Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin

Meeting at the usual place, The Shakespeare Hotel, Surry Hills, we’ll be discussing Tales of the City (1978) by Armistead Maupin.

Tales of the City is the first of a 10-part series of novels by Armistead Maupin (the name rhymes with 'farmer-speed law-pin'). The novel centres on a group of people in a San Francisco apartment building. One of the central characters is Michael Tolliver, a young gay man trying to find love and stability while exploring San Francisco’s gay scene. Across the series, the story develops from a comic portrait of urban life into much deeper stories about love, sexuality, chosen family, and the AIDS crisis.

Hard copies are very easily available through local libraries (including City of Sydney and Wollahra and inter-library loan). PDFs available from our friend Anna. Or contact me on [dalemills@cantab.net](mailto:dalemills@cantab.net) for a PDF.

The 1993 (six hours) TV adaptation can be found for free on youtube. It is reported to be very faithful to the novel, and was spoken of positively by the author. There is also a Netflix 2019 series.

There will be about 10-15 of us meeting in one of the semi-private rooms upstairs. Ask at the bar or look for the sign if you can't find us! We are a friendly lot and newcomers are welcome.

Contact Dale for further details on [dalemills@cantab.net](mailto:dalemills@cantab.net)