A Story of God and All of Us: A Novel Based on the Epic TV Miniseries 'The Bible'

We live in such a wonderful time for listening to books. And, there are so very many good ways to listen to the Bible and/or stories about the Bible, biblical characters, studies about Jesus and God. I enjoy these books, but even if they are not your "cup of tea" this book should please. For those not familiar with the Bible, it has sex, violence, blood, guts, intrigue, betrayal, love triangles, murder and much, much more.

I don't have television, so I cannot compare this to the mini-series that is currently running. I had read several things about the upcoming mini-series produced by Roma Downey (Touched by An Angel) and her husband Mark Burnett (reality series producer), with such talent and love of God it had to be a winner. So when I heard there would be a book, I signed up and waited. I will say I love Ms Downey's voice, so I was at first disappointed that she wasn't doing the narration, but, I believe they made the right choice.

You'll note in the description it lists three persons for narration, and indeed Ms Downey and Mr Burnett do narrate, but only at the beginning, when they explain about the book/series, the book itself is narrated by Keith David. He is good and does the book justice.

For anyone who has not read about the mini-series, it touches on stories from Genesis to Revelation, but only a few in depth. According to the producers, the reason for this was simply time and money. It would not be realistic to try to do the whole bible in a spectacular way, so they concentrated on doing just some of the stories in depth. From the book I can say that some of the stories will be familiar to most people, even those who've never read the Bible or stepped foot in a synagogue/church/etc. Some stories are not as well known, but all are done in a way that I believe even school aged boys would find exciting.

No doubt the mini-series with it's special effects will amaze the watchers just as Cecil B. DeMille's the Ten Commandments did in it's time.

In summary, I have truly enjoyed the book and feel it has something to offer for all.

I would recommend this to anyone who has a basic knowledge of the Bible and is wanting to remind themselves of the major themes and stories. As a Christian I really appreciated the reminder of biblical history. This is not a substitute for the bible and there is some artist license taken but then that is never hidden from the reader.I found this more in-depth than the TV series with more of the meaningful undercurrent shown in the narration.I was inspired to go back to the bible and listen/read to Paul's letters after this.The Narration is amazing and Keith David does a great job.Kinda wish they'd done the whole Bible but an 100+ hour audiobook seems a little intense! Lamentations anyone?Overall a pretty great audiobook!

Great synopsis of the various bible stories. It was enjoyable, light listening. This would be a great listen in the car with kids since the stories are relatively short. I agree with some of the other reviews that it's fun to hear the story and then go back to the Bible and read it. You always glean something new when reading the Bible.

Absolutely - This included the essential stories of the bible and leaves the listener wanting more. A great way to become more encouraged to read the Bible. As a woman re-discovering her faith and wanting to know more, this story was a great way to become more intrigued about the mysteries that the Bible holds.

I am not familiar with any other book like this one.

Samson - the narrator gave a very power performance.

Not as extreme as I did watching the mini-series, but I did feel the same gut-wrenching feeling during the crucifixion.

This story makes many stories that may be hard to understand if just read from the bible much more interesting and dramatic and I could not put it down

The bible I would think but that might be to specific but I think that might be my only comparison due to the fact that these stories are straight out of scripture and made to be more understandable to the average reader.

His was my first by Keith David but I thought his performance was very good never had difficulty with clarity and it was a recognizable Hollywood voice

Well I would say Jesus because he has always been my inspiration and to read histories like they were portrayed in this book was a complete joy and absolutely moving