Tag: San Francisco

Books

Book 261: Significant Others (Tales of the City #5) – Armistead Maupin

Geoff W

Coming back to Maupin’s San Francisco is like going home after a really long vacation. There’s something comforting and something genuinely nice about being back on Barbary Lane. (See the first quote under Additional Quotes).

I can’t believe it’s been almost three years since I binge read Tales of the City, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City and Babycakes. And like everyone else who has ever read a single one of The Tales of the city books, I’m finally taking the time to catch up on the series, which has spanned five decades so that I can read the final (I’m assuming) novel in the series The Days of Anna Madrigal released at the beginning of 2014. I won’t binge read them, but they’re such quick reads I plan to read them all this year.

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Books

Book 185: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore – Robin Sloan

Geoff W

Yes! Yes! Yes! If I were ever going to work in/own a bookstore I would want it to be like this!

This is like The Da Vinci Code or some other better written mystery/thriller for book readers and bibliophiles! I definitely need to purchase a copy to add to my permanent shelf. I’m not sure where I came across this book or why I decided to read it, but I’m glad I did and I’m glad I requested it from the library.

There’s so much to talk about I don’t really know where to begin. I want to talk about the secret society, the awesome pop culture and technology references, the hilariously quirky minor characters, the ending, and the bookstore itself among other things. Not to mention that it was a fast and entertaining read. I loved Clay, the protagonist, and all of his friends and people he interacted with made the story that much richer. Throw in the art and culture, museums and games (D&D spin off) and fantasy novels and classics and it’s like a nerd-gasm.

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Books

Book 74: Babycakes – Armistead Maupin

Geoff W

Babycakes takes place two years after Further Tales of the City and of the four books I’ve read in the series this is my least favorite. I understand characters have to grow and evolve, but sometimes you just don’t want them to.

In comparison to the other novels in this series, the novel seems angst ridden and is darker than the previous novels. I’m not sure if this is a direct response to Maupin’s mindset at the time or the general feeling of gloom and doom of San Francisco and the LGBT community at the time. Originally published in 1984, Maupin wrote the tales in Babycakes while Reagan was President of the US and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK and the AIDS crisis was on the horizon (although the Reagan administration didn’t acknowledge it until 1987).

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Books

Book 73: Further Tales of the City – Armistead Maupin

Geoff W

Are you sick of the Tales of the City reviews yet? I hope not! I’m just finishing up Babycakes and should have a post for Monday. Then you get a brief break while I reread Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle in time for the November 8th release of the fourth and final novel, Inheritance.

I read Further Tales of the City before deciding to go back and restart the series. Thus, I’m posting out-of-order, which is a big hypothetical no-no in my blog mind, but I didn’t want to start posting with book three so I made an exception as I enjoyed this novel so much! It didn’t hurt that a very dapper older gentleman on the bus one morning told me that he loves these novels and that they’re well worth the read. When I told him I was reading them out-of-order he looked shocked and told me I HAD to read/re-read all of them.

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Books

Book 72: More Tales of the City – Armistead Maupin

Geoff W

More Tales of the City picks up where Tales of the City ends and is just as entertaining and difficult to put down!

As the story opens, we find that Mary Ann has inherited money from her former boss Edgar Halcyon (Dede’s father) and she decides to take herself and Michael on a cruise to Mexico. While on the cruise, Mary Ann meets a lovely young man (Burke) and they hit it off. Michael meanwhile meets a former lover and they fall madly back in love.

While Mary Ann and Michael are out cruising, yes that is a double entendre, Brian becomes obsessed with a phantom of love, Mrs. Madrigal and Mona both find family in each other after Mona runs away and discovers her past, and Dede and Beauchamp continue to struggle in their marriage with their impeding children and their marriage.

Click here to continue reading (there are spoilers).