DIFFERENT TALES, DIFFERENT CITIES
THE NEW MEMOIR FROM THE AUTHOR OF TALES OF THE CITY IS WARM,
WORDS: ULI LENART
BOOKS
FASCINATING AND NOT WITHOUT A SURPRISE
BOOK OF THE MONTH
LOGICAL FAMILY: A MEMOIR
Armistead Maupin/Doubleday
Poignant and moving, joyful and hilarious, Logical Family reads like a masterclass in how to write a memoir. And you might want to brace yourself because it reveals that Maupin, the genial figurehead of progressive liberalism and LGBT+ equality, started out as a closeted right-wing Republican. From his childhood in the heart of conservative North Carolina, complete with pro-slavery Confederate heritage, it was a long and winding road that would eventually take him to Barbary Lane, in San Francisco — a journey that would lead him from a homoerotic navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam, via an uncomfortably hilarious encounter with President Nixon in the Oval Office, to the genesis of Tales of the City in the 1970s. Full of amazing anecdotes about encounters with figures such as Rock Hudson, Tennessee Williams and Harvey Milk, as well as revelations about his relationship with own family members, this offers a fascinating insight into the life of one of our most celebrated and cherished writers. Full of heart and honesty, the book radiates with the author’s irrepressible warmth and generosity of spirit. Out now