Hah, you did a great job with generating these pictures. Somehow those monkeys look familiar. It's an interesting expression and it does make sense. If I look at these pictures my first thought is (a Dutch expression translated): He didn't invent the tyre.

A monkey expression we have is (again translated): Even if a monkey wears a golden ring it remains an ugly thing. (I believe you figure out yourself what that means).

By the way my uncle had a monkey he took along as he was selling the food he cooked during the lunchbreak to the workers of a factory. No idea what happened to that little one.
Can monkeys read? Most likely not but the same counts for many humans and since a book stands for intelligence it's a smart move to hold one and pretend you love them. Don't they look smart?

Any idea about the book I am referring to?