(BOOKRING) Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
14 journalers for this copy...
This is one of the smartest, funniest books I've read in a long time. It asks the question, "Ever wonder what Jesus did during his formative yeares before thr first miracle at Cana?", and gives us the answer from the perspective of Biff, Christ's childhood pal. It is firmly tongue-in-cheek, and shouldn't offend anyone (to quote the author: "This story is not and never was meant to challenge anyone's faith; however, if one's faith can be shaken by stories in a humorous novel, one may have a bit more praying to do".) In two words: READ IT!
BOOKRING
Please remember the guidelines:
- journal it
- ship it within a month
- use delivery confirmation (US only)
Shipping order:
- MollyGrue (WA, USA)
- Firegirl (AZ, USA)
- CaffCaff (UK
- Jazz-ee2 (UK)
- Melydia (VA, USA)
- SurfenKitten (NJ)
- Fairfaxgirl (VA, USA)
- AnnaLibrarian (WA, USA)
- MrsOrdonez (USA)
- Bookaholic2 (NJ, USA)
LucyBrown (NC, USA)
- Tenneh (USA)
- BrynnSC (USA) <-- received 11/23/05
- KarenZero (NYC)
- Cowgirl-Up (US)
- DebDebTig (US)
- Mirp (Ireland)
- Harlequinade (Australia)
- Sally906 (Australia)
- ChaoticHampster (Australia)
On to the next reader!
RELEASE NOTES:
Sent to Firegirl. Happy reading1
DC# 03040370000131395722
Will start today (pospone the book im currently reading) and post it on ASAP....
Will journal & rate when i'm done!
I'm not a religious person and i've never read the Bible, so there were a few things that just went straight over my head lol! I think you could be easily offended by this book if you are a devout Christian. I did'nt laugh out loud, but it was very amusing. All in all.....I loved it! And i know i'm gunna miss Josh & Biff now i've finished. The ending was a little "and they all lived happily ever after....." but, the afterword was great, very educational! There was me thinking that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute....Hey, what do i know, just shows you that i should probably read the Bible!
Waiting for addy etc from Jazz.... Will post on as soon as i get it.
RELEASE NOTES:
Sending to jazz-ee2 as next participant....
Hope you enjoy it :o)
Jen
10th March 05 - posted a couple of days ago to Melydia.
Will update rating asap.
This book is pretty funny. Biff is a bit of an ass but a total joy to read. He claims to have invented all kinds of things, from sarcasm to pencils, and his witty but straightforward storytelling is a delight. But however irreverent this book may be, it remains true to the person of Jesus - his kindness, his generosity, his honesty. It also does not dance around his divinity: he was the Son of God and the Messiah, but not quite in the way the Jews expected. Biff's devotion to him is understandable both as a faithful disciple and a lifelong friend.
For most of this book I thought I would be beginning my review with a hearty recommendation against it for any serious Christian. While I still don't know if a Biblical literalist would enjoy this story, I think any Christian (or anyone else) with a fair sense of humor would get a big kick out of it. Moore's epilogue, in which he describes his sources and sheds light on what could have been and what was sheer fiction, sums it up very well: "This story was not meant to challenge anyone's faith; if one's faith can be shaken by stories in a humorous novel, one may have a bit more praying to do."
Released 19 yrs ago (4/3/2005 UTC) at bookring in bookring, Bookring -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Dropped this off tonight, so it'll probably go out in tomorrow's mail. Enjoy!
i was a little nervous before starting this, since i fall into the "religious" category. (being a youth minister and all!) but i couldn't put it down. the narrative was great & i could tell by reading it that Moore had definitely done his homework--from Christian, Jewish and social/historical standpoints. (not that i really know anything; i just recognized a lot of stuff.) it wasn't at all derogatory or insulting to Christians, as far as i'm concerned. Biff's the one that kept messing up, not Joshua.
what a neat idea for Christ to have a loyal friend to bring him down to earth, and even unknowingly help him realize more about his mission! the two opposites played off each other fantastically. also thought it was pretty cool that they studied some of the Eastern religions too; makes sense that the Son of God for all people would learn from a variety of religions. liked how Moore linked them all together and then explained all the history in the Afterword. The band of Apostles was great too--the description probably wasn't as far off as we might think!
