Reading this book was like revisiting friends who you've known for years, love very deeply and don't get to see often enough. All of the regular crew were there (minus Mona, of course), presided over by the increasingly weak but always enigmatic Mrs Madrigal. Despite my job while reading this bo...
This one might be the slowest of all of the books so far to get into, but once it picks up its force, it really does-- full-throttle. I was honestly really disappointed in the beginning of the book, because Maupin unexpectedly leaps ahead three years in all of our characters' lives. So, many of t...
A strangely hard note to end on, the last in the series (or last for nearly 20 years) is a measure of distance travelled, of cultural history measured in friendships and lovers. Tales started out in the 70s, in the cultural comedown after the 60s, of the weird and relentlessly hopeful city of San...
I read the first three books in this series in 2010, then finally read the fourth book, BABYCAKES, a few months ago. I've enjoyed all of them, and this one was no exception. I finished it awhile back and I don't even know why I've taken so long to write my review, but I may be a little fuzzy on t...
Continuing on with my 2013 re-read of the Tales of the City series... and I recalled at some point there was a drop-off in the series, and I think this may be the start. Now this is not to say, that I am still not thoroughly enjoying the Maupin's stories and characters, just that things are shift...
Wanneer 'n mens 'n stromende verkoue het (oë tranerige jellie, neus 'n waterval, ens), is lees mos 'n onmoontlikheid, 'n straf. Jy wag tot jy sterker voel voor jy jou bedrus daarvoor begin gebruik. Maar dit is slegs waar as jy die verkeerde boek in die hande het: ten spyte van die swaarste verkou...
I am very much a fan of Maupin's Tales of the City series after being introduced to the ground-breaking range of gay fiction by my girlfriend (of all people) a few years ago, especially as one of the books (albeit partly) is set in our very own leafy suburb.I had seen the TV show based upon the f...
Can a former world's shortest woman who once starred as an elf (in a bodysuit) in the second highest grossing movie find happiness in Hollywoodland? The answer lies partly in the title, and I'll say no more about that.Maupin takes a risk writing as the world's former shortest woman in epistolar...
That’s how she thought of her now—as her homeless woman—since the poor creature had a way of materializing at the oddest times, though never in the actual flesh. Shawna would flash on her scalded face in the midst of an Almodovar film at the Sundance Kabuki, or down at the Rainbow Grocery when sh...
“That’s what Mom said, but I like him. So tough shit.” “Your mother is an exceedingly wise woman. Tell me what you see from the window.” “Not much. Just a bunch of trees. The house across the street. And an old water tank above the trees. It’s compl...