Recently Read - Lamb by Christopher Moore

I recently came across this very funny author called Christopher Moore. Well, he's been around for sometimes, but I only discovered him recently. I don't think I ever came across his books in Sri Lanka. His genre is comic fantasy.

I found that there are two used book stores near to our apartment, which is like heaven for me. I was in two minds whether or not to buy novels brand new, since I can't be sure whether I'll have enough room in the luggage to bring them back home, so when i found these two basically right next door I was over the moon. The books are really good quality, can't even say that they are used, and nearly half the retail price. So to make long story short, I was perusing the shelves in one when I came across a book called "Lamb" by Christopher Moore. What grabbed me was the tag line "The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal".

The protagonist of the story is Levi, who is called Biff, who is Jesus's best friend since childhood. He is risen from the dead in modern day to write a gospel of his own, because people need a, I don't know, a friendlier gospel.

Here, the culprit is of course Biff, who likes to get into trouble. It is an imaginative account of what Jesus would have done in his childhood years and before he started his ministry. It explores the idea that he spent his youth travelling the east, with Biff in tow, to learn about human nature and the teachings of other religions and beliefs of the time. Afterwards, after Jesus starts preaching, how Biff is his right hand man and helps with the work, and how he tries hard to save Jesus from the tragic destiny, as any best friend would do.

The story doesn't step on what people believe, and not offensive to Christianity at all. Well, at least i thought so. I don't know about religious extremists though. It's a story about friendship, love, and tolerance of others and the beliefs of others all rolled into one funny package.

It's a great book, so I recommend it if you like comic fantasy.

There are about 13 other novels by Christopher Moore in the same genre, so I'm planning to find them soon.

 Christopher Moore's site

Amazon Link