Cover of Tales of the City

Tales of the City

Armistead Maupin, 1978

American novelist, born 1944.

Tales of the City is a 1978 novel by Armistead Maupin.

In comic novels and satire, LGBTQ+

On 2 of the 17 lists it was eligible for.

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At a glance

Author
Armistead Maupin
First published
Book 1978; serialised from 1974
Length
352 pages (UK paperback)
Genre
Comic novels and satire, LGBTQ+, Class and society
Series
Book 1 of Tales of the City

Is Tales of the City worth reading?

2 of the 17 best-of lists it could have made include it: 100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts) and The Great American Read (PBS).

ListPlaceOriginal
100 novels that shaped our world (BBC Arts, 2019)ListedSee the list
The Great American Read (PBS, 2018)ListedSee the list

Best edition of Tales of the City

The edition we link to is the Penguin paperback (2024), 352 pages.

Publisher
Penguin (paperback, 2024)
Pages
352
ISBN
9781804994252

How critics, prizes and readers rate Tales of the City

Readers and critics rate it about equally: it earned 15% on readers' and booksellers' lists and 10% on critics' lists, against 0% on prize lists.

Critics
10%
Prizes
0%
Readers and booksellers
15%

Share of the available points it earned on each kind of list it was eligible for. How the scores work

Books like Tales of the City

If you liked Tales of the City, try Scoop, A Confederacy of Dunces or Bridget Jones's Diary.

Lists used on this page