Author Topic: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series  (Read 9762 times)

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« on: October 20, 2010, 09:54:47 pm »
http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Mary-Ann-Autumn-Armistead-Maupin/?isbn=9780061470882



“An enormously talented writer….By writing about what’s seemingly different, Armistead Maupin always manages to capture what’s so hilariously, painfully true for all of us.” —Amy Tan, author of The Bonesetter’s Daughter

“Maupin writes with warmth, acuity and tremendous wit….Read him.” —Publishers Weekly

Following the success of his New York Times bestseller Michael Tolliver Lives, Armistead Maupin’s Mary Ann in Autumn is a touching portrait of friendship, family, and fresh starts, as the City by the Bay welcomes back Mary Ann Singleton, the beloved Tales of the City heroine who started it all. A new chapter begins in the lives of both Mary Ann and Michael “Mouse” Tolliver when she returns to San Francisco to rejoin her oldest friend after years in New York City…the reunion that fans of Maupin’s beloved Tales of the City series have been awaiting for years.

Book Description

    A hilarious and touching new installment of Armistead Maupin's beloved Tales of the City series

Twenty years have passed since Mary Ann Singleton left her husband and child in San Francisco to pursue her dream of a television career in New York. Now a pair of personal calamities has driven her back to the city of her youth and into the arms of her oldest friend, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, a gardener happily ensconced with his much-younger husband.

Mary Ann finds temporary refuge in the couple's backyard cottage, where, at the unnerving age of fifty-seven, she licks her wounds and takes stock of her mistakes. Soon, with the help of Facebook and a few old friends, she begins to reengage with life, only to confront fresh terrors when her checkered past comes back to haunt her in a way she could never have imagined.

After the intimate first-person narrative of Maupin's last novel, Michael Tolliver Lives, Mary Ann in Autumn marks the author's return to the multicharacter plotlines and darkly comic themes of his earlier work. Among those caught in Mary Ann's orbit are her estranged daughter, Shawna, a popular sex blogger; Jake Greenleaf, Michael's transgendered gardening assistant; socialite DeDe Halcyon-Wilson; and the indefatigable Anna Madrigal, Mary Ann's former landlady at 28 Barbary Lane.

More than three decades in the making, Armistead Maupin's legendary Tales of the City series rolls into a new age, still sassy, irreverent, and curious, and still exploring the boundaries of the human experience with insight, compassion, and mordant wit.

"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2010, 04:49:01 pm »
It's out! 

Just bought my copy today.  Yay!

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2010, 05:21:39 pm »



"For Laura Linney"
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

--T. S. Eliot


« Last Edit: November 12, 2010, 10:39:44 pm by Aloysius JMM Bear, Esq. »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2010, 05:46:02 pm »
Laura Linney will always be Mary Ann to me. 


Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2010, 07:16:51 pm »
Wonderful I am going to order me a copy!
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2010, 10:38:45 pm »




Laura Linney will always be Mary Ann to me.  




!!!

I rather think Mr. Maupin agrees with you.

(  :laugh: )

I won't even mention dear, dear, DEAR Olympia Dukakis (LOVE!)

--this photo SO brings back memories--

I loved the 'original' Mona (Chloe Webb), BUT--

Dearest 'Mouse' (Marcus D'Amico--a Brit!  :o )--so sad when he and Mr. Maupin were unable to see eye to eye. HE was and will always be Mouse Tolliver to me....

"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2010, 10:48:54 pm »
I'm with you, John. 

At least they kept Laura, Olympia and Billy Campbell. 

But I really missed Chloe and especially Marcus in their roles. 

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2010, 12:55:35 pm »
As John pointed out, Armistead dedicated this book to Laura Linney. 

Sure enough, on page 7, we find a BBM reference:  in this case, a ridgeback in the dog park is named "Brokeback".  LOL

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2010, 08:00:25 pm »



Laura Linney will always be Mary Ann to me. 




Here they are (or were):

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZei0Y-dHGI&feature[/youtube]


"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2010, 12:26:55 am »
I just finished reading it, and all I can say is WOW!

That Armisted Maupin, he is the Mark Twain of this time, he really is.
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Wayne

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2010, 05:29:24 pm »
 :)
When you put people in charge of the government who are committed to proving that it doesn't work, you can be sure that they will cause it to not work.

Don

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2010, 09:00:34 pm »
This series is a real wonder, like some parallel universe you can peek into from time to time. I remember reading the first set back in the 90s and everything seemed wrapped up neatly but still I wondered. I wondered in particular about Lexi. What ever happened to her?

Maupin wrote a couple of to the books I enjoyed, Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener each shared a character or a reference with the Tales of the City series, but it was not the same magic. When I heard Michael Toliver Lives had been published I could hardly believe it, would it be as good? Yes it was, in spite of the world changing here, and there, it was like a grand reunion. Anna, still struggling along, Mona lost to cancer, there was no fourth destination......

And now, Maupin continues this brilliant tale, and treats us all unto this unexpected treat, of looking into that serendipitous world again, where something like a cosmic hand moves things along. The fullness of time comes at last, and the many questions answered.

But I can't figure out why Lexi mentioned a Maurice? She said something like he was like a dog going crazy before an earthquake. Perhaps it is the authors veiled reference to himself? He parodied his original collum in the first book, could be.......
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #12 on: December 06, 2010, 09:02:59 pm »
I just finished reading it, and all I can say is WOW!

