{"id":25644,"date":"2016-11-10T00:01:14","date_gmt":"2016-11-10T08:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=25644"},"modified":"2016-11-10T00:01:14","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T08:01:14","slug":"kudos-for-wrestling-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/kudos-for-wrestling-with-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Kudos for Wrestling with God — The Author Shamelessly Keeps Score"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kudos<\/a>
Announcing big kudos for Wrestling with God.\u00a0Here, the original MS got a final proofread.\u00a0Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

Just so you know,\u00a0kudos has\u00a0been raining down on\u00a0“Wrestling with God” in recent months. I’ve mentioned in past posts some of the very nice reviews and prizes my book has\u00a0received. But I can’t resist tallying them up in one tidy\u00a0list here for all to see.<\/p>\n

My lofty, literary self says, “Take the high road. Ignore the critics and judges, and write, write, write your\u00a0truth as you see it.”<\/p>\n

But today I’m going to ignore that high-minded self of mine and shamelessly report my\u00a0truth as others see it.<\/p>\n

Here goes:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The INDIEFAB logo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Prizes for Wrestling with God<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Gold Medal First Prize,\u00a0IPPY<\/a>, Independent Publisher Book Awards, 2016, Religion – Eastern\/Western<\/p>\n

Finalist,\u00a0Eric Hoffer Book Award<\/a>\u00a0for the Small, Academic and Independent Press, Spiritual<\/p>\n

Finalist,\u00a0Foreword Reviews 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award,\u00a0Religion<\/p>\n

Finalist, 2016\u00a0International Book Awards<\/a>, Religion – General. Sponsored by Bookvana.com.<\/p>\n

Kudos for Wrestling with God From the Critics<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\u201cAny seeker of any faith will be blessed to read the words of this fine author and observer.\u201d \u00a0— Publishers Weekly (starred review)<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>These vivid stories impart hope, insight, and inspiration for those who may be wrestling with their own faith\u2014or lack thereof.\u201d —\u00a0Foreword Clarion Reviews (five stars)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Kudos<\/a>
The Sept. 1 issue of Kirkus Reviews included a review of Wrestling with God.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The following review ran in Kirkus Reviews’ September print edition. Kirkus subscribers include\u00a0librarians, booksellers, publishers and agents.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Newhall explores the porous boundary between skepticism and belief in this debut work of nonfiction.<\/p>\n

“In a time when religious people and atheists both seem to be taking a harder line, Newhall considers those whose spiritual leanings fall somewhere between faith and doubt; a category into which she herself fits. After a childhood of strong belief, she found, in adulthood, much more reason to question God\u2019s existence: \u201cEvery once in a while\u2026I\u2019ll feel God\u2019s presence. And for a breathless moment, I\u2019ll remember and think, yes, God is here. Of course God is here. How could it be otherwise? But that is only some of the time. Most of the time I have lived with the otherwise.\u201d She tells the stories of similar people she\u2019s met: a Catholic who left the religion of his childhood for Buddhism; an atheist who attempts to prove God\u2019s existence by asking that he lift a pea; a Muslim musician who is distraught by the changing face of Islam; a Congregationalist minister who questions her faith after losing a pregnancy. The book contains representatives of many traditions: Evangelicalism, Mormonism, Hinduism, the religion of the Miwok of California. Most end up erring on the side of belief, yes, but only after periods of uncertainty. Told with the practiced rhythms of a longtime storyteller (Newhall has been a staff writer at a number of newspapers), the prose is crisp and accessible. The accounts of her subjects are told in the first person, which lends a bit of intimacy to their experiences. The book will likely find its readership among those people who see themselves reflected in its pages\u2014those who have been looking for but not finding God. It succeeds in its reminder that while religious certainty may be an ideal, it\u2019s far from the norm: most are unsure of what powers might exist at the other end of death or prayer or enlightenment. Readers are unlikely to come away feeling closer to any cosmic truths, but they may feel a bit less alone.<\/p>\n

“A thoughtful, well-written sampling of religious uncertainty.” —\u00a0Kirkus Indie<\/a>. September, 2016, print edition\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

More about my rocky spiritual journey at “Is That a Fibonacci Blooming in Our Front Yard?”<\/a>\u00a0 and “God’s Sin? Or Ours?”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Kudos<\/a>
My IPPY gold medal. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Kudos<\/p>\n

Today I\u00a0shamelessly brag about the kudos that\u00a0“Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith” has\u00a0earned: lots of\u00a0nice reviews and prizes. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,52],"tags":[1686,1798,1799,34,1738,1708,1800,1690,1801,488,53],"class_list":["post-25644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-on-writing-reading","category-the-writing-room","tag-book-awards","tag-book-reviews","tag-clarion-foreword-reviews","tag-dont-miss","tag-eric-hoffer-book-award","tag-indiefab","tag-international-book-awards","tag-ippy","tag-kirkus-reviews","tag-the-writing-life","tag-wrestling-with-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}