TALES OF THE CITY by Armistead...

TALES OF THE CITY by Armistead Maupin (HarperPerennial: $12; 371 pp.). Viewers who were introduced to Maupin’s “Tales” sextet by the PBS mini-series may be surprised to discover how much of the nutty dialogue was lifted verbatim from the first novel. The improbable yet somehow credible adventures of Mary Ann Singleton, Michael Tolliver, Anna Madrigal, Mona Ramsey and their friends in 1976 San Francisco form a slyly affectionate elegy to a much-maligned decade in America, when the future appeared to offer unlimited opportunities, racial and sexual equality seemed imminent and homeless was an adjective applied to stray puppies. Was it only 18 years ago?