The Institute by Stephen King

My husband loves Stephen King. I think he's read every one of his books. I read a lot of his earlier novels - Salem's Lot, The Stand, The Shining. I admire his creativity and his ability to churn out one story after another, but I haven't read too many of his recent books. Then G finished this one, he moved it to my "to be read" shelf and said, "Read this one next".

Stephen King knows how to develop characters, and I think he's especially good at capturing children. I won't give away any plot secrets, but there are a group of children in this book, and he gives them all personalities and quirks and makes them come alive. The story is a page-turner, and I spent too many nights staying up late trying to get to a good place to stop.... and not finding one. The ending wasn't quite what I wanted, but it probably ended the only way it could. I won't say any more. Recommend - June

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

In my Mother-Daughter Book Club, the Boomers have worked hard to bring out the Millennials, and I feel we are making great progress. One of the Millennials recently thanked all of us for introducing her to reading!! So when one of these lovely young women recently offered to host a meeting AND she had selected a book for us to discuss, I knew I not only would read the book, but I would do everything I could to love it. I can't show up to the meeting and bash her book.

But boy, it will be tough.

Alice falls down while working out at the gym and bumps her head. When she wakes up, she can't remember anything that has happened in the past 10 years. She thinks she's still pregnant and 29 when in fact she is a 39-year-old mother of three who is in the process of a divorce. As Alice struggles to puzzle together her life over these missing years, we are forced to hear about how thin, rich, and privileged she is. And she has a new man who is crazy about her but who she doesn't even know. Somehow she can't remember her children but she can remember her computer password. Go figure. Anyway, the book is FAR too long and repetitive, and the author does the thing I hate most.... manipulates the reader by giving clues the story will go one way when in fact it doesn't - over and over. OK, I need to stop hating it long enough to come up with something positive for the meeting.

I think we can talk about how important the decade is when a woman is in her 30s, when she has passed the frivolous 20s and is getting down to the important stuff. We might talk about how this accident was a good thing for Alice giving her a chance to see her life in a different way. Oh boy, I'm really stretching here. Perhaps I'll just smile and drink a lot of wine. Good plan. - June

The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg

Recently, I attended a luncheon, and Elizabeth Berg was the guest speaker. As part of the fee for the event, we received a signed copy of this book, her latest in the "Mason" series. She was a delightful author to hear, and I remember reading some of her earlier books and enjoying them. After reading a my recent Russian non-fiction book, I thought something light might be nice for this Thanksgiving weekend.

The novel takes place in the small town of Mason, Missouri. There really are two story lines. Iris, a middle aged woman who runs a baking school and who falls in love with a homeless man, John. That's really the main story. But then Iris is also a part of the Confession Club where a group of multi-generational women get together and confess very personal, sometimes embarrassing things to one another.

This is definitely light reading, and all of the characters in Mason are delightfully feisty individuals. However, the writing gets to be a bit preachy and overly dramatic. Many of the conversations just don't seem realistic to me as one person will ramble on and on about themselves and self-analyze for pages. I did think the women in the Confession Club were interesting and certainly trusting in one another. Their confessions were varied and, for me, that was the best part of the book.

This would be a quick read for a plane ride. Not much more. - June