More Tales of the City audiobook

Armistead Maupin is one of the best summer read writers. His Tales of the City trilogy is part sitcom, part kitsch, melodramatic and historic, irreverent and yet o-so dated, & damn if you cannot recognize his influence in groundbreaking TV, like "Sex and the City" and "Will & Grace". Things are explained, expanded, & the 4 or so separate strands of character destinies intertwine and repel each other at intervals that make the reader anticipate each and every episode. The ridiculousness will tickle you, the characters will stay with you. Finally, Michael Tolliver's contribution to gay lit. is made more clear, as is why Mrs. Anna Madrigal was my favorite character from the last installment in the first place. (Duh!)

This whole series is comprised of the few books I read multiple times & still love. Audiobook editions are great too!

"For all her trials, she loved it here in San Francisco, and she loved her makeshift family at Mrs. Madrigal's comfy old apartment house on Barbary Lane." pg 11, ebookAll of the characters whom readers loved from the first book (Tales of the City) are back and mixing things up in San Francisco. This soap opera-ish fictional series remains as fast-paced in its second installation as it was from the start.Mary Ann is still working for Halcyon Communications, which is under new leadership, and has to face a new set of challenges. That's not even mentioning the dark memories she's trying to forget about a certain former boyfriend, or two.Michael Tolliver, called Mouse by his friends, is still on the look out for love after a disastrous semi-relationship in the last book.Mona Ramsey, the free spirit, is about to uncover another major secret about her past. She can add it all of the other ones she's picked up..."And she was- she believed- the only one who knew Mrs. Madrigal's secret. That knowledge, moreover, formed a mystical bond between the two women, an unspoken sisterhood that fed Mona's soul on the bleakest of days." pg 18There's a pregnancy, romantic cruise, conspiracy, secret club and more in this installment. A must-read for any fan of the series."I want it too badly, Mary Ann. Any idiot can see that. When you want it too badly, no one wants you. No one is attracted to that... desperation." pg 129One criticism I had for this book, the same I had for the last one, is in the highly unlikely coincidences contained in many of the plot twists. It seems to me that in a city the size of San Francisco, the dozen or so main characters would be more likely to run into other people than each other.But, like most works of fiction, I suppose it's fine to suspend your disbelief on some points.As for the rest of the book, I would describe it as compulsively readable. It's almost like book candy, you can't stop at just reading one. I certainly couldn't.And, with that, it's on to the next one...

I didn’t realize how much I had missed Mrs. Madrigal, Mary Ann Singleton, Mona Ramsey, and Michael “Mouse” Tolliver until I began More Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin’s sequel to his spectacular Tales of the City. (Other books had gotten in the way.)In the sequel, Mary Ann finally meets the man of her dreams — although he has nightmares of his own. Mouse, too, finds love while he narrowly escapes death. And through a serendipitous encounter in the Nevada desert, Mona finds out more about Mrs. Madrigal — and herself — than she ever wanted to know. Lastly, Mary Ann and her new love investigate an unusual and intriguing mystery; to say any more about it would ruin the fun.But I also missed this San Francisco circa 1980 when young people could revel in life, before young college graduates became so burdened by college debt, venereal diseases, underemployment, and judgmental sniping from elders who should know better. And it didn’t hurt to see the loathsome Beauchamp Day get his long-deserved comeuppance. This second book in the series is not quite as delightful as the first, but it’s close and it’s still good enough to merit five stars. I promise it won’t take as long for me to revisit the fascinating tenants of 28 Barbary Lane and their sparkling and wise landlady.

Really love all of Maupins’s work and I was nervous that on a reread this wouldn’t hold up to my memory of it. But it did.

I read about 250 pages this afternoon after a got off work, bringing me to the end of the book. If that's not a testimonial, I don't know what is.Maupin is intensely readable. If you read from the Tales of the City series, his characters will become your friends. And, like me, you'll be glad he's written several books featuring them. I can't wait to read the next.With the first one, I felt intrigue took a back seat to plain old human interest. With this one, the mystery we were left with at the end of the first one ends, but a new enigma is presented, and it's much more in the foreground. Which I like. While the mysterious element is heavy, the base of the book is still the characters, and that includes the city.Further Tales, here I come!

W I L D

Always enjoy reading, and re-reading, the wonderful books in the Tales of the City series.

A fulfilling sequel, "More" feels like a maturer, more refined - yet no less hilarious and at times outrageous - style of writing and storytelling from Maupin.With most characters now well-established there are fewer of the "contrived coincidences" which I so enjoyed from the first novel, but when they do occur they are laugh-out-loud funny. Rather than getting to know each other, the residents of Barbury Lane are secure in their inter-relationships and so they embark on separate, though occasionally interweaving, journeys of their own: there is Mona's journey of self-discovery, Michael's blossoming relationship with Jon and a sudden turn in health as well as Mary Ann's new lover's mysterious past to unravel. Amid it all is the magical Mrs Madrigcal, ever-enigmatic and the mother figure/moral compassion that we'd all love to have in our lives. It is hard not to be drawn into this colourful, vibrant and lively version of San Francisco and not feel something for each and every character, so rich is the story-telling and characterisation which breathes life into every page.

Gays of Our Lives set in San Francisco 90210. There is even more drama, more romance and more hilarity than the first in the series. Re-reading the books, I’m having such fun falling for these lovably ludicrous characters and their ridiculously amusing adventures all over again!

Perfect pandemic reading :)

i’m living for this series so far! a little messier than the first, but all the love and gayness is overflowing in these pages. i would kill to have friends like the group at 28 barbary lane.

Audible A soap opera with a high addiction potential. I've never thought that a novel about MANY different people who continuously bump into each other - it is a small world, my friends - could be so entertaining. But it looks like I can't have enough of Armistead Maupin's crazy creative fantasy. .

This one made me almost cry in public several times, I love the characters so much! It's quirky and honest and fascinating and I'm so glad I still have several volumes to read!

Well that explains things lol