Shelving Cart Podcast is hosted by @sarah-the-librarian and Teddy, two librarians! We love talking about books. S1 is all about sci-fi and fantasy books! New episodes, every other Wednesday. New episode on a Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin out now!!
Ted and Sarah discuss A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. Discuss background on Le Guin, and the creation of Earthsea. We do discussi
Ted and Sarah discuss A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. Discuss background on Le Guin, and the creation of Earthsea. We do discussion questions, book recommednations, likes, dislikes, and more!
Bonus Episode: Interview with Michelle Min Sterling
Teddy and Sarah are joined by Michelle Min Sterling, author of Camp Zero. They ask questions about her writing method, what happened to some
Michelle Min Sterling author of Camp Zero came onto the podcast to talk with us about her book, writing inspirations, her work as a faculty member at Berklee College of Music and more! Check it out!
Today, Teddy and Sarah discuss Fledgling by Octavia Butler. Please note this episode covers issues of racism, violent racist acts, and impli
Teddy and Sarah discuss Fledgling by Octavia Butler. Please note this episode covers issues of racism, violent racist acts, and implied pedophilia. We cover likes, dislikes, themes, racism, sexism, ableism, book recommendations, and Octavia Butler's life and work.
Today, Teddy and Sarah discuss Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida CĂłrdova. They cover likes, dislikes, background on Cordova, the plot, characters, l
Teddy and Sarah discuss Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida CĂłrdova. They cover likes, dislikes, background on Cordova, the plot, characters, love triangles, mythology, book recommendations, and more!
S01 E02 - Episode 2: The Princess Bride by William Goldman - Show Notes
On July 5th, 2023 we discussed The Princess Bride. Here are our shownotes. After the line break we discuss:
William Goldman background information
Good Reads reviews for the book
The narrative frame of the book
Plot Summary
Book recommendations
ALSO, there are tons of spoilers.
Teddy's Notes on William Goldman:
Who the Fuck is William Goldman?
Born to a Jewish family (heyo!) in Chicago in 1931, and graduated from Oberlin College in 1952. He took a creative writing course there, but he says his grades were horrible. Despite the fact that he was an editor of the collegeâs literary magazine, he says that other editors read his anonymous submissions and said, âwe canât possibly publish this shit.â
He was drafted for the Korean War and, due to his typing skills, was assigned as a clerk in the Pentagon.
Thanks GI Bill! Goldman got his master of arts from Columbia, studying the comedy of manners in America.
Goldmanâs older brother, James Goldman, was a playwright and screenwriter. William Goldman lived with him and a friend, John Kander, who also went to Oberlin. You might know John Kander as the composer for Cabaret, and Chicago. Eventually all three of them, William, James, and John, would win Academy Awards for their work.
Last week we talked about how PROLIFIC Suzanne Collins was. Now itâs time to talk about William Goldman:
He wrote 17 novels, one childrenâs book, 5 short stories, and 8 works of non-fiction (if you donât count the books that assemble his screenplays).Â
He is a credited producer on 24 films, including the Princess Bride, of course, but also Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the Stepford Wives, among others.
The Dish from Tisch: William Goldman was the script doctor for Good Will Hunting... which won Matt Damon and Ben Affleck the Oscar for best screenplay.
The Princess Bride was originally published in 1973, but we should honor it with its full title:
âThe Princess Bride: S. Morgensternâs Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure, The âGood Partsâ Version, Abridged by William Goldman.â More on this later.
The bookâs actual beginnings were in stories that William Goldman told to his daughters (he thankfully does not have a son).Â
The book was adapted into a movie, and William Goldman did write the screenplay (which makes sense given his background). The film was directed by Rob Reiner, and starred Robin Wright and Cary Elwes.
There was going to be a musical, but Goldman had a falling out over royalties with his partner, Adam Guettell, over royalties (Goldman wanted 75%, despite not touching the score). An orchestral suite from the score was performed at the Hollywood Bowl in 2006, but then the project went under.
Selected silly GoodReads reviews:
Ganesh - 2007 - 5 star reviewÂ
âFunnier and more sexist than the movie.â
Andrea in 2007 added this to her âWant to readâ
âCan't wait to read the book! I loved the movie, and not just because we got to see Cary Elwes without his shirt onâŠâ
Patricia in 2007 gave it 4 stars and said
âThe story is beautiful and the writing is humorous. My only problem is that it follows the traditional "damsel in distress" plot that has gotten so old. Princess Buttercup is a very weak female character, but I don't know yet whether the author is using her to make a statement about the roles of women in fairytales.â
Teddy's Notes on the Narrative Frame:
And THEN thereâs the mock introduction to book itself. I am NOT ashamed to admit that I took a break and googled if S. Morgenstern was real or not. He is not.
Despite pulling directly from Goldmanâs real life, including details like the bookâs publisher (Harcourt), Goldmanâs film career (like working on The Stepford Wives), and the name of his wife (Helen), the actual introduction to the book is a fictional frame story that sets up the âoriginalâ Princess Bride as a rare novel by Florinian author S. Morganstern. Florin is a fictional country, which is your tip-off, pretty much. Narrator/Adapter William Goldman is different than author William Goldman, despite the fact that real-Goldman DID adapt the Princess Bride, presumably âThe Good Parts,â into a movie. Um, this is actually a catalogerâs worst nightmare.
Goldman was a fucking prankster and I am feeling tricked!!!
