Read in April, 2004.

Christopher Moore. What a sense of humor that guy has. This is the second novel I've read by him, and it was even better than the first, Practical Demonkeeping . This was an idea whose time has come, and I'm happy to report something that I don't often get to say: it was a great idea, with a superb execution.

This is the story of the lost years of Jesus Christ, who here is known as Joshua. The person relaying the story was Joshua's constant companion since childhood, Levi who is known as Biff.

Although Biff died some 2000 years ago, an angel named Raziel brought him back to life in present time and is holding him hostage in a hotel room until he finishes writing his gospel, which proves to be a lot more inclusive than those of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John.

According to Biff, he and Joshua spent many years travelling in the east; Joshua learning such things as meditation and matter manipulation, while Biff learned about such things as the Kama Sutra and martial arts.

The whole things comes together in a very satisfying way with everything you know from the New Testament, but with Biff and Mary Magdalene playing more major roles then what you've previously been told.

This is a very entertaining and highly recommended read and I'm putting it Flyinfox's reading pile next. I'm also looking forward to reading more from new pal, Christopher Moore.

Caught it from Choclaholic. Placing it on my "to be read" list. Thanks to Choclaholic

On lender from choc and Flyinfox. I'll read it as soon as I get a chance. Thanks!

2005 Book #10 Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
I'd heard about this book and author off and on by various people and how funny it all was, so it was great chance to see a fellow BCer have a copy and happily lend it to me to read.

Thanks a lot for plenty of hours of laughter! This book is SO funny. I was laughing so often that when I first picked it up and went into the bedroom to read it in peace and quiet my husband, morphy, had to come over and see what all the noise was about.

Moore did a very good job in turning one of the world's mysteries into a hilarious story with the technique I often think of as "what if." It's the "what if" that often has me reading fantasy and scifi and it's well used by Moore to go beyond the common dogma of what everyone thinks they know about the life of Jesus and his teachings and his apostles. And it was all done in a very humorous kind of way. In a way it reminded me of the book Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, who also took a story of the Bible (Armageddon) and ran with it. There's lots of hilarious things, especially all the things Biff claims to have invented (sarcasm for example), but the one bit that stuck in my brain probably because I could clearly sing it to myself was Biff's creative re-writing of one of the "Wizard of Oz" songs when he notices something about the protagonists in the movie while watching it one time with his guarding angel. Let's just say that Biff is quite an irreverent and practical kind of guy... I'll even quote it for you:

Oh I would while away the hours,
Wanking in the flowers, my heart all full of song,
I'd be gilding all the lilies as I waved about my willie
If I only had a schlong.

I've passed the book on to morphy and he's enjoying it just as much as I did. He tells me one night while reading in bed and I'd already gone to sleep he had to leave the room because he was laughing so much he was afraid of waking me up with the noise or the bed shaking. :D

We'll see if he writes a review. He has a tendency to not do so.