Everything you dreamed Cary Elwes would whisper to you: “As you wish”

Tags

Cary Elwes, William Goldman

Imagine you love a film for its charming characters, its witty humor, the adventures, and the inconceivable turns of a plot that every single time makes you hold your breath, mourn or laugh in complete delight. Of course, there is only one film that fits that description, and we all know it’s The princess bride. Cary Elwes, the actor who plays Westley, has made our dreams come true thanks to this book.

A couple of years ago there was an event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film, and Elwes came up with the idea of narrating his experience during the making of The princess bride, answering all the questions he has been asked during his acting career, which he thinks will be most remembered for the role of Westley.

Sometimes I hear people say that they don’t have a favourite book, or that they can’t decide which one their favourite is, and I just think they still haven’t read that book, because I sometimes pick up The princess bride just to read one or two pages at random, and that alone brightens my day – this is what a favourite means, and every reader needs to find their own.

As for a film, I think it’s the same. If you happen to know every line of The princess bride by heart, you will enjoy As you wish from cover to cover. Elwes starts at the beginning, as it should be, when he was casted in Germany for the role, and continues with anecdotes of all the cast members during the shooting, including comments about that time from the other actors and several behind-the-scenes memories of friendships that still last nowadays. They made a special piece of art which has never stopped gaining fans over the years, and this is Elwes’ homage to all of us, the people who have enjoyed watching it over and over.

I think it’s indispensable to read As you wish if you are a fan of the film; in fact, I don’t think anyone who doesn’t know every sequence in the film will like this book.

So grab your copy and place yourself again in the Fire Swamp fighting against Rodents of Unusual Size and saving Buttercup from the fire, training for the Greatest Sword Fight in Modern Times, which didn’t need stunt doubles, or burst out laughing with Miracle Max and Valerie, who improvised most of their lines! You’ll have the greatest of times, I promise.

As you wish, by Cary Elwes
Touchstone
Hardcover, 260 pages
asyouwishbook.com

Advertisement

What I’m reading – mid-August

Tags

Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Cary Elwes, Sarah Sundin

I hate summers, but this one is being remarkable tough in so many ways. The main issue has been my father, who had a scheduled – but serious – heart surgery last Wednesday. My family and I have spent long hours there in hospital with him, and I don’t know what’s wrong about the place, but it leaves you exhausted. Luckily, he is the best of patients, and has been following all the prescriptions and doing all the exercises the nurses and doctors command, and he is at home now, with a long way ahead to make a full recovery, though.

I have begun a couple of books these days, which is not a reading habit that I have, but I suddenly found myself in the hospital, the day of my father’s surgery, with nothing to read and long hours ahead in the waiting room, so I started the last novel of Arturo Pérez-Reverte (Hombres Buenos, still not available in English), which my father had just finished the night before, already hospitalized. It starts well and it’s set in the nineteenth century, a time that I know quite well due to the Law text books that I have to study, and also thanks to some historical fiction novels that I have enjoyed in the past.

Besides, I started a book that I purchased at the beginning of the year: As you wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, by the actor Cary Elwes, which is a delight. If you love The princess bride (the film and the book), not reading it would be inconceivable 😉 My father is also a fan of the film, so these last days I’ve been telling him anecdotes that I’ve read on the book and we had had a lot of fun.

With all the drives up and down the hospital, I have been disconnected from the blogging world and I forgot that I had organized a joint reading with my Spanish fellows! You know that I run a reading challenge for people to read in English, and I organize activities from time to time. We are reading With every letter, by Sarah Sundin, and it is still free on Amazon, if you want to join us. We are commenting the book on twitter with the hastag #WithEveryLetter.

And that’s all for now. I took this afternoon off, and hopefully I will come back to my daily routines tomorrow.

Hope you have a nice week!

New books – March 2015

Tags

Cary Elwes, Cynthia Swanson, Deepak Chopra, Sara Gruen, Sarah Salway, Vera Jane Cook

Time to show you my new babies! 😀

The bookseller, by Cynthia Swanson: this is my current read, and I’m absoultely hooked.

As you wish, by Cary Elwes: I needed this book so badly that I purchased it in a local bookshop. I did it on Christmas, and they finally received in mid-February.

At the water’s edge, by Sara Gruen: I got this one from Netgalley – I’m looking forward to reading more by the author after Water for elephants.

Getting the picture, by Sarah Salway: the publishers sent me an email a couple of weeks ago, and I saw this book talking about letters and family secrets, so I couldn’t resist – this is my cup of tea when it comes to novels!

Pleasant day, by Vera Jane Cook: I have read several novels by this author and I loved them, so when I saw this one was on tour, I applied!

What are you hungry for? by Deepak Chopra: I’m reading it at the moment and I love the author’s approach about food and how we eat.