#moby dykes

[vampireharpy]

sometimes your arch enemy is kinda hot and also a werewhale

[farmerlesbian]

I read two interviews and an article about the new book, Moby Dyke by Krista Burton and am wondering what y’all’s experience is with going to lesbian bars. I’m talking historically Dyke bars. Hard to define sometimes but if you’re unsure, take a look at the pieces I linked above, then answer!

As usual, add your thoughts in the comments or tags or explain if it's complicated!

[haveyoureadthispoll]

A former Rookie contributor and creator of the popular blog Effing Dykes investigates the disappearance of America’s lesbian bars by visiting the last few in existence. Lesbian bars have always been treasured safe spaces for their customers, providing not only a good time but a shelter from societal alienation and outright persecution. In 1987, there were 206 of them in America. Today, only a couple dozen remain. How and why did this happen? What has been lost—or possibly gained—by such a decline? What transpires when marginalized communities become more accepted and mainstream? In Moby Dyke, Krista Burton attempts to answer these questions firsthand, venturing on an epic cross-country pilgrimage to the last few remaining dyke bars. Her pilgrimage includes taking in her first drag show since the onset of the pandemic at The Back Door in Bloomington, Indiana; competing in dildo races at Houston’s Pearl Bar; and, despite her deep-seated hatred of karaoke, joining a group serenade at Nashville’s Lipstick Lounge and enjoying the dreaded pastime for the first time in her life. While Burton sets out on the excursion to assess the current state of lesbian bars, she also winds up examining her own personal journey, from coming out to her Mormon parents to recently marrying her husband, a trans man whose presence on the trip underscores the important conversation about who precisely is welcome in certain queer spaces—and how they and their occupants continue to evolve. Moby Dyke is an insightful and hilarious travelogue that celebrates the kind of community that can only be found in windowless rooms soundtracked by Britney Spears-heavy playlists and illuminated by overhead holiday lights no matter the time of year.

[ofliterarynature]

FEBRUARY 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf (reread) book club*]

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years • The Memory Librarian • Pixels of You* • Arch-Enemies • Moby Dyke • Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures • A Sinister Revenge • Lud in the Mist • Crying in H Mart • Something Close to Magic • Hula • (Renegades) • The Divorce Colony • Foundryside • Earthlings • A Far Wilder Magic

total: 13 books (12 audiobook, 1 print)

Not as many books this month! And not just because February has fewer days, I was really in a funk this month and struggling to pay attention to my audiobooks (and enjoy them). You wouldn't think there's such a thing as too many books, but I think the overtime hours at work are hitting their peak mental health destruction. Here's to hoping things improve in March!

The Divorce Colony (4.5 stars) - genuinely can't believe this was my 3rd nonfic of the year already! I picked a print copy of this up at a library sale in December after hearing about divorce colonies in the early 20th century on a recent episode of the 99% Invisible podcast. Turns out this book was actually about the beginning of the moment that took place in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the 1800's. Western states had shorter residency periods and less strict divorce laws, so women (and the occasional man) would travel west and live there for several months in order to obtain a divorce. This book tracks the movement through the stories of 4 of the more infamous cases to make the papers, and does an incredible job of weaving in the surrounding political and religious discussions. Would recommend, and has a great cover to boot!

Renegades (3 stars) - a reread, and for some reason it was torture. I originally read this back in 2018 and loved it, and wanted to tackle it again and actually finish the rest of the series. But I kept getting worked up and frustrated this time around! It kept trying to take itself seriously while also being very YA and kind of superhero-camp, and I was absolutely overthinking it lol. I found the strength to press on into book two, Archenemies (3.5 stars). I liked it a bit more! Something about it being new, the story being a bit more settled and maybe getting a better grasp on its message/politics, the characters growing more, me figuring out that I shouldn't listen to the audiobook for more than an hour or so at a time, lmao. Not great, but fun, and possibly worth reading? I'll keep y'all updated when I finish book 3.

