The one and only Dolly Parton shows us her books! The pop culture icon shares her all-time favorite titles and the personal mementos she keeps on her shelves, including a photo of her rarely-seen husband, Carl.
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00:00If you've got a good book and you're into a good story, you're going to have it with you wherever you are.
00:05If you get a chance to even go in the bathroom and read another chapter or read a few lines just to kind of keep the story going, you'll find the time to read.
00:13Hi there, this is Dolly Parton, and I want to give Marie Claire a peek into my personal library.
00:21So welcome to Shelf Portrait.
00:24Well, this is me trying to knock stuff off my shelves because I kind of wanted to show some of the things that are on my shelf.
00:34Of course, I got a picture of my mom, dad, and me, and we got my husband, Carl, and my little dog, Popeye, from years ago.
00:42And, of course, this special little piano is like a family heirloom.
00:47It really plays. I may write a song on that.
00:50But anyhow, these are just little ornaments and stuff that some of my favorite books that I scattered around.
00:55But seriously, I have hundreds and hundreds of books.
00:58I give books away, but it's so hard for me to give my books away.
01:01I just kind of like get selfish and hang on to them, especially ones that I love.
01:07I just go back and reread them.
01:09Here's a special book my sister, Willardine, wrote.
01:12It's called In the Shadow of a Song, and it's a lot about our people, too.
01:16So a lot of us write. I'm not the only creative person in this family.
01:20So I really love this little book, and I thought, well, I'll show that on my shelf.
01:24So anyhow, these are just fun little things, nothing major.
01:29I'm pretty simple.
01:34This book is called Oral History.
01:37It is by my favorite Southern writer, Lee Smith.
01:41And this book really hits home to me because it's really about Southern people.
01:47It's a wonderful story about families and love and romance and just the hard times that people go through.
01:53Lee Smith just tells a story in such a way that it just goes plumbed deep into my soul and into my heart.
02:00And I just love her.
02:01And so if you have not read Lee Smith, you better get after it.
02:06People say, what's the book that you have read more than any other?
02:13Well, it would definitely have to be this.
02:15My mom started reading this to us before we had books in our house.
02:20This is the Holy Bible, the King James Version.
02:23Of course, I love the Old Testament and all those stories as well.
02:27But there's a lot of wisdom in here.
02:29I find a lot of strength and a lot of hope in reading the Bible.
02:32There's just something about the fact that it always seemed to anchor Mama.
02:36She always seemed to anchor us.
02:38So I know that there's a lot of wisdom in here that I can always draw from.
02:43So there's stuff that I look in here.
02:45I write a lot of songs from verses I find in the Bible.
02:48Even the Psalms, I think, are beautiful.
02:50I'm not trying to promote religion to anybody.
02:52But they ask me, what are the books that I've read and that are meaningful to me?
02:56And this most definitely is.
02:58I bet you know this little book, right?
03:02It's The Little Engine That Could.
03:04This is by Waddy Piper.
03:06And this is the first book in the Imagination Library, my program, where we give books to children.
03:11But this was also my favorite book when I was growing up.
03:16And it still is.
03:17And I often tell people there's a lot of wisdom in this little book.
03:21And I always say that I am a little engine that did.
03:25So this is a good book for everybody and anybody.
03:28And it just seems to last forever.
03:30And it's always on my shelf.
03:32My little nieces and nephews always say, hey, go read this book.
03:35And they love it.
03:36Well, people ask me a lot if I've ever written a book.
03:40Well, yes, I have.
03:41I've written several books.
03:42I've written a book called I Am a Rainbow.
03:45It's really about the moods of children and kind of explaining it's okay to feel anger, you know, the red.
03:52And I kind of rhyme it all up.
03:54I've written a book called My Life and Other Unfinished Business that's several years old.
03:59So I do love to write.
04:00And I do have now a brand new book.
04:03It's called Song Teller, My Life in Lyrics.
04:06And it really kind of tells stories, shows pictures of why and when I wrote the songs, what I was feeling when I wrote all the story songs.
04:15Because I consider myself more than anything a songwriter.
04:18And I really love to tell stories because I love to read.
04:22So I thought Song Teller was a good title for a book for me.
04:27So I hope to continue writing more books.
04:29And I know for a fact I'll be reading more books.
04:32Well, now this book, I bet you millions of people know.
04:35So this is The Grapes of Wrath.
04:37And, of course, who doesn't love John Steinbeck and all the wonderful things that he's written?
04:41And I started reading this again.
04:44I probably read this book three times in my life.
04:47But with all the craziness going on in the past year and all the hard times that people are having,
04:51I started kind of reading again a lot of the old classics.
04:55And this is one I picked up because I relate to the hard work and the poor people and the struggles and the times.
05:01But I just love this book.
05:03And there's just so much wisdom and so much feeling, so much heart and soul in books like this.
05:09Nothing like the old classics, really.
05:11Don't you agree?
05:15When I want to know about books, I contact my sisters.
05:21I say, have you read a good book lately?
05:22Yeah, I've been saving you some.
05:23I've been saving you some.
05:25So friends and family, we kind of swap books back and forth.
05:29And I also like to read all the books on the New York Times bestseller list.
05:34I also like to go through Oprah's Book Club, Reese Witherspoon's, and Jenna Bush Heger's Club.
05:40So there's a lot of good books out there.
05:43And usually the kind that just kind of word of mouth are the ones that are the best.
05:47Do you know Adriana Tregani?
05:52She's another one of my favorite writers.
05:54She's Italian.
05:56She lives in the city, but she grew up in Cumberland Gap in the south.
06:01And this big stone gap, I just love this.
06:03But she writes so many wonderful things.
06:05Some of them are about the south.
06:07Some of them are not.
06:08She's really an all-around kind of writer.
06:10But she's a wonderful, wonderful writer.
06:12And anytime she puts a book out, I just love it.
06:14But this book is really a special one, and I think you will love that.
06:18Well, people ask me if I would do e-reader or hardcover.
06:22Well, I'm going to always pick a paperback book or a paper book.
06:27Because I just love the feel of books.
06:29I love the smell of books.
06:30I love to smell that ink.
06:32You know, I just love physically to touch a book.
06:35So even though I do sometimes when I'm flying, well, I'll read, you know, I'll read something, you know, online or whatever.
06:41But I really think the Kindle don't stand up like a good, hard book.
06:51Well, thank you for joining us.
06:54And don't forget to subscribe to Marie Claire.
06:57And don't forget to read a book, especially one of mine, especially Song Teller, My Life in Lyrics.