I find myself surprised at how little connection I felt to this book, given that the author and I are of the same generation (he’s slightly younger than me), and especially given that it is almost entirely about three of the cities where I myself had most of my experiences in gay bars—Los Angeles, London and San Francisco (where the author’s period of residence actually overlapped with my own). But he and I had different goals when we went out, and thus, different experiences, even in the same venues.

I enjoyed the history, especially of London, and some of the musings are interesting, but the author’s perspective and my own are so different that even when he’s writing about a bar or club where I spent a good amount of time, I seldom recognized anything but the name.