Rec. #177: The Princess Bride

What: So, this is all going to be based on the assumption that you have already seen and enjoyed the generally beloved and endlessly quotable 1987 movie The Princess Bride. And you're probably sick of people telling you that the original, book version of [fill in the blank] is better, but, really: William Goldman's book The Princess Bride is so much better than the film adaptation. This is through no fault of the movie, which is, of course, delightful. The book is just so much more. For example, Westley doesn't even leave the farm until page 53, and a lot of great stuff happens before that.

When the movie is shown on cable, the description is usually something like: "Rob Reiner's cheeky adaption of William Goldman's novel." Well, to be more accurate the description should be amended to: "Rob Reiner's mostly faithful, if severely abridged, adaptation of William Goldman's cheeky novel."

Comparable to: As I've said, it's like the movie, but more so.

Representative quote: "The boys. The village boys. The beef-witted featherbrained rattleskulled clod-pated dim-domed noodle-noggined sapheaded lunk-knobbed boys. How could anybody accuse her of stealing them? Why would anybody want them anyway? What good were they?"

You might not like it if: You miss Peter Falk and Fred Savage. (That frame story is based on something from the book, but the book's frame story is more complex.)

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able. Although, hello, my graphic designer friends? You know what could use a new, excellent cover? This book. Current cover designs do not capture the book's sense of rollicking, snarky fun.