But seriously, nobody should feel stupid for making that mistake - it's a tribute to how well Goldman pulls it off that so many people fall for it.

Yeah, one of my college roommates was completely convinced S. Morgenstern was real. The idea that he wasn't was so foreign to him that trying to talk to him about it made me question whether I was right or not. I was all, "LOOK AT THE WRITING STYLE!!" But it wasn't good enough.

You know what I did discover recently, though? You know how in the back of the book, there's an ad for The Silent Gondoliers, another S. Morgenstern classic abridged by William Goldman?

He actually wrote that book.

(Also, several years ago, I found a copy of The Princess Bride that had the first chapter of Buttercup's Baby. It was amusing.)

It's part and parcel with why I think it's one of the best movie adaptations out there.

I agree. Plus, he was able to improve on little things like turning the sharks into Shrieking Eels and giving the "Life is pain" line to Westley instead of Fezzik's mom.

I still want to read the excised chapter that describes the wardrobe of the visiting princess and the hats.

I'm also unreasonably smug that I first read Princess Bride back in the early 80s, before anyone even thought about a movie. Too bad my first edition paperback has the fold-out map ripped off and tucked into the book itself as a bookmark.

Ages before I saw the movie one of my sister's boyfriends was trying to convince me that the mark of a good novel was long paragraphs. He handed me the book open to the bit about snow sand as an example. I liked it and wanted to read the book but it slipped my mind and then I forgot about it... until I was watching the movie and Buttercup fell in and then my brain started filling in the details of what was going on below the surface. At first I didn't recall reading the excerpt. It was a really odd feeling.

Too bad my first edition paperback has the fold-out map ripped off and tucked into the book itself as a bookmark.

I've done many unfortunate things to paperbacks I had when I was a kid/teenager that I regret. Including the original Richard Bachman paperbacks (actually, the original King paperbacks too, now that I think about it). Among other things, if they had pages that were advertisements for other books, I used to tear those out, because I thought that was cheesy (Signet - I'm looking at you as the prime offender).

hangs head in shame

trying to convince me that the mark of a good novel was long paragraphs

Well, that's a new one on me. Could make it easier at the bookstore, I guess.

Ages before I saw the movie one of my sister's boyfriends was trying to convince me that the mark of a good novel was long paragraphs.

Really? I recently hit a two-page-long paragraph in Midnight's Children. Now I know I'm reading a good novel!

yeah my sister has had some wacky boyfriends. He was right about Goldman, though.

There's also an official "good parts" version of The Princess Bride - selected bits printed in, I think, red.

I've read The Silent Gondoliers. It's okay.

Hey Aimee, when I read The Princess Bride it didn't even occur to me that the stuff about Morganstern and the lawsuit and all that was fictional. I can't remember how I ended up finding out the truth.

But seriously, nobody should feel stupid for making that mistake - it's a tribute to how well Goldman pulls it off that so many people fall for it.

Also, hi! I can't believe I've been out of the thread for two years. I'm an English teacher--what's wrong with me?

I may have just answered my own question.