Shirley MacLaine Books in Order

Drawn from the photo walls in her homes, The Wall of Life is a visual memoir pairing images from MacLaine’s archives with brief stories. She reflects on family, famous colleagues, political trips, spiritual encounters, and the long arc of a working life on the road.

A behind-the-scenes memoir of filming the movie Wild Oats in the Canary Islands, Above the Line follows MacLaine through production chaos, friendship, and location mishaps as she connects the experience to past life memories and her ongoing spiritual search.

In this collection of short, sharp essays, MacLaine lists the things she is over and the few she is not, from fame, politics, and bad manners to love, aging, and spirituality, offering wry reflections from the later chapters of her life.

Sparked by moving into a new home, MacLaine looks back over decades of work, travel, and spiritual inquiry while asking what it means to grow older with awareness, weaving stories of synchronicity with views on health, alternative medicine, and life after death.

Out on a Leash tells the story of MacLaine’s beloved terrier Terry and the bond that slowed her restless life. Switching between human and canine voices, it explores loyalty, grief, and how love can feel present even after a pet is gone.

MacLaine recounts her solo walk along Spain’s Camino de Santiago, a grueling five hundred mile pilgrimage undertaken in her sixties. As she faces blisters, weather, and solitude, visions and memories lead her into past lives, ancient civilizations, and questions about the soul’s journey.

This Hollywood memoir focuses on the people MacLaine calls her 'lucky stars', the actors, directors, and friends who shaped her career. She writes candidly about her unconventional marriage, Rat Pack friendships, famous films, and what she learned on sets over forty years.

In Dance While You Can, MacLaine turns inward, examining her parents, her brother Warren Beatty, her daughter Sachi, and the cost of constant work. She contrasts old studio Hollywood with the newer industry while reflecting on love, aging, and staying true to herself.

Each short piece in What If? begins with that simple question, as MacLaine speculates about politics, spirituality, extraterrestrial life, aging, and everyday annoyances. The result is a playful, opinionated portrait of a curious artist still testing ideas in her eighties.

Written while she filmed the television adaptation of Out on a Limb, this memoir has MacLaine recreating her own past and reexamining the spiritual experiences that changed her. It blends production diaries with reflections on destiny, free will, and how we create our lives.

Going Within shifts from autobiography to handbook, offering meditations, visualizations, and energy exercises drawn from MacLaine’s spiritual journey. She writes about using light, sound, crystals, and inner dialogue to reduce fear, realign body and mind, and explore a more conscious way of living.

At fifty, fresh from an Oscar win and a bestselling book, MacLaine resumes the inner search she began earlier. Dancing in the Light revisits her childhood, loves, and past life memories, tracing how spiritual practice reshapes her sense of purpose and connection.

This landmark memoir follows MacLaine from Hollywood to Europe, New York, and Peru as she dives into New Age spirituality. Alongside a complicated love affair, she explores channeling, reincarnation, and UFOs, describing how mystical experiences pulled her life far beyond the studio lot.

Starting with a troubled television series and moving through the 1972 McGovern campaign, You Can Get There From Here ends with MacLaine leading an all-woman delegation to China. The journey forces her to question American politics, media, and what real social change might require.

Edited by MacLaine, this slim cookbook gathers favorite recipes from actors, musicians, and other public figures of the early seventies. Light, anecdotal notes and simple dishes give a snapshot of how celebrities entertained at home in that era.

Her first book, Don't Fall Off the Mountain combines early autobiography with vivid travel writing. MacLaine traces her path from Virginia to Broadway and film, then describes solo journeys through the American South, Africa, Asia, and Bhutan in search of wider perspective.