151 ratings | 16 reviews | avg rating:4.79

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Barbara Langhorst

Goodreads Author

Born

Edmonton, AB

Website

https://www.barbaralanghorst.com

Genre

Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction

Member Since

July 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/barbaralanghorst

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Barbara Langhorst's first book, Restless White Fields (2012), won Poetry Book of the Year Awards in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Her debut novel, Want (2018), was shortlisted for the Regina Public Library Book of the Year. Her second novel, The Winter-Blooming Tree, was released in Oct. 2021. After teaching at St. Peter's College in Muenster, SK for nearly 20 years, she and her husband have relocated to a townhouse with a tiny perfect kitchen in Edmonton, AB. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What inspired the writing of your wonderful novel, Want?

Barbara Langhorst Thanks so much, Shawna, for the question, and for the lovely review. I'm so glad you liked the book. I started Want because I wanted to work through a…moreThanks so much, Shawna, for the question, and for the lovely review. I'm so glad you liked the book. I started Want because I wanted to work through a problem that was plaguing me (I wanted a new kitchen). However, my main character, Delphine, quickly took on a life of her own, and most of the things that happen to her are truly fiction. Yes, some of the characters are based on people I've known, but they deal with different opportunities and challenges. The funny thing is that my real-life sister read the book and loved it, and is now all set to move the family up to Prince Albert--all we need is a hidden homestead off the grid. Writing the book has helped me understand why I found myself so obsessed with wanting things when what I was really worried about was--wait! People will have to read the book. I'd love to hear what they think.(less)

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How do you deal with writer’s block?

Barbara Langhorst I follow Hemingway's advice: I leave myself an idea or several when I quit for the day, so I always have somewhere to start. I also email myself ideas…moreI follow Hemingway's advice: I leave myself an idea or several when I quit for the day, so I always have somewhere to start. I also email myself ideas if the blank page is too forbidding.(less)

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Barbara Langhorst’s books

Average rating: 4.17 · 41 ratings · 16 reviews · 3 distinct works

	Want 3.96 avg rating — 25 ratings — published 2018 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Winter-Blooming Tree 4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings — published 2021 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Restless White Fields it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Barbara’s Quotes

“Every morning brings us news of the globe, and yet we are poor in noteworthy stories. This is because no event comes to us without being already shot through with explanation. In other words, by now almost nothing that happens benefits storytelling; almost everything benefits information. Actually, it is half the art of storytelling to keep a story free from explanation as one reproduces it. . . . The most extraordinary things, marvelous things, are related with the greatest accuracy, but the psychological connection of the event is not forced on the reader. It is left up to him to interpret things the way he understands them, and thus the narrative achieves an amplitude that information lacks.”
― Walter Benjamin, Illuminations: Essays and Reflections

tags: storytelling

82 likes

“There is no document of civilization that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.”
― Walter Benjamin

209 likes

“The destructive character knows only one watchword: make room; only one activity: clearing away ...
The destructive character is young and cheerful. For destroying rejuvenates in clearing away traces of our own age ...”
― Walter Benjamin, Reflections: Essays, Aphorisms, Autobiographical Writings

tags: destructive-character

23 likes

“The only way of knowing a person is to love them without hope.”
― Walter Benjamin

tags: hope, love

461 likes

“I am unpacking my library. Yes I am. The books are not yet on the shelves, not yet touched by the mild boredom of order. I cannot march up and down their ranks to pass them in review before a friendly audience. You need not fear any of that. Instead, I must ask you to join me in the disorder of crates that have been wrenched open, the air saturated with the dust of wood, the floor covered with torn paper, to join me among piles of volumes that are seeing daylight again after two years of darkness, so that you may be ready to share with me a bit of the mood -- it is certainly not an elegiac mood but, rather, one of anticipation -- which these books arouse in a genuine collector.”
― Walter Benjamin