Beach Blanket Books

JAKE’S WOMEN by Neil Simon (Random House: $18). As playwright Jake peels off pages of script each day, he works through his relationships with the four influential women in his life: wife, sister, daughter and therapist.

FEAR OF FIFTY: A Midlife Memoir by Erica Jong (HarperCollins: $24). She who feared flying hovers over highlights of her life and career in an attempt to gain perspective and make a safe landing. (Available on audiocassette.)

THE LADIES LUNCH by Patricia O’Brien (Simon & Schuster: $22). D.C. clique’s regular power lunch loses a key player, Faith Page. And, as each remaining member learns, Faith did not take all her secrets to the grave.