The Diaries of Adam & Eve translated by Mark Twain and edited by Don Roberts

This morning at church, my friend Donna handed me this book. She had been looking for it for a long time, and had found it in a used bookstore. She was loaning it to me, because she thought I would enjoy it. She showed me how to read it, to be sure I noted that at the top of each page, it told you if it was Adam or Eve speaking. She thought it was funny and showed Twain's love of his wife. She particularly liked the ending. I asked if I could keep it awhile, because it might take some time to get to it. That was fine with her.

Well, I opened this afternoon and couldn't put it down! So clever, so witty, so true, and also sweetly poignant. I finished it in almost no time. It's just a little over a hundred pages long, and the illustrations (by Michael Mojher) are intriguing and beautiful.

I love how Twain's take on masculinity and femininity are played out in the dialogue between Adam and Eve. Adam's mostly clueless, and Eve is a talker. Yet there's a fresh innocence about them both and a truthfulness about their situation that is beguiling and not far removed from scriptural truth.

The editor, Don Roberts, took Twain's separate works on Adam and Eve and combined them into this narrative that is so charming and effective because of the way their views are juxtaposed. Apparently, Twain wanted them to be published together, even though he didn't get to it in his lifetime. The love between Adam and Eve develops and matures and is uplifting to observe. It apparently mirrors Twain's own love of his wife, Livvy. A very sweet read!