Written by: William Goldman
First line: This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.
Why you should read this book: When I was a kid, shortly after the popular film version of this book was released, I wanted to read the original book, but every copy I could find claimed to be an abridged version, and being the intellectual kid I thought myself to be, I wanted to read the full version; only many years later did I understand the concept of the frame story, and the literary devices that Goldman was using terms of pretending to be abridging a more famous and less interesting work when, in fact, he was just very cleverly writing a novel. At any rate, this is still the book you imagine it is, more or less, and while there are things that were changed, added, or left out of the movie, it's basically the same story of a beautiful girl named Buttercup, a poor farm boy called Westley, and the series of event that contrive to keep the true lovers apart until they are reunited at last at the very end. The writing is charming, funny, engaging, and just really smart, and while young readers likely will not enjoy or understand the narrative asides, you can certainly just read the "good parts" if you'd rather.
Why you shouldn't read this book: It's a good book, really, but some of it feels kind of misogynistic.
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