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About Barbara
I’m Barbara Falconer Newhall and I’ve got a serious case of the human condition.
I’ve done it all: career, family, house, garden, and a prize-winning book, "Wrestling with God." The result: I'm a woman of years, lots of them, who can't help seeing things from the funny side.
Tucked away on this website are hundreds of riffs on life. I hope you’ll seek them out – and keep me company as I discover the humor, if not the meaning, in what life throws my way. Learn More
THE LATEST
Help ‘Wrestling with God’ Find Its Readers
“Wrestling with God” is a multi-faith book and a great gift for the upcoming holidays. It’s what our strife-ridden world needs right now. Read more.
BARBARA’S BOOK
★ Publishers Weekly, starred review
Any seeker of any faith will be blessed to read the words of this fine author and observer. Read more.
An inveterate doubter for most of her adult life, journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall embarks upon a quest to find a way to believe in God in the twenty-first century.
The result is Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith, which details her search for the Divine in the lives of diverse Americans – from a fundamentalist Christian to a progressive Muslim to a Buddhist monk.Seekers of all persuasions will feel represented here, from priests, ministers, and rabbis to engineers, physicists, and avowed non-believers . . . a riverflow of a book. — Phil Cousineau, host of PBS’s Global Spirit
Recent Riffs on Life
A New Roll-Out for ‘Wrestling with God’ — Just in Time for the Holidays
Big news! Today is the day. It’s a new roll-out for my prizewinning book “Wrestling with God.” Join the celebration. Buy a copy or two! Read more.
I’m Not Going to Rant About the Election Results. Here’s Why
I’m not going to rant about the election results. The world doesn’t need another angry argument. I’m going to write about my garden. Or try to. Read more.
DON’T MISS!
The Trouble With Daffodils — and My Writing
The trouble with daffodils is they have no subtext. They are all cheer and sparkle and optimism. They are avatars of perky. They get on my nerves. Read more.
Writing the Personal Essay — Forget the Good, Go for the Bad and the Ugly
When I’m writing a personal essay or a blog post, I find that nice stories in which I behave well and come off looking good generally don’t work so well. I look for the bad story, the ugly story, the story that shows off my marvelous human shortcomings.
Pete Holmes, Stephen Colbert (and God) on Life and Death
At Easter Christians celebrate Jesus’s resurrection — Jesus was dead, and then he wasn’t. Was Jon dead, and then not? Read more.