Hula (5 stars) - incredible. Part generational family story, part history, part discussion of what it means to be Hawaiian, culturally and legally. Not always the easiest of reads, but it was so so worth it. It was also doing something very interesting with parts of the narration voiced by a collective "we" (culture/community?) that I would love to get a look at in print. Highly recommend, I'll definitely be getting myself a copy.

Something Close to Magic (4.5 stars) - an absolute delight! The Gail Carson Levine comp on this one is not entirely unearned, anyone who's a fan of fairy tale type fantasies will enjoy this, I had a great time! Very interestingly, it has characters who are in their mid to late teens, but is written in a way where they're still allowed to be young, to the point I'm surprised it didn't get shoehorned into MG instead of YA. If the author writes any more of these I'd be happy to read them.

Crying in H Mart (3.5 stars) - nonfic number 4! I'm sure everyone's heard of this one by now, which is why I finally picked it up. It's fine (which is why it got an extra .5 star), but on the scale of take it or leave it, I'd leave it. It just wasn't for me and I kind of wish I'd dnf'd it. A great cover though.

Lud-in-the-Mist (3.5 stars) - this one seems to be considered a sort of early precursor to fantasy and fairy tale type stories from the early 20th century, and I was eager to try it! While I definitely don't think it would feel out of place amongst it's more recent fellows (think the Last Unicorn, Robin McKinley, DWJ, etc), I absolutely could not get into it. Probably the chief recipient of "my brain doesn't want to cooperate, sorry," so maybe I'll give it another shot someday.

A Sinister Revenge (4 stars) - enjoyable as always! Not to hide this deep in my reviews or anything, but have the Emily Wilde people tried Veronica Speedwell yet?

Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures (3 stars) - This one's been sitting unread on my shelf for a while, and since I was on a bit of a Maggie Stiefvater run, I figured it was perfect! Well. Unless you are like 7, this was so bad. Not good. Having previously read and not liked a book by Maggie's co-author Jackson Pearce, I think it would not be unreasonable for me to assume she did most of the writing while Maggie did the illustrations - if the audiobook had been any longer than 4 hours I'd have absolutely DNF'd it, and I have no intention of continuing the series.

Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in the Country (4.5 stars) - part of me was wondering what I was doing trying this lol, not being someone who drinks or goes to bars, OR, as previously mentioned, is not the biggest fan of memoirs. It was not, as I hoped, also part research project, but it is a travelogue, and as a consequence has a strong narrative thread. It also has a lot of discussions about issues in the LGBTQ+ community, and overall I really liked it once I figured out what it was doing!

Pixels of You (3.5 stars) - a very short sapphic rivals-to friends-to lovers graphic novel about a human-form AI and a human with an android eye competing for a photography internship at an art gallery. The creators clearly put SO much thought into their characters and worldbuilding, but sadly there is nowhere near enough length here to do it all justice, and a number of elements felt very odd or under explored. The relationship parts are great! I just think this needed to be twice as long to really given everything its due, or maybe explored in prose instead.

The Memory Librarian (3.5 stars) - to start, I know nothing about the musical album this is related to, so I don't know how much that might have affected my reading. Overall I wasn't super impressed - when I discovered that the first story was cowritten by Alaya Dawn Johnson - no shade to her - I almost dropped it then, I just really didn't like her writing style in the one book I've read. But I stuck through it. Of the five stories, only one really stuck in my mind - Nevermind, cowritten by Danny Lore, which I could have read an entire novel about. I wish I could recommend it on its own, but overall I just don't quite understand the world Monae has created.

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years (3.5 stars) - I probably should say more about the book, it was fine, I was surprised to find that it's set in relatively current day, I found myself a lot more interested in the second narrative about the house's history, which did make me cry a bit. Mostly though, I really just want to let you know how MUCH of a non-entity the djinn was in this story, I have no idea why it was there and why it was included in the title of the book. All the author had to do was make the house a little more sentient and haunted and it would be fine, idk. Read it if you want, but it's not one I would rec.

DNF'S

Foundryside - I was so ready. I had the first two audiobooks checked out, I had the third one on hold. I started this but oh, the writing. bleh. I was looking thought reviews and someone referred to it as something like "21st century internet speak." In a high fantasy novel. I noped out at just 10%.

