The Princess Bride (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

If you are a child of the 80s like me, then you are probably a fan of the movie The Princess Bride. And if you're not, well that's inconceivable! What's not to love about it? It's got adventure for the boys and a love story for the girls. It also has one of my favorite actors, Cary Elwes. He played a young Karol Wojtyla in the movie Pope John Paul II. Back to The Princess Bride...if you have seen the movie, and haven't read the book, well you are missing out! There are several editions on the market right now, and the one I am recommending to you is the 30th Anniversary Edition.

The structure of The Princess Bride is that it is a story within a story. The story claims to be written by S. Morgenstern, but Morgernstern is juts a construct of the author William Goldman. In a nutshell, Goldman created Morgernstern who created The Princess Bride. The story itself contains pirates, swordfighting, a giant, a miracle, and of course true love. The book has several asides that interrupt the flow of the story. This is something you either hate or you tolerate. I have found very few people who love having a built in interruption within their story, but there is a small minority. Don't let this be a deterrent to reading the book if you haven't yet. Reading about Princess Buttercup, Westley, and the rest of the gang is worth it...interruptions and all. There is also a very brief section at the end that spoke very briefly about Buttercup's baby and the death of Fezzik.

The question you have to ask yourself is not whether you are going to buy this book, but why you should buy this edition of the book? For starters, it is a hardcover edition. Every book is better as a hardcover. They may be a little pricier, but they are prettier and will stand the test of time/multiple readings. I understand the paperback crowd who crack the spine and the book falls open to their favorite passages, but that's not me! The second reason you need this edition is the illustrations. Now, don't get me wrong, the book isn't chock full of illustrations and they aren't exactly my style of illustrations, but children respond better to stories with pictures, so they serve a purpose. The last reason to buy this edition is because of the paper quality. Weird reason, but it's a nice, thick, glossy paper. It just makes the book pop! So buy this edition of The Princess Bride. You won't regret it!

This book was provided to me for free by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review.