My Adventures with God

Stephen Tobolowsky. Simon & Schuster, $25 (368p) ISBN 978-1-4767-6646-1

More By and About This Author

OTHER BOOKS The Dangerous Animals Club

Character actor Tobolowsky (The Dangerous Animals Club) is best known for his roles in the 1987 sci-fi spoof Spaceballs and the 1993 hit comedy Groundhog Day. Less known is his background as a Jewish Texan, on which these new stories are based. Tobolowsky employs a unique Pentateuch narrative arc to examine his personal creation myth, enslavement, a “Leviticus moment” of self-realization, a Numbers phase of losing friends and family, and a Deuteronomy stage of making “sense of the journey.” Through this device, a hilarious, poignant, complicated, and cautionary tale unfolds. “My first experience with redemption had nothing to do with forgiveness or renewal. It had to do with green stamps,” he writes, explaining that his mother used the stamps as credits for helpful deeds that could be later redeemed for prizes. Tobolowsky’s fast-paced, precise, wide-ranging, and impressive book draws on the I Ching, Talmud, Einstein, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and reruns of SportsCenter to create counterpoints when discussing his life of faith. “Thoughts of God are intended to create doubt,” he writes. “Doubt is integral to wisdom.” This is a well-told must-read for fans of Tobolowsky and for anyone interested in a comedic adventure with the divine. Agent: Jud Laghi, Jud Laghi Agency. (Apr.)