Prologue

This is a blog that's piggybacking off of a single article. To be fair, it's an article with a lot of citations. 430, to be exact.

Ayun Halliday's list of the 430 books in Marilyn Monroe's personal collection is a deeply intriguing article. It's not a listicle. It's an anti-listicle. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

I wouldn't describe myself as a massive Monroe fan, but that's just because I prefer to research the whole breadth and depth of Old Hollywood and 1950s pop culture, rather than zeroing in on a solitary celebrity or tastemaker. However, I realized that I've been neglecting Marilyn's incredibly interesting life and works, due to her commercialization and simplification (and no shortage of misattributed quotes). Today, I begin rectifying that.

So, what's my goal for this blog?

1) Dissect every single one of the 430 books on the list. This doesn't necessarily mean reading every single one from start to finish, but I'll do so whenever possible.

2) Keep it unique - this isn't going to be a compilation of GoodReads reviews. I'm going to look at cultural context - contemporary concerns as well as the books' relation to Monroe's life.

3) Make it personal - I'm not a historian, and I don't pretend to be. I'm not keen on the idea of creating a "lifestyle blog", but I am a vintage lifestyler, and that's definitely going to be reflected in my writing. And, while I consider myself well-educated, I'm not a huge reader. More on that later.

Happy reading!