#10 Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin (Corgi Books)

Good, but not great. What? You want more? I promised you pithy, and now you're complaining that a particular review isn't wordy enough? Sheesh.

Righto. I'd been looking forward to reading Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin - by all accounts a classic generation-defining book which stemmed from weekly fictional articles first serialised in the San Francisco Chronicle. I'm not sure why I haven't picked it up before, but when I started this challenge, it was one of the books I was most looking forward to reading.

Perhaps that was the problem. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Because while there is no question it's an absorbing tale - a thorough examination of a time, a city, a lifestyle and much more - I wasn't as captivated as I thought I would be.

You have to admire the way the characters interlink with one another, and how the story dips in and out of their lives, but the story itself doesn't fascinate. It could be argued that that's the point; that the lives of few people are inherently fascinating, so it's merely echoing real life, but that's getting a bit deep and meaningful for a supposedly short review.

Another problem is that when people praise Tales of the City, one of its most praiseworthy attributes is its topicality, with the weekly nature of the serial allowing Maupin to incorporate and reference current news events. Without immersing myself in 1970s San Francisco (and I've got 100 books to read this year, remember), this is difficult to fully appreciate.

The final point to address is the book's sexuality; characters are, to put in frankly, having it away - every which way - left, right and centre. Thirty years after the book was written, this doesn't seem as shocking as I'm sure it was to many at the time, though, and again the overriding feeling is one of disengagement rather than incredulity or wonderment.

All that said, I enjoyed it, and will be reading more in the series. Given its focus on homosexuality, and that the series is hyped as a chronicle of an age and community that suffered the horrors of Aids, I’m interested to see how it is depicted by Maupin.

So, rating time:

#10 Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin (Corgi Books) - 7/10

Next up: Hard Revolution, by George Pelecanos (Orion)

Click here for the full list of books so far, and their rating