More On Marilyn - Books
These are the favourites from my own Marilyn collection which I would recommend to anyone wanting to discover more about her.
Biographies
Marilyn Monroe by Donald Spoto
Out of the many Monroe books I own, this one is my all time favourite. A very good book to devote time to if you don't know much about Marilyn's life but really want to learn everything about her and what made her who she was. It deals with difficult events in a very sensitive yet frank manner, is thoughtful of Marilyn while not hiding her faults, and is cram packed full of all the information you need to know about her. Her last days are explained in detail but the entire book does not feel as though it is working up to her death as many Marilyn books do. This is about a life, not a death. It does take some reading as there is a lot of information to digest, but it is well written and well worth the time. If you really want to know about the person behind the legend of Marilyn Monroe then this is the book to do it with. It is best read in small sections so that the vast amounts of information can be considered and digested before moving onto the next part of her life as the amount of detailed information found in this book is really quite astounding at times. I have also found this to be the only regular Marilyn biography I have *enjoyed* reading as most books on her are very heavy, traumatic reading, whereas this one is something I can pick up repeatedly and enjoy reading over and over.
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming
Not a particularly new slant on the telling of Marilyn's life story, but a very well researched and well presented book using numerous reliable sources such as original letters, memoirs, legal files and interviews, some of which had not been used before for a Marilyn biography. This is a book written from a historian's point of view, with the facts and various ideas all presented and weighed out for the reader to make up their own mind. That said, it isn't a heavy read despite the length of the book, and is quite an enjoyable interesting read with not too many assumptions made by the writer. The few pictures contained are very well chosen, beautiful images relating to the story being told.
Marilyn and Me (Sisters Rivals Friends) by Susan Strasberg
A lovely book accounting Marilyn's New York period when she was studying at the Actors Studio with Susan's father Lee Strasberg. It's the perfect book for any female fans who would ahve loved to hang out with MM as a friend or a sister. It covers the time spent getting to know her, viewing her as a rival for her parent's affections and time when the troubled Marilyn was living at the Strasberg's house and leaning on them for comfort and guidance. It also has the two girls becomming great freinds, confiding in each other and getting up to all sorts of things. It is also a good account of growing up in the acting world and has some rare pictures.
Marilyn Her Life In her Own Words by George Barris
A lovely book which although thin is beautifully presented, full of information and beautiful pictures. George Barris was a photo journalist whom Marilyn invited to interview and photograph her in order to write a series of articles for magazines and eventually produce her autobiography. The interviews and photo sessions took place after the fight with her film company following filming for Something's Got To Give and were never completed due to her untimely death. The text is what Marilyn seemed to want her fans to know about her life and views, and the pictures are a beautiful collection of 1960s Marilyn posing, enjoying herself and lounging around. In a way this chronicles the final moments of her life, not in a dramatic way, but in the way of someone calmly looking back over their life, considering what they've been through, what sort of a person they have become and what their unfulfilled dreams are.
Marilyn a biography by Norman Mailer
The most captivating thing about this book is the way that it classes itse;f as "two books. It is a biography and it is also a pictorial retrospective". The pictures are extendive, stunning, well presented, and mainly modelling shots which don't appear in the usual Marilyn picture books. The text is very straight and written in quite a dramatic, gripping manner which moves the story along at a rapid pace and makes the book hard to put down. It has quite a large amount of text for a book with so many pictures, and is relatively accurate and informative. A perfect book for those who want a studious read and beautiful images.
Conversations With Marilyn by W. J. Weatherby
Shorthand notes taken by a newspaper reporter in the 1960s have been converted into a storybook style account of Marilyn telling all about her life. A factual book that reads like a fictional tale of a movie starlet who meets up with a news reporter in bars throughout the final years of her young life to tell her regular magazine feature style life story... but as time goes by the two become friends and their encounters now have her excorcising her demons and admitting her secrets, dreams and nightmares to her unlikely confidante. A very good book for those who wish to learn about Marilyn but who become bored and overwhelmed by the huge volumes of biographies on her. It is a nice book which seems quite accurate and is written in an enjoyable way. We are also excused the lengthy opinions of the writer and can get down to what Marilyn wanted to say about herself.
