Tales of the City
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Tales of the City is a series of six books, originally serialized in the San Francisco Chronicle, written by San Francisco novelist Armistead Maupin. Tales of the City is also the title of the first book in that series. The first three books have been made into television miniseries for Showtime, starring Laura Linney & Sir Ian McKellen among others.
The series is a vivid depiction of San Franciscan life from the late 70s to the mid 80s, spanning classes, sexual orientations, and (trans-)genders in an amusing prose. The lives and careers of the residents of 28 Barbary Lane are tracked, and a lot of humor is drawn from the unexpected crossing of plotlines in unexpected places (such as a lesbian summer camp). This rich tapestry of storytelling with a keen eye on the sexual climate of the era has often been compared to the writings of Honoré de Balzac. Later works in the series also deal with the AIDS crisis, unanticipated when the first volume was written.
The books of the series are:
- Tales of the City (1978)
- More Tales of the City (1980)
- Further Tales of the City (1982)
- Babycakes (1984)
- Significant Others (1987)
- Sure of You (1989)