That Armisted Maupin, he is the Mark Twain of this time, he really is.

I just downloaded it to my Kindle. The Tales series of books are fantastic. I started reading them when they first came out and looked forward to subsequent books. I have read each one several times I wasn't a huge fan of the television series. TV & movies are rarely as good as their written work (Brokeback is an exception). I didn't like the change in characters in the television series. There was also a noticeable difference in sets, especially Anna's house on Barbary Lane. And the tv characters weren't as I had them in my mind.

Brad

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #13 on: December 07, 2010, 12:27:29 am »
I just downloaded it to my Kindle. The Tales series of books are fantastic. I started reading them when they first came out and looked forward to subsequent books. I have read each one several times I wasn't a huge fan of the television series. TV & movies are rarely as good as their written work (Brokeback is an exception). I didn't like the change in characters in the television series. There was also a noticeable difference in sets, especially Anna's house on Barbary Lane. And the tv characters weren't as I had them in my mind.

Brad

I agree, but man Billy Campbell sure was easy on the eyes  ;)

"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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I have just finished what is supposed to be the last in the "Tales of the City" Series, The Days of Anna Mardigal

"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #15 on: February 08, 2014, 04:02:39 pm »
If you have not read it, get you a box of Kleenex first.  :'(

The tone of the book starts off somewhat differently than earlier ones, but you soon find yourself sucked into Maupin's story, and putting it down will take some effort.

Set in about 2012, Anna Madrigal, now age 92, goes on her Sentimental Journey back to Winnemucca, Nevada. As one might guess, she has unfinished business there, the really old unfinished business of Andy Ramsey, told through flashbacks to 1936 and the Blue Moon Lodge. Andys
first taste of love, and Burning Man, and Brian's reunion with the world's most beautiful fat woman, and the coming generation, to be conceived in a tent in the Nevada Desert, under a blue moon.

It is Maupin at his best, and it is not to be missed.

"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #16 on: February 08, 2014, 04:09:16 pm »
And I will NEVER look at a bottle of Lysol the same again.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wieGYj-g5Y[/youtube]
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #17 on: February 08, 2014, 05:07:27 pm »
I also just finished The Days of Anna Madrigal, and it is a wonder. Dedicated to Olympia Dukakis, of course.

Armistead spoke in Provincetown last year, and did a reading from this last book.  I got to speak to him afterward and thank him for his wonderful characters.  I had always thought that Michael was his alter ego (complete with younger husband), but he considers himself more of an Anna.  

I had met him more than 30 years ago, at Harvard, when their gay group flew him out for a reading.  He signed my copy of the first book:  "To Paul, Love, Armistead".  Sweet!

I believe it was a reader who pointed out to him that Anna Madrigal was an anagram for 'a man and a girl'.  He simply included it in one of the later books.

By the way, his own name is an anagram for "Is a man I dreamt up".

Offline Shakesthecoffecan

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #18 on: February 08, 2014, 05:30:41 pm »
 ;D[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvK_gD3ulaw[/youtube]
"It was only you in my life, and it will always be only you, Jack, I swear."

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #19 on: March 11, 2024, 06:16:48 pm »
Wow!  Ten years later, damn! 

Armistead is still at it.  For those who follow him on facebook, you might know that he had teased us about a new book, during the pandemic.  Finally it's out!

Mona of the Manor


Just dropped this week!  I had pre-ordered it, and I devoured it in two days.

As you may guess, this is not in chronological order, as he bumped off Mona back in the 90s.  This is set in the earlier 90s when Mona is Lady Roughton, owner or Easley Manor, left to her by her mail-order husband Lord Teddy (who wanted a free life in San Francisco). 

Mona is just as iconoclastic as ever, even though she has to take on paying guests to pay the bills.  Along with her adopted son Wilfred, now in his 20s, they run the place in luxurious chaos. 

The book also treats us to a visit from Michael and Anna.  Also a sort of mystery and pagan goings-on for Midsummer. 

It's a relatively short book, but so lovely to visit with old friends. 

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #20 on: March 12, 2024, 11:57:02 am »
I love it that we can resurrect great threads like these and see the themes that are woven throughout our lives. Also, I love the anagrams! I'll have to figure out what mine is.
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline southendmd

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #21 on: March 12, 2024, 02:12:50 pm »
I have an anagram for you:  Ecce Rale (Latin for "behold, it is rare")

Or her cousin, CeCe Real!

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #22 on: March 12, 2024, 02:27:35 pm »
Why, thank you. I love it! :-*
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #23 on: March 13, 2024, 08:46:54 pm »
Or her cousin, CeCe Real!

Didn't she compete on RuPaul's Drag Race?
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: Armistead Maupin Continues "Tales of the City" Series
« Reply #24 on: March 14, 2024, 06:53:25 pm »
This inspired me to go back and read the clever and fairly short bio of RuPaul in the March 8 issue of The New Yorker. It's interesting that his husband Georges has a 60,000-acred ranch in Wyoming. I wonder if we could have our next rendezvous or BBQ there.

I didn't see anything about Cece Real or Ecce Rale there, but it does mention the Tennessee Williams play "Camino Real." That was the first performance RuPaul appeared in in drag, as a 15-year-old. The bio is by Ronan Farrow who seems entirely at home in RuPaul's world.
"chewing gum and duct tape"