Carolyn Lamberson

After a bang-up end to 2019, with a fall slate that included Timothy Egan, Tom Mueller, Rene Denfeld and Ben Goldfarb, the Northwest Passages Book Club has taken a well-deserved rest. The rest time is over. The Spokesman-Review’s book club and community forum will ramp up toward a full spring beginning this month. Included is an event featuring one of the most-anticipated books of 2020.

Earlier this fall, The Spokesman-Review honored 15 women for the work they have done to improve the quality of life in the Inland Northwest. (Revisit those stories at spokesman.com/sections/women-of-the-year/.) On Thursday night at the Bing Crosby Theater, we’ll give these fine community members a proper shoutout during a special Women of the Year event with the Northwest Passages Book Club. Joining us will be two impressive women who talk about “Making Life Work on Your Terms.” Karen Wickre is a former executive at Google and Twitter, and Tess Vigeland is a former reporter and host for the public radio business magazine “Marketplace.” Joining them onstage to moderate the conversation will be Mary Cullinan, president of Eastern Washington University.

Annual series of news stories profiling Spokane-area Difference Makers will begin in late December and continue through New Year’s Eve.

In the mid-1980s, legendary playwright Neil Simon did something unusual. He took one of his best-known works, “The Odd Couple,” and adapted it for female leads.