Why I Couldn't Finish It: First, I have to start off why I read it. It was basically a required reading that some friends "assigned" to me back in May, and since I'll read pretty much anything someone recommends, I figured I'd at least try it. 
 And promptly failed. I did give it a good effort, and actually kept going a bit longer than I really wanted to. I really wanted to like it, especially since it's a favorite of one friend. And actually, I've seen it on a bunch of Top Ten Tuesdays, so that was another reason why I wanted to read it. 
 The biggest problem is that I've seen the movie. I actually didn't know there was a book. I don't remember how I found out there was a book, but somehow I did. 
 Seeing the movie isn't a problem. Well, normally, it's not a problem. I try to see the movie first and then read the book whenever possible. That did not work with The Princess Bride. I haven't seen the movie in forever, but I found that a lot of the book made it into the movie. I kept picturing the movie whenever I was reading the book. I just found myself skimming...and skimming...and skimming to get to the parts that I didn't remember from the movie. I dreaded picking up, and pretty much had to force myself into reading it. I was bored...and I had my moments where I was wondering why I was reading the book when I had seen the movie- to me, that's how closely they matched. The two did seem identical, but please take that with a grain of salt, as I haven't seen the movie in a while. But that really is how it seemed to me. 
 And...the book really seemed like it came after the movie, so I was quite surprised to learn that the movie was based on the book. To me, it read like a cute tie-in. Like, with the t.v. show Castle. Now, I don't watch Castle, but I remember something about an actual book written by the fictional character. Or even Meg Cabot writing a romance novel as Mia Thermopolis. That's kind of the feel I got from the book- let's write the book the grandpa was reading in the movie. And it's not a bad thing at all, that's just my impression of what I read. 
 I will say that I like the idea of the book- a guy hunting down his favorite childhood book and re-writing it so that only the good parts are in the book. It's an interesting way to tell a story, but I could have done without the side-notes. And, I kind of hate to say this (but not really) but The Princess Bride worked so much better as a movie than a book. 
 To Sum Up: The Princess Bride didn't work as a book for me, and I think the structure of it worked better in the movie than in the book. Even though I couldn't get into, I'm still glad I gave it a try.