2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Institute by Stephen King.

Pages: 561 pages

Length: 1 month (June)

Participants: Joan, Michelle1, Rebecca, Beth

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Can't wait to start this one. I've heard it's really good and one person said it is what Firestarter should have been.

Planning on start this sometime this week. If not, I'm off all next week so I'll definitely at least get to it then!

I've read the first 2 chapters. I'm pretty intrigued. Of course King is doing his awesome character development at the moment. You're falling in love with the characters and wondering where the story is going to take us!

Can't wait to start in a day or 2!

I'm only about 20 pages in, but I do love me some Stephen King!

I've read 65%...

(view spoiler)[I love King's writing and his way of drawing one into the story. A little hard reading with all that goes on with the kids, but it's been a page-turner. It's lagged, just a little, for me, with Luke on the train, but I think that's going to pick right up now that he has found sympathetic help off of the train. I can't imagine how this will end. (hide spoiler)]

I have finished the book. (view spoiler)[I enjoyed the book, but just felt it was overly long. (hide spoiler)]

I'm still getting through this one. I have a 100 pages left. I just got up to The Big Phone section.

So far I wouldn't say it is a favorite King book but it's a solid bit so far. And yes, I agree about the part on the train. I was bored with that part.

I went on vacation a week ago expecting to finish it but I ended up working on my laptop in my free time. Work is a little too busy right now.

I should complete it today.

I think I'll get to this one later in the week. I've been doing a lot of reading for a team challenge, so this has gotten pushed down a bit on my priority list. But hey, the end of June approacheth, so I better get going!

I’ve finished the first four sections, establishing both Tim and Luke/the Institute. Each are incredibly well crafted, and I’m 100% invested in the characters. Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!

I completed it on Saturday. It wasn't my favorite Stephen King but it was pretty good. Character development was awesome of course. I thought there could have been more action maybe. I don't know.

(view spoiler)[ I was thinking there would be more killing people with their minds or something.

The part on the train seemed to go on a little too long.

I thought Luke would develop more of the moving things with his mind a little bit better. I wanted it to be more creepy I guess.

Overall still a good solid book. It was just lacking a little something for me. (hide spoiler)]

It took me 3 weeks to read but I have been busy with work.

Finished today. I really enjoyed it and got completely caught up in the story. I did think the ending went on a bit too long and was completely anticlimactic. There are so many times when I want to book to go on longer to tell me what happened to the characters. This one did that, and I found it took away from the book as a whole.

My favorite part was probably reading the second time the line "great events turn on small hinges" appeared.

It was also quite cheeky having the G twins described as reminding Luke of twins in some old horror move. 😉

This was on its way to being 5 stars for me, the weak ending pulled to a 4.

Beth wrote: "Finished today. I really enjoyed it and got completely caught up in the story. I did think the ending went on a bit too long and was completely anticlimactic. There are so many times when I want to..."

Sadly I missed that line about the twins but I thought it in my head. I agree the ending was anticlimactic as a whole.

I'm going through a small reading slump and have been feeling a little too tired in the evenings so there were times I was reading this and was drifting off. I'm pretty sure that's what happened with the twins because I remember thinking - where did the twins come from - lol. Should have gone back and read over it.

One reason I love reading books on Kindle is the ability to highlight. I highlight lines that I like because of the phrasing, lines that make me think or laugh, words I had to look up, and so on. Other than that, I wouldn't remember a thing. 😉

Beth wrote: "One reason I love reading books on Kindle is the ability to highlight. I highlight lines that I like because of the phrasing, lines that make me think or laugh, words I had to look up, and so on. O..."

That is a nice feature of it. When I read in bed though I tend to accidentally highlight something when I start to fall asleep. Then I'll wake up and see I've highlighted - "the". LOL