Earthlings - I've considered the author's other book before but haven't read it, but thought maybe a sci-fic book would work better for me? The beginning was odd but not uninteresting, and I might have continued if it had stayed that way. But then the main character was in school(?) and her teacher started getting handsy after class and I wasn't invested enough to stick it out.

A Far Wilder Magic - the success of Something Close to Magic made me a little too hopeful I think, bc while I'm still a little leery around YA, I know people have liked this. And it sounded interesting, truly, and I love the cover. But first it was the religion stuff. And I didn't really like the characters. Then it's like, oh, this is the same plot as The Scorpio Races, but nowhere near it's quality in any shape or form. I decided to stop while I was ahead, before I started to actually dislike it. (anyway here's your PSA to go read The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, I recommend doing it in October if you can).

[wlwbookshelf]

MOBY DYKE - KRISTA BURTON

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

The subtitle of this novel, 'An Obsessive Quest To Track Down The Last Remaining Lesbian Bars In America' really explains what this travelogue is all about.

Moby Dyke makes me, an introverted homebody, yearn to go to a lesbian bar. I literally started figuring out plans to do to the nearest one after I finished reading. I really don’t know what higher praise this book could get from me.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[medusasbush]

Who is Moby Dyke for? On the politics of queer visibility

[sapphos-tooth]

new book

[libraryleopard]

Adult nonfiction

Queer humor/travel/memoir by a lesbian blogger who goes on a road trip to visit America's surviving lesbian bars

Explores queer community and spaces alongside the author's own life and visits to the bars

[amber-pecan]

im reading a book about dyke bars and im like crying every two pages

[vampireharpy]

tasty

[onebluebookworm]

30 Days of Literary Pride 2023 - June 29

Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America - Krista Burton

[anthonycrowley]

i have gotten to the point where i can’t deal with anyone under 18 on the internet i really can’t

[disappointeddyke]

First day of vacation means finally journaling and starting my new book

[catzpah]

2, 3, 13, 19 💖

2. Did you reread anything? What? Nope! 3. What were your top five books of the year?

The Great Soul of Siberia (2015) by Sooyong Park -- I need to read more wildlife books (and it is a genre I love that ended up getting overshadowed by LGBT books this year) BUT STILL, in my humble opinion, The Great Soul of Siberia should be considered one of the best wildlife books of all time. This book is about a tiger researcher who spends six months a year in an underground bunker watching tigers. He also maintains a close relationship with the indigenous Ussuri people who consider the tiger central to their culture. From personal observation and conversations with the Ussuri, Park is able to depict an incredibly intimate look at the forest's tigers and is able to illuminate their intelligence and individualism without ever veering into anthropomorphism. And oh my god, these tigers are so smart. They know how to dismantle traps from behind and they teach their cubs how to do it! To me, The Great of Soul of Siberia is the gold standard of wildlife books not only because of the beautiful, illustrative prose and intense amount of research, but because Park pays great attention to the Ussuri and links their survival as intrinsic to the survival of the tigers. I measure every wildlife book I read to The Great Soul of Siberia to assess if I'm reading imperialist propaganda or not.

The Color Purple (1982) by Alice Walker -- This is the perfect book. It's almost hard to know what to say about it in a paragraph because it's such a sweeping vision and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet -- not in term of plot events but in terms of the breadth of the book's worldview. And truly, Alice Walker is a singular talent -- who else, in 1982, could write a book with a central lesbian love story and have that book become so influential, so widely beloved? In 1982, the world embraced a book about how Black women loving each other (both romantically and platonically) is how they free themselves from the mental prisons constructed by white supremacy, patriarchy and Christianity? Fuck, man.

Sarah Schulman non-fiction (notably, Conflict is Not Abuse, Israel/Palestine and the Queer International, Gentrification of the Mind and Let the Record Show) - Rocked my shit and helped me understand the assimilationst and pathetic state of the LGBT movement today. But also helped me understand the depth's of the LGBT movement's radical roots. Conflict is Not Abuse is startlingly good at breaking down conflicts, to the point where it's my framework for any conflict I experience in my day-to-day life. Absolutely invaluable.

