As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of THE PRINCESS BRIDE / Cary Elwes / 272 pages / 6 discs

  I had the joy of introducing my husband to THE PRINCESS BRIDE and then we both had the pleasure of showing the movie to our kids. It is one of our favorites and will quote pages of dialogue at each other. This book or CD is a great companion piece for the whole family. The CD has several of the actors telling their personal stories or reactions to what Elwes is describing at that particular time. It is truly a must read/have for movie fans.
  With the movie celebrating its 25th anniversary, the cast gathered for a showing in New York. Elwes was struck by how the actors were reminiscing about favorite lines, fan requests or impact on their professional lives. He decided to put down on paper what this movie meant not only to him personally but the everyone involved. So we have the beginning of the whole affair from the advent of the script(s) to the reception world wide upon release. I didn't realize it but this was the first major film for Robin Wright. Cary Elwes had been in movies but not as the leading man carrying the whole film. I had a smile on my face the entire time I listened to this. What a great trip down memory lane that I will come back to again and again.

6 Degrees of Reading: Young Frankenstein: A Mel Brooks Book: The Story of Making the Film by Mel Brooks, In Such Good Company: Eleven Years of Laughter, Mayhem and Fun in the Sandbox by Carol Burnett, My Mother was Nuts by Penny Marshall.

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Princess Bride/ Cary Elwes/ 259 pages

As You Wish, written by Cary Elwes, takes the reader behind the scenes of the Princess Bride.  From screenplay to the 25 Anniversary of the movie' release, Cary, aka the 'Dread Pirate Roberts, aka Westley, shares information on how the project was started, stalled and finally brought to life by Rob Reiner.  Along the way the reader learns how much work went into the 'greatest sword fight in modern times' and how performed with a broken toe.  Cary tells the story through his experience and members of the cast and crew relate their impressions.  Who played the ROUSes?  Which actor had a fear of heights?  What is 'the American'?  If you liked the Princess Bride, now some what of a cult film, you will enjoy this book.  For more information check out the SCCCLD website.

Video Kill/Joanne Fluke/447 pages

Tony and Erik have a great idea for screenplay. They want to make a movie about a serial killer. The only studio that will consider it takes a year option to buy. Eleven months later, the script is still sitting on the shelf until a real serial killer starts terrorizing Los Angeles. The script becomes hot property especially when it starts mirroring exact details of the murder. With details only known to the police and the killer, how can the rewrites on the script be so spot on to the actual crime?


Fluke is known for her Hannah Swensen mystery series. This novel moves away by just a bit from a cozy mystery. It has a great premise that could have been a little more suspenseful, but it was still entertaining. The ending was a little too "romance" for my tastes, but that didn't spoil the whole book for me.