'Tis the summer of the light content

Sorry for the slackage of late, o gentle readers - but I'm back from the vacationette* and ready to watch some television! I'm going to try Burn Notice tonight (USA, 10 p.m.) and I've got the brand new Flashpoint, starring Keith Mars, set to record tomorrow night (CBS, 10 p.m.). I hope to give each of them a whirl recap-wise here, just to get back into the swing of things altho' they may be mini-recaps until I decide if I can stand the shows or not.

Meanwhile, I'm almost done with a good book, Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende (translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden). This is the Peruvian-born/Chilean-raised Allende's tenth book - her most well-known prior novel is The House of the Spirits. The very readable Portrait in Sepia is the story of one Aurora del Valle, born in San Francisco in 1880, told through her narration of her family history. The novel sweeps through the turbulence of the turn of the century in Chile and California; there's a little sex, a fair amount of history and, through it all, the narrator's exploration of who she has become and the multi-cultural forces that shaped her. My only quibble has been that every now and then there seems to be small parts of the story that are missing: I can't figure out whether Allende has done this on purpose to demonstrate the gaps in Aurora's knowledge of her family or whether something got lost in translation. Doesn't matter, really - Allende has a lovely, descriptive voice and is a fine storyteller.

Finally, for now, I really kind of hope it rains this weekend because (1) Mr. Mouse and I have some painting that we need to finish and (2) I really really really want to go see Hellboy II.

* There was a family reunion thingy in the Adirondacks and while it was wonderful to spend time with all this family that I never ever see, I did find it slightly ironic to drive 330 miles to a place that looks exactly like (western) Maine.