The Princess Bride
by William Goldman · first published 1973
32% recommend62% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Witty fantasy adventure with a clever framing narrative that differs from the film. Adult readers find it satisfying and a rewarding companion to the movie. Suits fans of Pratchett-style humor.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The Princess Bride is a timeless tale that pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. This incredible journey and artfully rendered love story is peppered with strange beasties monstrous and gentle, memorable surprises both terrible and sublime, and such unforgettable characters as... Westley, the handsome farm boy who risks death (and much worse) for the woman he loves; Inigo, the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Fezzik, the gentlest giant ever to have uprooted a tree with his bear hands; Vizzini, the evil Sicilian, w
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My advice: Read the good parts version. Then read The Princess Bride so that you know the joke behind the title Javascript: The Good Parts. Then read the definitive guide. I have the definitive guide, and I'm told it's really good, and I will state that it definitively…
on “Ask YC: Which Javascript Book?” ↗The Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart The Princess Bride by William Goldman The first is insanely superior. The second just really really good.
on “Ask HN: Please name two of your most favorite books.” ↗The Princess Bride. I've given it away seven times & purchased it eight. Like every book, it's different from the movie. I'm not going to say it's better than the movie, but I'm also not going say the movie is better…
on “Ask HN: What book have you given as a gift?” ↗The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. I found the book after I saw the film, and it was a revelation that even the action sequences are better in the book.
on “Ask HN: What is your comfort book?” ↗…journey. - If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino. You(!) embark on an adventure to find the book you believed you purchased, which was If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino. - The Princess Bride, William Goldman. This has a very different framing narrative from the film, and is very much worth a read. (Setting aside epistolary novels like Dracula)
on “Don't be terrified of Pale Fire” ↗The Princess Bride Anything by Terry Pratchett
on “Do Hackers read *other* books?” ↗The Phantom Tollbooth The Princess Bride (even better than the movie)
on “Ask HN: What is your favorite fiction book?” ↗…http://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discwor... Enjoy! Added in edit: It should be noted that there are geeks and hackers who don't like Pratchett, just as there are geeks and hackers who don't like The Princess Bride. Not sure what to say to them.
on “Discworld Reading Order Guides” ↗…Not without its flaws but holy hell, ruined a lot of traditional fiction for me with its length, depth, and quality of ending. 3. As an adult reading the books that childhood movies were based on: The Princess Bride and The Neverending story were both incredibly satisfying books. 4. Therevada Buddhism. Many things in life focus on individual insights. Only a few focus on strengthening the machinery that generates…
on “Ask HN: What Lived Up to the Hype?” ↗PRINCESS BRIDE (THE BOOK) SPOILERS The great thing about it, IMO, is that the novel's not about the story from the movie, really, but nevertheless you can do to it what the protagonist is doing to the fictional Princess…
on “Why reading a book 100 times is a great idea” ↗…Mistborn series, by Brandon Sanderson. The Stormlight Chronicles, by Brandon Sanderson. Choose Your Own Autobiography, by Neil Patrick Harris. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, by Cary Elwes. Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin, by Mark Skousen. The Book of Mormon. The Story of Civilization Series, by Will Durant. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas…
on “Ask HN: Favorite audio book for long drives?” ↗…is IMHO the correct attitude, at least most of the time). I really hope that she'll find some fellow geeks soon. Also, in my current team at work I used to be the only one who watched (and read) "The Princess Bride". Now one coworker also watched it, and one day we're going to watch it together with the whole team. I think many people nowadays know it only from memes, which is sad - it's a great movie.
on “Kikkuli: Why do some people from the distant past become memes?” ↗…with a teacher that I also took a lot of Shakespeare plays from; read Joyce with the book group my bridge club spun off; got introduced to cricket via attending an IPL game in Chennai in '08; and loved Princess Bride both in high school and watching with my high school aged kids).
on “ChatGPT went berserk” ↗It's a satire piece that suggests that authors who pretend to write translations of fictional books (such as Tolkien with LotR and Goldman with The Princess Bride) may actually be opening up their stories to plagiarists who claim to be "translating" the same source material. Or at least, that's my reading of it. In a world where the Red Book of Westmarch actually…
on “How I Defeated the Tolkien Estate” ↗I remember many years ago attempting to find at my local library a copy of S. Morgenstern's classic "The Princess Bride", but being frustrated at only being able to find the abridged version by William Goldman.
on “A brief history of books that do not exist” ↗