read: As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride (5 stars)

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An absolutely enchanting memoir from the star of The Princess Bride. He begins at the beginning with the creation of the story and the early encounters with it by himself and many of the of the crew. After a brief synopsis of his early career, he picks up the story with getting cast, meeting everyone, the many adventures making the film, and some of the adventures of having made it.

Interspersed are additional memories from Rob Reiner and most of the cast. The result is an absolute must read/listen for any fan of the film.

I highly recommend listening to the audio book, in order to hear not only Cary Elwes' warm narration, but also his spot-on voice impressions of Rob Reiner and Andre the Giant and several others.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

read: The Murder of Adam and Eve (4 stars)

The Murder of Adam and Eve by William Dietrich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

According to my own rating system, I would give this book a solid 3 stars: good book, entertaining or informative. But I have to give it an extra 1/2 star (rounded up to 4) based on the author's obvious ambitions of theme and his skill with with words. It could have been a solid 4 stars on its own if it weren't for a somewhat whiny teenage protagonist, silly aliens, several pesky plot holes and a tendency to get preachy and overly philosophical.

Looking past all that, there's plenty of tension, oodles of adventures, pages of wonderful travelogue and wonder, and more than enough controversy for anyone.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review.

View all my reviews on Goodreads