About one in every ten books I read becomes a permanent addition to my ever growing collection of books. Mainly for the reason that after a few pages I know I'm going to revisit the work and pull out a pen and start underlining, making notes in the margin and essentially have a literary orgasm.

Foreskin's Lament did just that.

There has been a trend in publishing lately that writing about God from a negative standpoint means $$. I have yet to read most of these works, but what struck me instantly is that Auslander believes in God, he is just very pissed off at him, a feeling I'm personally all too familiar with.

The memoir is a humorous lament of Auslander and his abusive upbringing in a strict Jewish household. The chapters regarding masturbation are spectacular because Auslander captures the conflict of being a masturbating teenager and thinking that God is waiting around the corner to humiliate you or even kill you for your heinous act.

In a related book, see "Superstud" by Paul Feig who was raised a Christian Scientist.

I love when religion, spirituality and our human condition are dealt with a sense of humor. The 'woe is me' memoirs, while they have their place, are utterly forgettable compared to works like Auslander's.

We all struggle with spirituality. Even atheists are spiritual. Auslander isn't an arrogant writer who has all the answers, but he nails the human condition like the best of them.

Literary love,

Tony DuShane