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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
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On Writing & Reading

Here you'll find author profiles as well as mini – and not-so-mini – book reviews. I’m a writer who loves to talk about writing, so if you like to write I hope you’ll stop by now and then for some writing tips and to chat about the writing life.

Do Books Have Rights? This One Didn’t. I Threw It in the Trash.

September 14, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[caption id="attachment_9888" align="aligncenter" width="500"]children's book reviewer barbara falconer newhall has tossed a children's book in the trash. Photo by BF Newhall Into the trash with this adorable mousey book! Photo by BF. Newhall[/caption]

It was a book, a children’s book. But I dumped it in the garbage anyway. I threw it out the way I would toss out a dead flashlight battery or a slab of moldy cheddar. Read more.

John Shelby Spong: Christianity (Some of It) Is Bunk

September 11, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

John Shelby Spong book jacket, Eternal Life: A New Vision

Former Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong minces no words: It’s time to ditch the two principle beliefs of Western religion. First,
that God is other. And second, that we are alienated from God, guilty as hell, and in dire need of atonement. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: He Never Called Me Back . . . Why?

August 21, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

book jacket for Why He Didn't Call You Back by Rachel Greenwald.

The book’s cover was fuchsia, its title blunt: “Why He Didn’t Call You Back.” Just what I needed years ago when I was young and single and wondering why so many guys would take me out once or twice — then disappear without explanation. Gone. Evaporated. Poof. Read more.

Noah Lukeman on the Colon, That Most Majestic of Punctuation Marks . . .

August 14, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="374"]Noah Lukeman portrait. Noah Lukeman[/caption]

Ever since I read Noah Lukeman’s treatise on the comma in a 2006 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, I have been a fan. A devotee. No, let’s face it, a groupie. Read more.

The Writing Room: If It’s Religious, Can It Be Art?

August 10, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Religious art. A rose wind in a church. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Is religious art an oxymoron these days? Can “great” art address matters spiritual in the modern era? Read more.

More Thoughts — on Sex — From/To/About Lauren Winner

August 7, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Something I’ve learned about current trends in evangelical Christian sex: it’s sexy. Note, for one thing, the voluptuously unfolding magnolia on the cover of Lauren Winner’s book, “Real Sex”.

Writing Room: A Week With Lauren Winner — Of “Girl (Woman) Meets God”

August 3, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God, is anything but girlish. First of all, she’s a woman, not a girl — she’d like that to be clear. She also has a tough, incisive mind.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Breaking News: The Afterlife Is ‘Fantastic’

the afterlife is fantastic
This just in — the afterlife is “fantastic.” That’s the news from Jon. And he should know, he’s been in the afterlife since February. Read more.

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TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

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Olompali State Historic Park, CA, trees dying against a blue sky. Photo by Barbara Newhall.

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Writer Barbara Falconer Newhall wears a khaki Mao hat with numerous Mao buttons in Beijing. Photo by BF Newhall

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