i agree with melydia; however crude, dishonest and/or skanky Biff was, Joshua was exactly the opposite and stayed true to the character of who Christ was & what he was about. from Biff's blunders, Joshua brings good. although through most of the last part my lip was curling and i was half expecting to hate the book by the time i finished it, the story stayed true to both Joshua & Biff's characters and i actually liked the ending. (not the epilogue though--weird!)
i might have even recommended it to my youth group if it wasn't for all the, er, gratuitious fornication. i thought some of that harlot business was really unnecessary. but i laughed my head off and the action was great, and through most of it i couldn't help thinking--smite me now--that it would make a great movie.
Thanks for sharing Jamesmum! maybe your books are magnetic, since quite a number of them have gravitated to my bookshelf :) off to fairfaxgirl soon!
The title of this book caught my eye when I first read it. I wasn't quite sure if the book was a satire or a religious tract, and it turns out that it's a little of both. Lamb asks the question, "What if..." and then proceeds to answer it page after page.
The story is told from the perspective of Biff, who was raised from the dead in the present time by an angel (with a directive from God, it seems) to write his gospel. The angel gives him the ability to speak in tongues, so the gospel is written with modern American idioms and informal language. If this book had been written now instead of a few years ago, one might imagine that the author would turn the Gospel of Biff into a blog.
There's a lot in this book that is sure to rile the righteous. Although Joshua (Jesus) remains chaste throughout the story, Biff makes up for it by sleeping with almost every woman he meets. If the sex isn't enough to make biblical literalists squirm, I'm sure that Joshua's insistence than there should be a beatitude for the dumbfucks will do the trick. Clearly Moore had a great deal of irreverent fun filling in the gaps of Jesus' life left by the other gospels. And, as he notes, if this book is enough to shake your faith, then perhaps you need to do a little more praying.
Released 18 yrs ago (6/24/2005 UTC) at Bookring 2 in bookring, Bookring -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
07/29/05
I've sent this on to the next reader, no time for journalling my thoughts now, I promise I will updated later....
Released 18 yrs ago (10/17/2005 UTC) at U.S. Post Office Atlantic + Oak Ave in Wildwood, New Jersey USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Released to:Tenneh
D.C. #03031910000093717556
Excellent! My first Christopher Moore but I will definitely search his books out now!
Released 18 yrs ago (11/5/2005 UTC) at Via Mail in -- Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, Nebraska USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
going to BrynnSC
~Bren~
To date I have read these books by Christopher Moore:
Practical Demonkeeping
Bloodsucking fiends
Island of the Sequined Love Nun
Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove
Fluke
And now Lamb
I think this one is the best so far! I didn't expect to get to it until next week since I've been working so much but my curiosity got the better of me and I had to start. I took it to work and read a few minutes here and there (showed to a customer; she was hooked and went out and bought it!), a little bit after work when I should have been getting some sleep to be able to get my sons up for the oldest to go to school, out on my deck where my neighbor started reading it and was disappointed when I told her she couldn't have this copy (so she went and bought it, too!) and other odd moments. (If authors have problems about their books being passed around on BookCrossing, they're welcome to read this journal since I got Moore 2 sales within a couple days!)
This book was Laugh-Out-Loud funny for me! Hubby gave me dirty looks and resigned sighs when I brought it to bed and wanted to quote from the book to him every couple of minutes. I loved that Biff was a bad boy and total riot while Joshua remained true. It worked so well!
Now I can't wait to read The Stupidest Angel. Although I just read that there is another The Stupidest Angel (2.0) that has an extra chapter in it from Moore's website.
Thanks, Jamesmum, for including me in this ring! I'll PM KarenZero for her address.
All around there are books sipping cool drinks under shady palms while other books participate in a wide variety of beach sports. There is plenty of sand, surf and sun here for all of the lost and wayward books to enjoy.
It is hoped that very soon a new journal entry will come to rescue this book from the island and send it back out into the BookCrossing world so that it may continue on its journey. It is hoped that the new journal entry will tell all the interested parties where this book has been this long time and where it will be traveling to next.