2nd in the series. More tales of the band of characters we find in the first. Mona learns the truth about Anna Madrigal. Mouse comes down with a strange disease as well as coming out to his parents. Mary Ann meets a man with amnesia on a cruise. ( )

Just as good as the first - a must read for any San Franciscan. ( )

audiobook fiction, short stories -- ABRIDGED 3 hrs, read by the author (whose last name apparently rhymes with "poppin")

2nd book in series with melodramatic storylines surrounding all the characters (Michael "Mouse" Tolliver is gay; Mrs. Madrigal is trans). This audio version doesn't suffer for abridgment, though the cuts between scenes were occasionally a little confusing, esp. when I hadn't yet figured out the separate characters and their storylines. A fun diversion perfect for road trip listening. ( )

Seriously enjoying this series. ( )

Not as good as first. Gets very melodramatic. I know you'll want to read on but unless you're interested in a soap opera, cut it after the first one and keep the magic. ( )

I love this one. Its a reread for I think the 4th or 5th time (I've lost count over the years) and one of my favourites. I am finding most other books that I am reading at the moment to be a bit heavy going so this is light relief in the extreme. ( )

I just can't get enough of these characters and their lives. Thank goodness there are a few more books. ( )

the singles saga continues

More Tales of the City
by Armistead Maupin

This book continues the characters that are introduced in Tales of the City, which is the first of this particular series. One of the things that makes this particular book interesting is that each chapter is relatively short, so it is quickly read and makes it easy for a reader to find a stopping point when they need to put it down for awhile. The reason for this ease isn't because Maupin wrote them this way as a book, but because the chapters are originally articles that appeared in, I believe don't quote me on this, the San Francisco Chronicle. Each chapter was featured as the daily story and because of this the book seems highly dramatic at time because it would be fairly obvious that each article had to keep the reader invested to return to it the next day to read. The thing is though there are overarching themes that actually get solved as well, which makes it very interesting to read in its entirety. As a reader you want to know what the secrets are because Maupin makes you invested in each o the characters. Each character has their own individual life, but as a collective group they make a beautiful book. I really enjoyed this book and plan on reading the next in the series entitled Further Tales of the City. If you want a book that will surely turn out to be a guilty pleasure for you to read then look no further than this and the first book in the series. You will love them and thank yourself for reading them!! ( )

[More Tales of the City] carries on with most of the same characters and putting some flesh on some earlier minor characters. I love it that the bad guys get bad ends, and the good guys just keep on keepin' on! I also love that I've read these books before so I remember some of the plot completions, but not all. The hints are broad, and amusing when you know the outcome, but I'm sure I miss as many as I catch. I will be continuing. The books make me feel good about life and some of the flawed people in my life as well as those in the books. I am smiling. ( )

I sometimes watch Chinese dramas / soap operas with my mother, and I always marvel (in a baffled sort of way) that in as large a city as portrayed in the show, all the characters in the story are inevitably and inexplicably intertwined in their relationships: personal, social, professional, etc. -- you name it. It's no different here, but the symbiosis works in the case of the books in this series; after all, there is a certain eccentricity amongst the characters that keeps the 'ecosystem' rich and thriving. On to Book 3: 'Further Tales Of The City'.
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I've become a real fan of the narrator, Barbara Rosenblat. The stories are, of course, classics. The narration adds to it for me. ( )

I'm rereading Tales of the City because I got Michael Tolliver Lives a few days ago. More Tales of the City book 2 of the Maupin San Francisco saga in the 1970's is fun, entertaining , a little weird with a pinch of wacko added. You get to "hang out" with the gang : Michael, Mona, Mary-Ann, Anna and company and follow their somewhat bizarre lives. I love those books so I'm not really objective about them. ( )

Once you get hooked on Maupin's characters and their hip soap opera lives, it's hard to quit. ( )

Once you get hooked on Maupin's characters, it's hard to stop reading about them. ( )

still pretty superficial, although really readable. i think i need to read this series as a soap opera. this one was complete with paralysis and amnesia and all the rest. the only difference is this has some lgbtq characters in it. i'm not overly excited but i'll keep reading; it's enjoyable enough. ( )

