Rating: 
Summary: Great for those that can take a joke
Review: Christopher Moore's Lamb is fun, offbeat look into the "missing years" of Jesus. The writing is excellent with nearly every page giving either a laugh or a cockeyed insight into the life of Christ that the reader may not have considered. I gave the review 5 stars but certainly there are individuals that would be more then willing to burn the book. It is much more fun to read the book after having a good knowlege of the Bible, but that group will most certainly be in the minority of the readership for this work. The writing style is similar to Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams, though tending more towards Vonnegut's reliance on sexuality for much of the humor. Moore has a small section at the end of the book to explain why he wrote it and it is well worth reading too. All in all a very creative, if not gutsy bit of writing, well worth the read for those that are not easily offended.
Rating:
Summary: The Origin of Blonde Jokes Revealed
Review: One of the funniest books I have read in a long time. I've recently experienced a death in my family, my mother actually, and this book has helped me grieve with humor. It helps in a small way to believe, fiction or not, that even angels have humor, and that perhaps my mother is really enjoying laughter in heaven.Have fun with this one, don't take it too seriously and you will find yourself enjoying yourself immensly.
Rating:
Summary: Lamb-The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Friend
Review: Unbelieveable. Great charater, good compostion, and since we really don't know about Jesus(Joshua) from the time he was born until his ministry started(33yrs) the tale is believable(and funny!)
Rating:
Summary: Mark Twain would have loved it.
Review: The author of 'Practical Demonkeeping' and 'Blood Sucking Fiends: A love story', now brings us The Gospel according to Biff, (Levi bar Alpheus, Christ's childhood pal) a hilarious yet poignant and reverent account of the life of Jesus, from his birth to the begining of his ministry. As that theological publication, Playboy magazine, noted of Christopher Moore: "If there's a funnier writer out there, step forward." BTW, in the 3rd century A.D. (or for those of you who are tragically hip, C.E.) there really was an "Infancy Gospel" attributed to St. Thomas, in which J.C. was presented as an irrepresible 5 year old kid who made clay sparrows on the Sabbath (and turned them to real ones that flew away) cursed his teachers for being doofuses, and eventually learned to control his divine temper. The Church wisely decided that it was, at best, 'Apochryphal'. Here, Biff is brought back to life by the angel Raziel to write his gospel in English, thus he is given the gift of tongues, which he notes is quite useful, as Hebrew not only had far fewer words, but a third were synonyms for guilt, anyway. Biff and Raziel are holed up in a five star hotel. ( Biff notes that in his own days inns were measured by the number of harlots and is not quite sure how to make the conversion into stars ) Raziel, angel of the Lord, is on the side of Good, but he's not the brightest halo in the firmament. While he commands Biff to write, Raziel becomes completely engrossed with T.V. , especially soap operas and professional wrestling---which he's convinced are real. "Soap Opera Digest" obviously being a publication written by a prophet. Biff notes "I understand there's a joke in your time about people with yellow hair being stupid--guess where it came from. " The story involves Joshua trying to learn how to be The Messiah, and his travels with Biff to Afghanistan, China and India--in search of the wisdom of Balthasar, Gaspar and Melchior. The Three Wise Men--who recognized Josh's divinity at birth, but who have their own agendas. Biff is protective of Josh, who, though the Son of God, has problems surviving on the road due to his being way too honest. Besides he's not allowed to 'know women'. Which brings great side benefits for Biff--when the babes fall over themselves for Josh--- but doesn't help their chances of survival. As Biff notes, the problem with his friend not knowing women is that he fails to understand the most basic truth about men; namely that we're lying pigs who will say anything to get what we want. When Josh objects that Confucious (whom he has been studying under Balthasar's tutelage) says the Superior Man never acts contrary to virtue, Biff replies: "Of course, but the superior can get laid without lying, I'm talking about the rest of us!" Balthasar's five nubile Chinese concubines couldn't agree more. In addition to concubines, there are other wonders on their travels including a Yeti, a Kung-Fu Buddhist monastary where Josh develops a system of fighting that won't hurt anyone (Jew-Do, the way of the Jew), Bloodthirsty priests of Kali, an ancient text which Biff concientiously studies while Josh practises his Yoga (The Kama Sutra) The Turin Shroud, and an elephant they ride back to Galilee. And then it gets even better . . .
