The Days of Anna Madrigal

So I finally read this book.

'Hasn't that book been out a while now', you may be asking yourself.  Yes.  I pre-ordered it on Amazon in Oct of 2013, with the knowledge it would be shipped in Jan 2014 when the novel was released.  I received mine as expected, but didn't begin reading it until last week - a year and a half later.

You see, this is the 9th and supposedly final book in the Tales of the City series, which began as a continuing newspaper serial in the 1970s, and was the inspiration for this blog's title.  All the former residents of 28 Barbary Ln are in their 60s now, except the matriarch herself, Anna Madrigal, who is in her 90s.  As long as I didn't read this book, the characters would remain and I would have something to anticipate.  Once I read the book, it would be the end of my time with them.

After successfully putting it off for 18 months, I decided I was finally ready to begin the final chapters of Maryann Singleton, Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, Brian Hawkins, and Anna Madrigal.  I told myself that I'd ration my reading, and only read a couple chapters at a time.  This would help me delay the eventual end of the book.  But despite my best intentions I found myself engrossed in stories and would up reading the entire book in 3 settings.

I won't ruin it for anyone who's planning to read it, but I will say that I loved that the ending was joyful and not as sad as I anticipated.  

While Armistead Maupin won't be writing anymore books in the Tales of the City series, I'm hoping he'll continue writing other novels.  I enjoyed both of his non-Tales novels called Maybe the Moon and The Night Listener; the latter of which was made into a film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette. I love the way he paints a picture with his words and transports me to a different time and place.