The Princess Bride

This is one case where the movie very closely follows the original book. The dialogue and plot are almost identical, making this a very quick and easy read. The book is a little bit darker than I expected, and has a few extra scenes which are worth the read. The love story in the book touches on more adult themes such as marriages of convenience and carefully draws the line between fairytale romance and a slightly jaded view of reality.

Though the original was written in 1973, the book manages to avoid sounding dated. I was actively looking for telltale signs of the time, or attitudes of that era to come through in the writing. It does a very good job of navigating it's contemporary circumstances - there are no clear references to mid-20th century moires.

While having read the book is now something I can lay claim to I don't think that there was much to be gained here. With all the other good writing out there, I think this one can easily be passed on.