Rating:
Summary: Dodging Lightning Bolts
Review: I skirted carefully around the bookstore shelves, making sure there were no metal or other conducting objects nearby, picked Lamb up, read the opening paragraph, almost fell over laughing, and immediately bought it. Milton (I think) wrote something along the lines of "it was through gravity, not levity, that Satan fell." Lamb is one of the funniest, most truthful, books I've ever read. Moore obviously has done his religious homework, so having a basic familiarity with the Bible does make Lamb funnier, but it's not an absolute requirement.
Rating: 
Summary: okay maybe three stars
Review: This is my first Moore book, so I had no expectations at all, except that I loved the concept immediately. I would compare his
writing more to Douglas Adams than Tom Robbins. It's quite funny
in places. In other places it is fairly funny, and then in still
other places, it is wince-inducing. But a very enjoyable read,
and delightfully imaginative to be sure. The only other bump in the road is that the last couple chapters are not funny at all-how could they be? This disrupts the momentum and style of the book.
Rating:
Summary: Hillarious, informative
Review: Not sure how a guy named Moore knows so much about being a Hebrew, but he has hit the nail on the head. I caught several stares when I burst into laughter on a recent flight. I was hesitant to buy it as I thought it could be offensive. Lo and behold, it's not! I passed this on to my minister.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Finally, Jesus with a human face!
Review: "The Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" is a highly satirical yet still tender look at the life of Jesus Christ, from when he was about 6, up to the crucifixion. Mary Magdalene also threads prominently through much of the book and the story itself is told by Biff, the so-called thirteenth apostle (he claims the other apostles were jealous and left him out of the gospels) who is re-animated to write a new, more complete gospel. Ok, ok, heresy aside, the book aims to discuss what Jesus might've been up to from the time when he was a small child to about age 30, which the gospels are mostly silent on. It is extremely tongue in cheek and Biff is quite the hell-raiser, the perfect counter to an awkward young Hebrew who is rapidly understanding his purpose on Earth. They travel across much of Asia, learning, teaching, fighting, and finding plenty of adventures before returning to Judea (where the gospels kick in). This book is funny, moving, and thoughtful. The orthodox will not be amused I suppose but for anyone with an open mind about Jesus of Nazareth, you will be well rewarded by this gem.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible & Could Be True
Review: Christopher Moore is a genius. As a fan, I was expecting great, but this blew me away. Levi -- Biff -- is a true personality. The relationship between Biff and the big JC is totally believable. I mean, what would a six year old son of God really be like? I love the sibling rivalry, the dynamic between JC and his earthly "step-dad" Joseph as well as the dumb blond angel. The messages are wonderful and I loved the book so much I had to read it straight through twice.
Rating: 
Summary: Good and bad = mediocre
Review: I want to give this book 5 stars, and I want to give it 0 stars. As a compromise, I'm giving it 2.5. Why I want to give it 5 stars: I think the concept of writing about the "missing years" of the life of Jesus is brilliant, and I applaud the risk that Moore takes in approaching it from the perspective of Christ's self-ironic, wise-cracking best friend, Biff. Since I personally view the bible as predominantly fiction anyway, why wouldn't "The Gospel According to Biff" be any more legitimate an addition than those of Matthew, Mark or Luke? Why couldn't this be the Newest Testament? Why I want to give it 0 stars: Having apparently become prohibitively jaded, I rarely laugh out loud when reading a book any more, but I did at least twice while reading this one. Despite this, however, I found most of the humor in the book to be ineffective, to the point of being debilitating -- in the sense that it distracts rather than illuminates the story, chokes it rather than propels it. And that's the great challenge of writing a funny book: unlike tragedy (and a case could be made that this story is a tragedy), comedy isn't universal, because humor isn't. In this case, the narrator, Biff, has been resurrected by an angel to relate his story, and he does so using contemporary vernacular and attitude. In fiction, of course, the idea is to suspend one's disbelief, but Biff's sarcastic, self-ironic narration, and the use of contemporary cultural idioms, almost insures this book will have a limited shelf life (see "The Mouse That Roared" by Leonard Wibberly, "Chicken Inspector No. 23" by S.J. Perelman, or "Help! I'm A Prisoner In A Chinese Bakery" by Alan King"). I found myself thinking along these lines almost continuously as I read this book, which ultimately spoiled the experience for me. In a way it's like eating cotton candy: a bite or two would have been okay, but it felt instead like I was being force-fed a pound.
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