Inconceivable!
The Princess Bride is hands-down my favorite movie. I can’t explain why and you don’t have to agree with me. It’s just the way it is. So it was totally and in all other ways “inconceivable” to me that I could love anything more. But I do!
The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman is pure genius. I couldn’t put it down even though I’ve seen the movie a hundred times (probably more). I was almost berating myself for not having ever read it before. It’s soon to become part of my permanent library. (I borrowed it from the library for this reading.)
Everything I love about the movie I now love more because of the book. I was surprised, pleasantly, to discover that the movie doesn’t deviate in horrible ways from the book. From a production standpoint, I understand why some things were left out or moved around. On the whole, though, I am in love with this story all over again.
I’m sure you can’t tell, right?
I only know a handful of people who don’t like the movie, (I won’t name names, but Nikki, you’re the first one that comes to mind!) so if that’s you, give the book a whirl and see what you think. And if you are, like me, a devotee (my husband made his “move” to indicate he liked me during a showing of this movie adding to many reasons why I love it) and you haven’t read the book, then all I have to say is “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” Sorry for shouting.
Am I overselling it? Tell me what you think if you’ve read Goldman’s book.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this project, too. (If you missed last week, I gave my thoughts on Mary Poppins, the book.) What’s your favorite book-to-movie adaptation? Are you a strict book first, movie second kind of person? What treasures have you discovered on the bookshelves in regards to books turned into movies?
Next week: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
If you haven’t already, it would be well worth comparing the original Winnie the Pooh books to the movie(s) from Disney. You could, for bonus points, track the progressive deviation from Milne’s original vision (as illustrated by mr shepard) with each progressive iteration of the Disney cartoon series (how do your write the plural of series? hmm.) The books and movie(s) are all available at most libraries. I look forward to hearing how your daughter responds to both versions of the classic. 🙂
Good idea! I’m not sure it’ll make the cut for this series, but maybe in the future. There are SO many good children’s books I’ve never read, like all the Beatrix Potter stories (now on my Kindle!). I’ll keep that in mind! Thanks for the suggestion.