Yesterday I started and finished the audiobook of Mark Twain’s The Diaries of Adam and Eve and I enjoyed almost every one of  the 125 minutes of it!  The version I listened to was preformed by Betty Buckley, Mandy Patinkin with an introduction and conclusion by Walter Cronkite.

This short book is actually two of Twain’s short stories that were married together as a kind of dialog. Both Adam and Eve follow the gender stereotypes of Twain’s era (Eve is a chatterbox in need of companionship while Adam is more aloof and likes to build shelters), but they are definitely three dimensional characters who just happen to start with these stereotypes. Eve is curious, caring and smart. Adam is not quite as smart as Eve, but he tries to put order to his world and the things in it.

Their story starts at the beginning and really the first half of the book is the funniest and best as Eve stalks Adam, scares him up a couple of trees and names all the creatures before he has a chance to since he was going to name the dodo a wildcat. The second half has its moments too. It takes place after the fall and it is especially entertaining to see Adam try to figure out what Cain exactly IS since he was gone when the baby was born and he’d never seen an animal like it before.

This book was recommended by my dad and I recommend it to you – especially the audio version I got through MNLink.

*****