This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.

It's hot. As in stifling. As in not fit for human habitation. And it's only getting hotter. We're supposed to hit 115 by Saturday. It's this time of year that I always look around and think, "Who would live here?" Oh yeah, me. Just so we're clear, it's under duress. With no annual beach trip with Tray on the books yet, what's a girl to do but crank up the AC and reach for an escape read? (Post power bill, I won't be able to afford a beach trip anyway.)

No more whining, promise. Just a raving review of William Goldman's The Princess Bride, our Book Club selection for May (yes, May...if you're shocked by this, read here). The premise of this book is genius: an abridgement of a nonexistent novel by a purely fictional S. Morgenstern. Goldman is so convincing that even though I'd read in reviews that an unabridged edition didn't exist, I still had to stop reading and google it to be sure. It's no wonder that after the book's release in the seventies (for you youngins, that's pre-internet times), the publisher received thousands of letters requesting copies Goldman's version of the reunion scene between Westley and Buttercup that he claimed the Morgenstern family sued to keep out of the book.

Bottom line: if you loved the movie, you'll love the book even more. No surprise there. What may be a surprise is how closely the movie followed the book—must be a perk of being an award-winning screenwriter. If you're in the mood for a swashbuckling good tale and some hearty laughs, this is your book.

Posted by Rachel