The Princess Bride (the movie) is a beloved classic with something for everyone. Adventure, romance, swordfights, kissing, Andre the Giant. It's one of those movies I can watch in my head. The book is... quite different. Well, the heart of it is the same beloved story, but the meta-textual framing is totally different. No longer a grandpa reading the story to his sick grandson, it's Goldman's abridgment of S. Morgenstern's novel, as read to him by his (fictitious) immigrant father, and redone for his (fictitious) son. The "original" novel has all the trilling adventure, but they're separated by hundreds of pages of (now elided) historical and political satire about the Kingdom of Florin.

It's a good story. But the thing is that it was done perfectly in the film adaptation, and the additional material serves mostly to round out the character of Prince Humperdink, who doesn't need it in the slightest. The meta-story is just not as good. And the new material, the introductions to the 25th and 30th anniversary editions, and the partial sequel Buttercup's Baby, are totally unnecessary and actually detract from the whole.

If this is the edition you've got, read it, you'll like it. But just read the real book and skip the rest.