Leeway

That is quite interesting. I really did not like The Good Terrorist for a variety of reasons, but probably boiling down to the idea that almost all urban dwellers of a liberal bent might get swept up into a radical position if the chips were down. Maybe that wasn't the main thrust but it is what I remembered and reacted quite badly to. But I did like The Golden Notebook, which others didn't (many preferring the Martha Quest books). It is sort of the same thing, multi-layered with a female protagonist struggling to "keep it together." I only read one of Lessing's SF books, and I didn't think it was all that great. She was working in the same general territory as Ursula LeGuin, but not as satisfactorily. Still, I am pretty sure I will get to the Martha Quest books one of these days. I'm back making slow but steady progress on Demons and enjoying it. I think I am about to get introduced to a bunch of additional radical characters. I might have to read at a faster pace to not lose track of them all. The politics of "The Good Terrorist" didn't bother me; it comes with the title. I don't know for sure, but I suspect Lessing's politics were Left, or at least anti-authoritarian, probably a by-product of her colonial upbringing in Rhodesia. In any event, right or left, she is fearless in scrutinizing the people who make up the various camps. I like that about her. It struck me as a very authentic look into radicalism, in the tradition of Conrad's "The Secret Agent." I thought the ending of the book was quite powerful. I too would like to read the middle books of the "Children of Violence" series, particularly for its depiction of life in the colony. Martha's transformation from an intemperate, lost young person in the first book to her translation into an esteemed figure in the last is interesting too. I haven't read "The Golden Notebook," which I think got her the Nobel Prize. I read that Lessing got a bit sick of (or professed to be sick of) all the praise for the book, especially it being labeled a "feminist" book. Lessing claimed that "The Four-Gated City" was a better book. Don't know if that was pique or her considered view but I thought it was interesting.

Chuck Klosterman Chuck Mangione Giorgioni

PM coming on: Juhani Aaltonen - To Future Memories - (TUM) Jorrit Dijkstra - Music for Reeds & Electronics: Oakland - (Drift) Raskin, Gratkowski, Bruckmann, Greenlief The Whammies - Play the Music of Steve Lacy vol. 3 - (Driff) Still looking

Pussycat Dolls New York Dolls Dolly Parton

THE FOUR-GATED CITY - Doris Lessing - 1969. I finally finished this title in the closely printed 669 pp Panther paperback edition (pictured). Not a good edition; surprising number of printer errors. I have to say it was a bit of a slog. I kept thinking it needed an editor badly. And yet I also felt that the book was following a plan laid down by Lessing. The book could have easily gone on for another 500 or 1000 pages, since Lessing's approach was to keep extending the circle of characters outward with new characters building off the old, like cell multiplication. However, easier to describe than to read at times. Not many modern authors are as involved as Lessing in the events of their times. "Four-Gated City" is a deeply political novel: communism, capitalism, radicalism, anarchism, ecology, mental illness, sexuality, sexism, racism, media, and more. Lessing is in her element when she describes outcasts, strange children/youth, radical lifestyle, living in squatter housing. There is a humanistic foundation to all this that one respects. Lessing doesn't lack courage, and maybe that's what I was often responding to. If there is humor here, it must have been of the squinty-eyed, deeply wry variety; not obvious. The book is really rather baffling. After reading for about 600 pp in more or less realist mode, the story is continued in a series of appendices that go deep into science fiction/utopian/dystopian territory, which in retrospect, make you question how realistic the preceding 600 pages were. There is something spongy about their reality, with the walls between reality and extra-reality being somewhat permeable. These are my initial thoughts on the book, but I suspect that the book will continue to ferment in my mind, until I get a better sense of it. This is not my first Lessing book. I previously read "The Fifth Child," which is incisive, concise, strong and scary. I also read "The Good Terrorist," whose main character, Alice Mellings, is a lot like Martha Quest, and in many ways resembles, on a smaller scale, "The Four-Gated City."

Homer St. Clair Pace George Gallup Usain Bolt

The Yardbirds Birders Birdman of Alcatraz

You might recall I recently posted on Drabble's "Jerusalem the Golden." If you get a chance to read that one, I'd be interested in your critique. I have "The Waterfall" sitting about here, was going to read it after "Jerusalem," but got distracted with Muriel and with Doris Lessing. Currently doing battle with Lessing's "Four-Gated City." Almost done with that and shall post additional thoughts on it.

Deepak Chopra Mobb Deep Dieb13

Carlton Cole Cheryl Cole Cheryl Crane

Hedda Hopper H H Holmes Hulk Hogan

This was the show I attended, 1968. Only time I saw Hendrix, but I still remember the show. Marvelous. Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were also way cool too.

Hubert Humphrey Humber Humber Howard Hughes

ZZ Top CC Rider BB King

THE GRIP - India Navigation LP- 1977- Arthur Blythe (as), Ahmed Abdullah (tp), Bob Stewart (tp), Abdul Wadud (cello), Steve Reid (trap drums), Muhammad Abdullah (perc). A really fine album.

Aside from the interesting cycling angle, Taylor Ho Bynum has arranged some first-rate concerts: Cuong Vu, James, Fei, Lisa Mezzacappa, Phillip Greenlief, Myra Melford, Anthony Braxton Trio, Nicole Mitchell, Mark Dresser et al. I hope these will be recorded, or at least put up on YT.

Heller Geller Teller

Wu Tang Clan Clan of the Cave Bear Bear Grylls

I think someone is about to get "SLAPPY"!

That "Slappy" moniker has me concerned.

Good question. I'm not finding any news reports yet. Maybe Colinmce can provide a source.

Henry Winkler Arthur Fonzarelli Franco Zefirelli

Helen MacInnes Ian Fleming John Le Carre

Selfridges Hans Solo Hope Solo

The Taco Bell guy should be prosecuted. As for the Boston Marathon girl, can you be prosecuted for complete stupidity? OTOH, death threats to her parents? I don't have a Twitter account; it seems like a time-suck and rather pointless (or dangerous). I wonder how many folks here have a Twitter account?