It’s been pretty quiet these days. Life in the lab has been enjoyable but uneventful (except for the infestation of maggots in the bacterial waste bin – don’t ask). And my chief stress at home has been the growing pile of reading material that I’m supposed to be finishing but can’t quite seem to get through in a timely fashion.

For our next Fiction Lab book group on 9 September, we’re reading Roger’s Version by John Updike – it’s a little hard to tell from the back-cover blurb, but a friend suggested it might be lab lit. We shall see!

I’m also reading the distinctly non-science-y Stonemouth by Iain Banks, in memorandum. Banks (without his middle initial) made a huge impression on me when I was in graduate school, starting with The Crow Road, which remains one of my all-time favorites. Later on, his stuff started to get a little more weird and violent, but I’ve been reliably informed that Stonemouth is very much a return to form. I can’t believe Banks is no longer with us – I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment.

I’m also supposed to be reading an unpublished lab lit novel with a view towards supplying a puff, but I’m ashamed to admit I’ve not started that either. Ditto, regular LabLit contributor Pippa Goudschmidt’s debut novel The Falling Sky, which we’ll discuss at Fiction Lab with the author in November. Sorry about that, ladies.

If anyone out there is enjoying some good summer reading, let us know!