So thereâs the lack of a big reunion scene between Buttercup and Westley, and Goldman claims in one of his little asides that he wrote one himself, but his editor wouldnât let him put it in. Instead, readers can write to Harcourt publishers and request a copy of the fake-Goldmanâs added reunion scene.
Many readers wrote in to the publisher and did receive a letter, but instead of an extra scene, the letter detailed the (obviously fictitious) legal problems that Goldman and his publishers encountered with the Morgenstern estate and its lawyer, Kermit Shog.Â
This letter was revised and updated periodically; the 1987 revision mentioned the movie, while the 25th Anniversary Edition published the letter with an addendum about Kermit's lawyer granddaughter Carly.
 The 30th Anniversary Edition has a footnote that the three pages of the reunion scene were now available online. This is my edition! However, the website itself contained nothing but the text of the original three letters.Â
This website has since been taken down and superseded by the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt product page for the book, which provides the 2003 version of the Reunion Scene letter as a digital download.[14]â
The 25th anniversary editionâs epilogue mentions a sequel, Buttercupâs Baby, which the epilogue says was âhaving trouble getting published because of Legal difficulties with S. Morgensternâs estate.â Later editions (MINE!) include a fake sample chapter, about rescuing Buttercupâs baby but that also includes flashbacks to Inigoâs past and training as a swordsman.Â
The chapter contains footnotes in which fake-Goldman is OUTRAGED to learn that the rights for the abridgement of Buttercupâs Baby were given to Stephen King.
Goldman was actually trying to write this sequel, as he admitted in a 2007 interview, but he died in 2018 without doing so.
Sarah's plot summary:
Our (actual) story opens on Buttercup, who is in the top 20th most beautiful women alive, and is a milkmaid in the country of Florin. On her farm she has parents who argue and a farm hand named Westley who answers all her requests with âAs you wishâ. She realizes sheâs in love with him when she gets jealous, because she is a woman and jealousy is a main trait of women.Â
Westley leaves to go to America to make money so he can marry Buttercup. Later, Buttercupâs parents tell her Westley has been killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts.
Prince Humperdinck, the prince of Florin needs a wife and he cannot marry a bald woman (because women are only valued for their looks), so his creepy bff the Count Rugen helps him by bringing him to Buttercup where they agree to a loveless marriage.
Before the wedding, Buttercup is out riding when she gets (inconceivably) kidnapped by a trio of outlaws, Vizzini (the Scillian), Inigo Montoya (a Spanish Fencing master/wizard), and a Turkish Wrestler Fezzik. But (inconceivably), they are followed by a masked man in black. He follows them up the Cliffs of Insanity and battles Inigo and wins. Then he battles Fezzik and wins. And then he successfully defeats Vizzini which is inconceivable, but yet still happens via iocane powder.Â
Buttercup and the man in black continue running while they argue, the man in black slaps her, and she pushes him down a hill where he yells âAs you wishâ and we realize itâs actually Westley. Buttercup descends the very steep hill. They reunite! Turns out Westley didnât die he BECAME the dread pirate roberts
But they are being hotly pursued by Prince Humperdink. So they rush into the Fireswamp, Buttercup falls into snow sand, they deal with ROUS-es and come out alive on the other end only to be met by the Prince. Buttercup swaps herself for Westleyâs safety but Humperdinck and Rugen are lying to her about it. They are going to take Westley to the Zoo of Death and torture him.Â
Anyway, Buttercup has nightmares and realizes she canât marry the prince, so she tells the Dink himself and he promises to send his 4 fastest ships to get Westley. But remember, westley is being tortured. Humperdinck is planning to kill Buttercup cause he wants to start a war with Guilder.Â
Itâs the day of the wedding, and cut to our friends Inigo and Fezzik, who were separated after their defeats. Fezzik finds Inigo, sobers him up, and they quest to find the Man in Black aka Westley, because Fezzik has found the six fingered man (Count Rugen), who killed Inigoâs dad and who he has sworn revenge upon. They want the man in black help them plan because Vizzini is an asshole who told them they were stupid. So they hear Westley screaming from torture and find him after traveling through all the levels of the Zoo of Death. They bring him to Miracle Max and Valerie, and Max and Valerie help bring him back from being âmostly deadâ.Â
Westley devises a plan to invade the castle during the wedding, and the commotion caused by this prompts Humperdinck to cut the wedding short. Buttercup decides to commit suicide when she reaches the honeymoon suite. Inigo pursues Rugen through the castle and kills him in a sword fight. Westley reaches Buttercup before she commits suicide and drops the most baller line of all timeâThere's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours.âÂ
 Still partially paralyzed, Westley bluffs his way out of a sword fight with Humperdinck, who shows himself as a coward. Instead of killing his rival, Westley decides to leave him alive. The party then rides off into the sunset on four of the prince's purebred white horses. The story ends with a series of mishaps and the prince's men closing in, but the author indicates that he believes that the group got away.
Book Recommendations:
If you love the Princess Bride we recommend reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diane Wynne Jones
S01 E02 - Episode 2: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Today, Sarah and Teddy are discussiong The Princess Bride: S, Morgensternâs Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure: The Good Parts Ver
Today, Sarah and Teddy are discussing The Princess Bride: S, Morgensternâs Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure: The Good Parts Version abridged by William Goldman, 30th Anniversary Edition. They cover:
