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Book Pick: Logical Family


Reading Tales of the City made me realize I'd had too long of a life without Armistead Maupin in it.  And while I can relate to absolutely none of his privileged North Carolina upbringing, I did enjoy the picture he paints of a state that has changed a lot since his youth.  (Or has it?) His takes on Jesse Helms, Vietnam, the young and fiery John Kerry, the old and gross Nixon and the brave new world of 1970's San Francisco are all educational and delightful.  Could dear Armistead be nearly as charming as he seems?  If so, I want to sign up to be his adorable niece and he to be my jolly old uncle immediately if not sooner.

I also really appreciated his witness-to-history activism and name-dropping of all the valuable players of that time.  I've done my share of reading, so that was downright exciting.

His coming to terms with his upbringing and his family held something for me too, and the obvious love of his well-meaning but sometimes delusional parents is lovely.  But it's his way of talking about his loves and losses, especially due to the tragedy of AIDS, that truly opens his soul.  I often am amazed at the people, mostly men, who came through that time and lived to tell about it.  I used to know such a man, and although he made it into the new millennium he didn't make it far.  He and Armistead could have been friends....and probably were.  Memoirs like this and novels like Tales of the City keep him alive for me.  And for that, I am truly grateful.
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