Lamb

About the only thing most people know about the life of Jesus Christ is that he was born in a manger, disappeared for about 30 years, and then had an interesting time just before his death. Christopher Moore fills in the gap with his masterpiece "Lamb," an unauthorized (obviously fictional) biography of Christ written by his childhood buddy Biff. It's a hilarious tale featuring magic, philosophy, and the occasionally bawdy adventure that Moore includes in many of his books. (As near as I can tell as no expert on biblical matters, the story doesn't contract the bible. Although if you're… show more.

Although Moore is one of my favorite authors, most of his books are not exactly about austere topics. His brand of absurdism features outlandish characters such as demons, vampires, stupid angels, tricksters, and lustful sea beasts. Yet Moore writes with a superlative intelligence that never disappoints me. This novel was an easy pick for my list. In it, Moore retells the story of Christ with a paradoxically reverent irreverence. It’s well-researched and details facts about Eastern religious traditions and Roman history as well Biblical events. I’ve recommended this book to so many people. And only a few of them were… show more.

Brilliant, playful, and often poignant, Moore presented his take on the life of Jesus with genuine care. While I’m certain there are folks who might find any level of fictionalizing Jesus’ life offensive, I was thoroughly impressed with Moore’s ability to explore the subject with a painstaking level of respect…and great fun! His Afterword in the edition I own maps out in detail some of the efforts he made to empathize with his characters and the times they lived in.

Lamb is subtitled "The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal"—which gives it away. As does the cover of the Harper edition (2002). This was one of the first of Christopher Moore's novels that I read (the guy's hilarious), and it remains my favourite, by far. Just one chapter in... "he healed his brother Judah's fractured skull after a game of 'stone the adultress' got out of hand..."