New Book on the Nightstand

I am currently reading "Das Phantom" by Susan May. It's a "prequel" to "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux, and attempts to give an account of the life that Erik led before becoming the Phantom of the Opera, to show why and how he became the tragic figure of the classic Leroux novel.

So far, I am really enjoying it. It's written from multiple perspectives: Erik's mother, Erik, an italian stonemason who encounters Erik, and (I'm sure) more to come. The writing is also quite good, or at least the translation is-- I'm reading it in German, although the original language is English. I found this copy in a used bookstore clearance bin, and I'm always thrilled to have some leisure reading in German or Swedish. Death tells me that she read it in English and really liked it, so that's a positive sign. I am breaking one of my cardinal rules of in-semester reading (no fiction longer than a short story, otherwise I am prone to not being able to stop reading, driven by the need to know what comes next); time will tell whether I will regret this, since my Family Law and Copyright exams are due in just over 48 hours. However, I am BURNED OUT and need some sort of outlet besides channel surfing and internet, both of which tend to make me less relaxed and more prone to inertia.