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Logical Family: A Memoir Audiobook
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""A book for any of us, gay or straight, who have had to find our family. Maupin is one of America’s finest storytellers, and the story of his life is a story as fascinating, as delightful and as compulsive as any of the tales he has made up for us.""—Neil Gaiman
""I fell in love with Maupin’s effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must read.""—Mary Karr
In this long-awaited memoir, the beloved author of the bestselling Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer. Also included is an exclusive conversation between Maupin and bestselling author Neil Gaiman.
Armistead Maupin was born in the mid-twentieth century and raised in the heart of conservative North Carolina, Armistead Maupin lost his virginity to another man ""on the very spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired."" Realizing that the South was too small for him, this son of a traditional lawyer packed his earthly belongings into his Opel GT (including a beloved portrait of a Confederate ancestor), and took to the road in search of adventure. It was a journey that would lead him from a homoerotic Navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam to that strangest of strange lands: San Francisco in the early 1970s.
Reflecting on the profound impact those closest to him have had on his life, Maupin shares his candid search for his ""logical family,"" the people he could call his own. ""Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us,"" he writes. ""We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives."" From his loving relationship with his palm-reading Grannie who insisted Maupin was the reincarnation of her artistic bachelor cousin, Curtis, to an awkward conversation about girls with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office, Maupin tells of the extraordinary individuals and situations that shaped him into one of the most influential writers of the last century.
Maupin recalls his losses and life-changing experiences with humor and unflinching honesty, and brings to life flesh-and-blood characters as endearing and unforgettable as the vivid, fraught men and women who populate his enchanting novels. What emerges is an illuminating portrait of the man who depicted the liberation and evolution of America’s queer community over the last four decades with honesty and compassion—and inspired millions to claim their own lives.
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“In this terrific performance of his new memoir…Because it’s Maupin telling the insightful story, it was often very funny. He reads in a light, pleasant voice with well-tuned pacing. He has just the right amount of expressiveness to make us feel some of his complicated emotions for his dad, the racist homophobe; for his kind and trapped mother; and for all the rest of the folks who helped him become an interesting man, and a thoughtful and thought-provoking author. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award.”
— AudioFile
Quotes
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“A book for any of us, gay or straight, who have had to find our family.”
— Neil Gaiman, #1 New York Times bestselling author -
“Maupin ties the bonds of joy and heartache he shares with both his families (biological and ‘logical’)…A nuanced reflection on what it means to love and be loved in a flawed but beautiful world.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Maupin’s long career as a storyteller serves him well with his own biographical material, and he leavens the varied events of his life with just the right amounts of humor, thoughtfulness, and poignancy.”
— Library Journal (starred review) -
“I fell in love with Maupin’s effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must-read.”
— Mary Karr, New York Times bestselling author -
“A sweet, filthy peach of a memoir from a cultural explosion of a man.”
— Caitlin Moran, New York Times bestselling author -
“A beautiful memoir—so tender and funny and dignified and kind that it left me a little weepy.”
— Alan Cumming, award-winning actor, performer, and author -
“Wise, witty, and beautifully told.”
— People -
“A sweetly frank and funny memoir by a storyteller in the first rank.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine -
“It is easy to understand Maupin’s reputation for geniality, given his openheartedness as a person and his honesty as a writer…[a] delightful chronicle.”
— Booklist -
“Loving remembrances abound—not least of his compassionate mother—as the author celebrates the many people who enriched his life. Engaging reminiscences from an ebullient storyteller.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Maupin’s memories are by turns touching and humorous…. Logical Family succeeds in reconciling the distance between his heritage and the legacy he leaves to generations of readers. Engaging and revelatory, Maupin’s memoir is a delight, punctuating a distinguished career in letters.”
— San Francisco Chronicle
Awards
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Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award
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People Pick of the Week
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About Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin is the author of numerous novels, including the highly popular Tales of the City series. His novels Sure of You and The Days of Anna Madrigal made the New York Times bestsellers list. He was the 2012 recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award. In 2014 he was awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree by the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. Three miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney were made from the first three novels in the Tales series. The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette. He was born in Washington, DC, in 1944 but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he served as a naval officer in the Mediterranean and with the River Patrol Force in Vietnam. He worked briefly as a reporter for a newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, before being assigned to the San Francisco bureau of the Associated Press in 1971.