniel Cordier
  7. The Thinking Body by Mabel Elsworth Todd
  8. The Actor Prepares by Konstantin Stanislavsky
  9. How Stanislavsky Directs by Nikolai Gorchakov
  10. To the Actor by Michael Chekhov
  11. Beethoven: His Spiritual Development by J.W.N. Sullivan
  12. Music for the Millions by David Ewen
  13. Schubert by Ralph Bates
  14. Men of Music by Wallace Brockaway and Herbert Weinstock
Photo by Bob Beerman, 1953.

Plays & Theatre

  1. Mister Johnson by Norman Rosten
  2. Plays by Arthur Miller
  3. An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen (adapted by Arthur Miller)
  4. Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas
  5. 2 Plays: Peace and Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  6. Plays by Molière
  7. Anna Christie / The Emperor Jones / The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill
  8. The Potting Shed by Graham Greene
  9. Born Yesterday by Garson Kanin
  10. Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill
  11. Best American Plays: Third Series, 1945-1951
  12. Theatre ’52 by John Chapman
  13. 16 Famous European Plays by Bennett Cerf and Van H. Cartmell
  14. The Complete Plays of Henry James
  15. 20 Best Plays of the Modern American Theatre by John Glassner
  16. Elizabethan Plays by Hazelton Spencer
  17. Politics in the American Drama by Caspar Nannes
  18. Sons of Men by Herschel Steinhardt
  19. Untitled & Other Radio Dramas by Norman Corwin
  20. Thirteen By Corwin by Norman Corwin
  21. More By Corwin by Norman Corwin
  22. Critics’ Choice by Jack Gaver
  23. Modern American Dramas by Harlan Hatcher
  24. Elizabethan Plays by Hazelton Spencer
  25. The Call Girl by Harold Greenwald
  26. Redemption & Other Plays by Leo Tolstoy
  27. The Plays of Anton Chekhov
  28. Smoke by Ivan Turgenev

Religion & Prayer

  1. The Bible
  2. The Support of the Mysteries by Paul Breslow
  3. The Form of Daily Prayers
  4. Sephath Emeth (Speech of Truth): Order of Prayers for the Whole Year in Jewish and English
  5. The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text (inscribed to MM by Paula Strasberg, July 1, 1956)
  6. Catechism for Young Children (1936)
  7. Prayer Changes Things (1952, inscribed to MM – perhaps from Jane Russell?)
  8. Christliches ergissmeinnicht by K. Ehmann
  9. And It Was Told of a Certain Potter by Walter C. Lanyon (1922, a gift from Ana Lower)
  10. Bahai Prayers (inscribed to MM, ‘Marilyn Monroe Maybeline. A gift for my darling Maybeline, with all my love, Charlzetta’ – dated 1961)
  11. The Saviours of God: Spiritual Exercises by Nikos Kazantzakis
  12. Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
  13. What Is a Jew? by Morris Kertzer
  14. A Partisan Guide to the Jewish Problem by Milton Steinberg
  15. The Tales of Rabbi Nachman by Martin Buber
  16. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran (4th copy?)
  17. The Dead Sea Scrolls by Millar Burrows
  18. The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics by Jean Doresse
  19. Jesus by Kahlil Gibran

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