The second instalment, with a wonderfully kitschy Hitchcock-pastiche thriller plot, and various further revelations about Anna Madrigal, Woman of Mystery. ( )

More Tales of the City maintains the standard set in the first book as the coincidences become more bizarre and the characters reveal more of their secrets. Of the latter Anna Madrigal has some real shockers; but there is a shock of a different kind in store for the adorable Michael Tolliver; and yet another for the insufferable Beauchamp. But before that Mary Anne and the Michael go on a cruise together and neither returns empty handed. We meet some new characters and some of the old ones play a bigger part.
Very funny and entertaining, with some amateur sleuthing which involves several of the residents of 28 Barbary Lane keeping us guessing to the end, this is a most enjoyable read. ( )

This was just a fun read.....do not, i repeat do not expect deep moving literature, but do expect a fun romp with slightly bizarre off-beat characters living out a series of events right out of a daytime soap opera, absolutely chock-full of ridiculous coincidences and nearly unbelievable story lines. But i enjoyed it and my current busy schedule made me very appreciative of the 2-4 page chapter structure. And i had read the first of this series quite some time ago, yet I was right back in there like it was yesterday.....you know, just like the daily soaps. I might even follow up with number 3 right away since it went so quickly! ( )

I can't really believe it's taken me this long to find these gems, but sometimes it's the ones that lie undiscovered under your nose that prove the most surprising. These books detail the lives of a motley band of individuals who live in San Francisco on Barbary Lane under the watchful eye of the matriarchal Anna Madrigal. The pluses and minuses of these stories all stem from the fact that they were initially serialisations in a regular newspaper column. It makes them an addictive doddle to read - each book is divided into bite-sized chunks that have an element of self-containment mixed with a splattering suspense that leaves you wanting more. The characters are skilfully drawn and quickly come to life and become much-loved friends - a testament to Maupin's skill as a writer. They are each a little window onto life in San Francisco at the time - an interesting documentation of society there.

I guess, should you choose to, you could level the criticism that the interlinking storylines are all-to-convenient and readily wrapped up .... but I didn't find it problematic. It is an inherent quality of the original media they were published in and you have to allow for that format. I'm just glad to see them put together as a book so that they can be enjoyed by everyone. I think that if you cannot overcome objections to plot and structure, then these books were probably never meant for you. Personally, once I found them, I couldn't put them down and I'll certainly be looking forward to the next batch. ( )

As with Tales of the City, this is very much a book of its time and setting. On the other hand, I was living in the Bay Area at the time, and I remember the book being serialized in the SF Chronicle, so it's nicely nostalgic, and Maupin is an entertaining writer. ( )

Relationships expand and deepen in the second of Maupin's series, just as addictively readable as the first. ( )

Why is it that we admirers of the Tales of the City series enjoy it so much? Part of it is the fact that it is a combination of gossip and a good television series, all in a neat little package. Part of it is Maupin's great writing, which manages to capture the action and the spirit in a friendly, admiring style. Part of it is the motley crew of characters. But I think that the largest factor is jealousy - you read these stories and wish that you could live at Barbary Lane, and spend afternoons talking to Mrs. Madrigal, or tossing about campy bon mots with Michael.
This book is number two in a six part series about a house on Barbary Lane in San Francisco in the late 1970s and its inhabitants. Gay and straight, messed up and on the right track, Maupin's book is based on a regular (fictional) newspaper column that he wrote. And the book feels like you are getting regular episodes in the life of a group of people that you don't know personally, but you are interested in their lives anyway. You care about Mary Ann and her quest to the answer to her amnesiac lover's past. You want things to work out between Michael and the gynecologist Jon. You identify with Mona's surprise when she discovers her past during a chance visit to a desert whorehouse. You hope everything works out for DeDe and her twins-to-be. And as fantastic as these themes sound, they all become reasonable in Maupin's book. (Okay, so the parts concerning the amnesiac were a little bit far fetched, but nothing a reader can't cope with). I can almost guarantee that if you have not previously read the Tales of the City series before you read this book, you will be searching the shelves for the rest when you are finished. ( )

Maupin's delightful and fascinating characters find their way through San Francisco in the heady 70s. This time the plots become more involved and intertwined. We do learn important information about Mrs. Madrigal. ( )