Drowning in paperwork

Daily data on my student...ACCESS forms for all the kids...doing my taxes for the first time...now doing the FAFSA...car loans, school loans, insurance that's much too high... ick.

Slightly ironic, then, that I relax by reading books?

Most recently read: Captain Alatriste, by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Apparently the first book of a series, which is unusual for him. Likeable characters, but not as good as The Club Dumas, which was absolutely fabulous.

Other books I've read, but have neglected to post about:

The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer. Interesting YA speculation on the rights and ethics of cloning in the future, where clones are basically used to provide replacement organs for their...originators? To avoid the problem of whether the clones are people, most clones have their brains damaged at birth, but one "father" insists that his clone remain healthy, to have more of a life before he makes use of his organs. There's also a lot on the drug culture, slavery of illegal immigrants, and the like that's pretty interesting, but my favorite book by her will still be The Ear, The Eye, and the Arm.

The Samurai's Garden, by...I forget. I'll look it up. A rather touching look at the layers of turmoil through one young Chinese man's life when he goes to his grandfather's small vacation house in Japan to recover from an illness with a solitary servant for company. Beautiful portrayals of love and loyalty, as well as the tension caused when those emotions don't fall where or to whom we want them.
My godmother actually gave this to me to borrow. She's in a book club and thought I would enjoy it...actually, she thought I would enjoy being in their club, but as they live an hour away from here, it's not such a feasible idea. Anyway, the book was much appreciated.

Books read this month: 8. Hmm, that seems to be the magic number. :)
Books read this year, to date: 16, not counting rereads.