Literary Losses
Johanna Lindsey, the bestselling romance novelist whose career spanned more than four decades and over 50 books, died Oct. 27, 2019, of complications of lung cancer. According to the New York Times, her family was “too devastated” to announcer her death publicly until Monday (Dec. 23.)
Lindsey wrote her first book, Captive Bride, in 1977, at the age of 25. Her most recent book, Temptation’s Darling, was published last July. In between, her sensual, sweeping romances helped make the romance genre the “publishing juggernaut” it remains today. (EW) She spent much of her career with Avon, moving to Simon & Schuster in 2001. The romance world mourned her passing, with many authors citing her influence and fans tweeting remembrances of #MyFirstJohanna.
Obituaries: Entertainment Weekly; Sarah MacLean (Twitter). You may wish to avoid the NYT obituary; I gather a number of romance authors and fans felt it was somewhat dismissive or belittling.
Bookish News
- Equity Firm Agrees to Buy OverDrive from Rakuten. (Publishers Weekly)
2020 Reading Challenges
- The Backlist Reader Challenge 2020, hosted by yours truly, here at The Bookwyrm’s Hoard.
- 2020 Tackle My TBR Reading Challenge hosted by Kimberly Faye Reads.
- POPSUGAR 2020 Reading Challenge — 40 reading prompts plus 10 more “advanced” prompts, the latter all relating to 20 or 2020 in some way. And here’s a printable version of the prompts. There’s also a Goodreads group.
- Library Love Challenge 2020 hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart. Want to make more use of the library in 2020? This challenge is for you.
- COYER Winter with Friends (Dec. 2019- March 2020) — A great challenge if you don’t want to commit to a full year. “Clean out your e-reader” by reading all those free and almost-free digital books/audiobooks you have stockpiled. Hosted by Michelle and Berls of Because Reading, and Stephanie from Once Upon a Chapter. They have a Facebook group for participants to interact.
- The Masterlist of 2020 Reading Challenges at girlXOXO has an extensive list of challenges. Check it out!
Bookish Quote
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out
Sounds like you are all set for 2020 challenges!
Shelleyrae @ Book’d Out recently posted…Review: Aurora Rising by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m still deciding which ones I will actually be doing!
Cleo @ Mysteries and Memoirs
Love that pic of reading under the covers– how wonderful! I am joining a bunch of challenges, slowing making my way through various ones to decide which to join. I have already joined yours and Shelley’s and Tanya Patrice’s so far. Thanks for hosting.
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m glad you’re joining us!
Nicole @ BookWyrmKnits
That’s a great quote!
I’m looking forward to the 2020 Backlist Reader Challenge, and I am always amused by the POPSUGAR Challenges, but that’s where I’m stopping for reading challenges. I know I’ll be adding in a few monthly readathons, and I’m already starting to feel overbooked as it is. 🙂