Audiobook Review: As You Wish

As You Wish: Inconceivable Takes from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

Narrated by: Cary Elwes, with guest appearances
Genre: Memoir
Maturity Level: 2
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories, exclusive photographs, and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.

The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to never-before seen photos and interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets, backstage stories, and answers to lingering questions about off-screen romances that have plagued fans for years!

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I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was like watching a behind-the-scenes or making-of film, but obviously no such thing exists. This is the next best thing. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Elwes had collaborated with other members of the cast and production team to make it an all-play. Which, honestly, he kind of did, so it could almost not be better.

Audiobook Review: Agent Zigzag

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal by Ben Macintyre

Narrated by: John Lee
Genres: Non-fiction, History, Biography
Maturity Level: 3+ (some mention of prostitutes)
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Rating: ⋆⋆⋆

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.

In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders from the Abwehr to blow up an airplane factory. Instead, he contacted MI5, the British Secret Service. For the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service who at one time volunteered to assassinate Hitler for his countrymen. Crisscrossing Europe under different names, all the while weaving plans, spreading disinformation, and, miraculously, keeping his stories straight under intense interrogation, he even managed to gain some profit and seduce beautiful women along the way.

The Nazis feted Chapman as a hero and awarded him the Iron Cross. In Britain, he was pardoned for his crimes, becoming the only wartime agent to be thus rewarded. Both countries provided for the mother of his child and his mistress. Sixty years after the end of the war, and ten years after Chapman’s death, MI5 has now declassified all of Chapman’s files, releasing more than 1,800 pages of top secret material and allowing the full story of Agent Zigzag to be told for the first time.

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Agent Zigzag was my first non-fiction audiobook, and I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy the experience as much as I expected to. I found the narrator, John Lee, to be a bit dry. Listening to him drone on and on and on about World War 2 was a bit like listening to an uninteresting lecture. That’s not to say he did a poor job. He pronunciation in particular was on-point, and I was impressed by his ability to imitate different accents. And his inflection was fine, giving me a clear idea of tone and personality. It just … never ended. He never seemed to pause for a breath. I needed time every paragraph or so to process what I’d learned.