Photograph Albums
The Marilyn Album by Nicki Giles
A perfect start to any Marilyn book collection, this book is filled to bursting with over 600 pictures from every part of her life. The text of the book is lost slightly amongst all the pictures, but if you concentrate hard enough to read it from cover to cover it is quite a nice mini biography with lots of information for new MM fans.
Monroe (Her Life In Pictures) by James Spada with George Zeno
A fabulous collection of beautiful pictures, mainly in black and white but featuring a lovely glossy colour photo section. Each of the black and white pictures has a detailed description, and many have relating quotes or anecdotes. Lots of candid pictures, key life moments and modelling shoots all arranged in chronoligical order. A really beautiful book despite the lack of photo-quality paper.
Marilyn 35th Anniversary Edition by Jay Harrison
A very good book to begin anyone's collection with or even to give to a Marilyn completist as a sweet picture book they can keep on their coffee table. It has loads of beautiful colour and black and white photographs, an A2 sized poster and a CD of Marilyn's greatest hits. The text is informative and split into easy to browse categories on who Marilyn is, growing up, the women and the men in her life, her look, her career a filmography and a selected bibliography.
Marilyn by Neil Sinyard
A good book for new Marilyn fans that would be perfect for starting a collection with. It has beautiful copies of all the usual pictures that well-versed Monroe fans are familar with, and the text is quite accurate, deep and extensive for a picture book.
Marilyn a biography by Norman Mailer
See "Biographies".
Marilyn Her Life In her Own Words by George Barris
See "Biographies"
Marilyn by Thomas Levy and Alexander Sairally
See "Reference Books".
Reference Books
The Unabridged Marilyn by Randall Riese & Neal Hitchens
This book is like the Marilyn encyclopaedia with facts and figures filed alphabetically. It does have mistakes here and there like any non-fiction book, but largely it's accuracy is good, and the content is amazing. Whatever you want to look up about her you should be able to find it here and have quotes, facts, figures, pictures and trivia to back it up. Whether you want to know her approved directors list, all the places she lived in or her favourite musicians, drinks and poets, the information is here at your fingertips.
Marilyn by Thomas Levy and Alexander Sairally
A book produced for the London exhibition "Marilyn Monroe: Life Of A Legend", this book is a good collection of photographs and art relating to Marilyn Monroe. The large collection of art in the book is very varied, ranging from picture collages, recreations of famous Marilyn pictures with other models, sculptures and abstract art. Some of the sculptures and paintings may seem a little disturbing, but the majority are a lovely tribute to the lady and show what effect she had on the public. The photographs of Marilyn herself are just as varies, featuring famous photo shoots as well as unusual, candid and stunningly beautiful pictures.
Interesting Books To Be Wary Of
Goddess by Anthony Summers
A very informative book on her life, but mainly focusing on her problems and her final days. It is a very deep and somewhat disturbing book, not for the faint hearted... especially with it including a picture taken of the goddess herself after her autopsy was carried out. A book for the completist who really wants details of what went wrong with her life, or for people who like reading thrilling, probing biographies filled with conspiracy theories and dramatic moments. But it is not good for those who adore the pretty, sweet and innocent young woman who dazzled the world with her movies and just wish to know a bit more about the young girl they have taken a liking to.
Norma Jean (A Hollywood Love Story) by Ted Jordan
Written by a former lover of Marilyn's, this book is an interesting insight into one person's perspective of who the real Monroe was, how she behaved, and what it was like having her in your life. But it does tend to give you more information than you bargained for and some people may view this book as a kiss and tell betrayal of secrets that should be kept between Monroe and Jordan. Some of the revalations are so full on and bizarre to read in print that you may wonder how much truth there really is to them, and whether Marilyn really was that open with everything. The photos in the book are also strange. There are some very intimate pictures which again Marilyn may not have wished published were she still alive, and most of the other pictures are not of Marilyn at all, but of Ted Jordan and some glamour pictures of his striptease artist wife.
Marilyn by Thomas Levy and Alexander Sairally
See "Reference Books".
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