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Thursday, January 29, 2015

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes and Joe Layden

After seeing that several people had listened to or read As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of The Princess Bride and had an enjoyable experience, I decided to try it.  It's written by Cary Elwes, Westley himself or The Man in Black, with assistance by Joe Layden.  The audio book is read by Cary Elwes and several other cast and crew members stop by and share memories of making this wonderful movie.

First, may I say that The Princess Bride is one of my very favorite movies of all time.  I can't remember where I was when I first saw it, but I know that I loved it.  My husband and I both have used lines from this movie for many years and our daughter could quote from it before she even knew what she was quoting.  Listening to this book read with Cary Elwes' familiar "Westley" voice was marvelous.  I had such a good time.  Elwes shares many behind the scenes stories involving virtually all of the cast.  He was only 23 when he got the part of Westley and had no idea that almost 30 years later, it would be his best known character.

From reading this book, it seems that the cast and crew had a great time and many were already fans of William Goldman's book, The Princess Bride, which he wrote for his daughters.  Cary shares some lovely memories of Andre the Giant, of learning to fence and sword fight, being awed by Robin Wright's beauty (she was only 20 or so), laughing hysterically filming the scenes with Billy Crystal and Carol Kane, and of developing such a respect for all the other cast and crew, notably Rob Reiner, the director.

If you are a fan of The Princess Bride, pick up this book and read it.  Better yet, listen to it.  It's only 7 or 8 hours long.  You'll get to hear many of your favorite lines shared, find out how the crew managed to get Andre on a horse (he was 7ft 4in), and just really have a fun experience.  It definitely made me want to plan to watch the movie again very soon, and I think I bored my husband silly telling him, "Listen to this, listen to this...".

I leave you with a few of my favorite lines:

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wifin a dweam… And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva… So tweasure your wuv.

He's only mostly dead.

They're kissing again.  Do we have to read the kissing parts?

Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father! Prepare to die!

As you wish.......



18 comments:

  1. Can you believe I have never watched The Princess Bride straight through? But I've seen it in bits and pieces so many times.....I've probably watched the complete movie several times!
    Sounds like a fun book, and the audio version sounds like the one to get!

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    1. You should watch it all the way through. Such a fun movie. :-)

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  2. Hey KAY!!
    I am so happy to see that you are blogging again! I have missed you!
    And I LOVE that you have told me about this book! I also ADORE "The Princess Bride", it is a very special movie.
    I have given that DVD (the one you show in your last image) as a present and my smart hubby noticed that the words "The Princess Bride" are a mirror image also, turn it upside down and it still says "The Princess Bride"! Isn't that clever?
    I don't know if you remember me but I certainly remember you! So happy to see you again and letting us know about great books. Thank you!

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    1. Kay, of course I remember you. If you love the movie, think you'll like the book. A little gossipy, a little sad, just fun. I need to come over and visit your blog.

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  3. This book sounds so fun. I think I need to read it!

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    1. If you like the movie, Susan, think you'll enjoy the book. The voices are fun.

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  4. This is one of my husband's favorite movies, and I really like it too (although it had to grow on me as I didn't care for it the first time I saw it). I love the book--it's one of my all-time favorites. Now you've got me wanting to watch the movie again.

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  5. Sounds like a great book, and even one I would enjoy listening to. I have never listened to an audio book so I would have to figure out how to do that.

    I do like the movie but not a long-time fan. I only read the book and watched the movie for the first time in 2013.

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    1. Even if you haven't listened to a book before, Tracy, I think this one would be best done that way. It's the whole voice of Cary Elwes that makes me say that. Perhaps your library has books on CD that you could check out?

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  6. Oh, I'm off to see if my library has it. This is one that grew on me the more times I saw it and Jason is a huge fan so I think he'd like the audio.

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    1. Stacy, I think the voices of the cast are the most fun part.

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  7. Mawidge! Love that quote and have said it at least 100 times since I first saw this movie. :) I've seen the movie countless times and have read the book at least twice. What a classic!

    I was thinking about reading this book, but now I think I'll look for the audio. What fun to have some of the other cast members chime in. So glad to know it's a winner.

    P.S. Rod gave me a t-shirt that have the "prepare to die" quote on it like a name badge. Another favorite quote is, of course, "Inconceivable!" :)

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    1. I thought about you when I put that "Mawidge" quote down. And if you do read or listen to this one, there's a story about that t-shirt. And some interesting things about Wally Shawn, the "Inconceivable" guy.

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  8. Sounds like this would be a book best listened to in audio format. Such a funny movie. I love that you included the best quotes in your review.

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    1. Couldn't leave out the quotes. There are so many of them!

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  9. I can't wait to get this audiobook. I feel like it just has to be listened to if it features the cast :) Glad you enjoyed it! - Maggie @ macarons & paperbacks

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    1. I think narration by familiar voices adds to the book. Hope you enjoy it!

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Thanks for stopping by! I am so happy to hear your thoughts and will respond as soon as I can. Happy Reading!