Books

5 Biographies Of Glamorous Women That You Can Read Poolside

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If sMOTHERED, Teen Mom OG, and Dance Moms have you wanting more reality TV in your life, you should know that there are some fantastic book alternatives out there for you to not-so-guiltily enjoy by the pool this summer. On the list below, I've got five biographies of glamorous famous women, so get ready for some dramatic tension and sexy history, OK?

Remember when you were a kid and dreamed of being a movie star, pop singer, or princess? The women on the list below actually lived your dreams. From tragic superstar Marilyn Monroe to modern-day Wonder Woman Michelle Obama, the five biographies I've picked out for you here cover glitz and glam from every angle.

There's a lot of spice to these women's stories, and not all of them have happy endings. But if you're all about the drama, you know that great storytelling doesn't always mean things are tied up in a nice, neat bow at the end. Life is messy, even when you're one of the most famous — or infamous — women on the planet.

Check out the five biographies of famous women that I've picked out for you below:

'Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters' by Marilyn Monroe, edited by Stanley Buchthal and Bernard Comment

Marilyn Monroe made headlines as one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood, but her life behind closed doors was hardly a fairy tale. In Fragments, editors Stanley Buchthal and Bernard Comment compile Monroe's diary entries and letters to craft a moving portrait of a woman constrained by public perception.

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'The Mistress of Paris: The 19th-Century Courtesan Who Built an Empire on a Secret' by Catherine Hewitt

The vivacious Comtesse Valtesse de la Bigne inspired Manet and Zola, and brought rumors galore to 19th-century French society. But de la Bigne was no member of the nobility. Instead, she was a sex worker, born into poverty, who had taken on increasingly well-to-do clients, assumed a new identity, and followed her dreams of wealth. Read her story in Catherine Hewitt's The Mistress of Paris.

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'The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy' by Anne de Courcy

In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, as the English nobility began to lose some of its wealth and shine to the nouveau riche, families in need of new funds for their coffers crafted marriage proposals between their sons and the daughters of rich Americans. Known as the "dollar princesses," these women included the Vicereine of India, Mary Curzon, and Winston Churchill's mother, Jennie Spencer-Churchill.

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'The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee' by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger

One married a president, the other married a prince. Jackie and Lee Bouvier were born into New York's high society, and lived their lives in relative luxury. Tragedy would befall them both, however, before their lives were through. Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger examine the extraordinary lives of these two women in The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters.

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'I Put a Spell on You' by Nina Simone and Stephen Cleary

Born in North Carolina in 1933, Nina Simone grew up with dreams of being a classical pianist, but fell into a career as a soul singer and songwriter, even as I Put a Spell on You, she told her story, the way she wanted it remembered.

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