April 7 marks yet another beginning of, well, everything. That is, if you're a believer in the Old Testament, Jonathan Goldstein style.
Goldstein, contributing editor to This American Life and author of Lenny Bruce Is Dead, has re-imagined neurotically, meticulously and laugh-out loud funny some of his favorite Old Testament heroes. Publishers Weekly says of Goldstein's ancient Israeli characters that David kills Goliath not so much for his people as for laughs, and Jonah's lesser-known brother Vito fears that God's hand in Jonah's stint inside the whale has less to do with Jonah than Vito's own role in a youthful penis-touching incident.
So far my personal favorite in the collection (some of which you can listen to online) is Adam and Eve in the Garden, not because Goldstein nails Adam and Eve in all their contemporary humor and yearning, not to mention Adam's boredom and Eve's postmodern ken of sexual power, but because of The Snake--one wicked-funny adorably winning evil thing that channels, magically, the souls of Iago, Bugs Bunny, and we imagine Goldstein himself.
-Post contributed by Stacy Muszynski
Purchase Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible at Powells.