Honorable mentions: Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, A Fragile Union by Joan Nestle, Oedipus in Brooklyn and Other Stories by Blume Lempel, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, Skin: Talking Sex, Class and Literature by Dorthy Allison, Bastard Out Of Carolina by Dorthy Allison, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde, The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions by Larry MItchell and Ned Asta, In Search of Our Mother's Garden (1983) by Alice Walker, Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis, H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald, The Living is Easy by Dorthy West and Shubeik Lubeik by Deena Mohamed [I took so long answering this because I couldn't choose my top five books. Eventually decided to just list out additional favorites.]

13. What were your least favorite books of the year?

Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America (2023) by Krista Burton -- I read this book all the way through because I have an interest in rebuilding lesbian spaces. But oh my god, this book sucked so much. Burton has no curiosity, no critical eye and a very poor sense of history. Lesbian bars are an important part of lesbian history, but Burton doesn't spend much time trying to learn about the history of bars -- she chooses to only write what she can actively find out in the nights she visits the bars. AND she often doesn't approach patrons or workers because she's "testing" how friendly the bars are. So essentially, each chapter is like an extended Yelp review. This is exemplified by how when in New York, she mentions that she wanted to visit the Lesbian Herstory Archive (she says she loves the name because it "sounds like a SNL sketch"), but didn't get the chance too. Burton viewing the LHA as a tourist site with a silly name and not a long-standing lesbian institution that could have served her in a vital resource in researching shows her really shows the level of historical commitment that went into this book. Burton also has an annoying white millennial quirk of wanting to undermine her own authority and being over-conscious of her oversights as a white woman in a completely unhelpful way. At one point, her friend takes her to the piers that were featured in Paris is Burning. Burton admits to never having seen Paris is Burning and then in aside to the audience, writes "I know! I'm sorry!" I don't understand why you would be writing a book about queer spaces, admit to never watching Paris is Burning, and then overapologize. Every fucking chapter Burton proves herself someone not worth listening to. I could go on about how bad this book was but this has already run on pretty long.

Among Tigers (2022) by K. Ullas Karanth -- I loved The Great Soul of Siberia so much that I immediately chose to read another book about tigers. Among Tigers is written by one of the Indian government's leading tiger conservationists. At the time I read this book (early in the year), I admittedly did not have a strong working knowledge of the ways conversation ideology is used to displace indigenous people. Among Tigers did help me understand racist/anti-indigenous conservation ideology better. Because it was so anti-indigenous. Karanth insists that driving indigenous people out of their homes is necessary to bolster the tiger population. He characterizes the indigenous people he works with as cowardly and lazy. It was jarring to read Among Tigers after reading The Great Soul of Siberia because Park treats the indigenous people in the area in which he studied the tigers with so much respect whereas Karanth treated them essentially as pests. As a direct result, The Great Soul of Siberia is a better book about tigers than Among Tigers, precisely because Park draws so much from indigenous knowledge about the tigers. He listens to the people who actually do live among the tigers and know them intimately. Karanth's tigers are just scientific subjects. So this book is both racist and boring.

The School for Good Mothers (2022) by Jessamine Chan -- When I started this book, I thought it was clever that it was written in present tense and things like a court scene would take place in past tense to show the inevitability of the painful result -- like the author didn't need to bother to put suspense into the court scenes because they were always going to rule against the mother. But, this trick would've been better used sparingly. I got tired of every single major moment of the book being written in past tense and not as it was happening. I also found that Chan could not square the gender dynamics she wanted to talk about with racial dynamics effecting racial minorities she isn't part of. The book is about a carceral system that institutionalizes mothers who were "bad" in some way and trains them to be good. Eventually it is revealed that there is also a school for bad fathers. The school for bad fathers is more disproportionately Black and brown men then the school for bad mothers. However, all the dads end up getting custody of their kids and if I remember correctly, none of the mothers do. Chan clearly wanted to comment on the double standards of what is tolerated for mothers and fathers. But to me, this ending just erased the way the state uses supposed concern for child welfare and incarceration to break up Black and brown families -- I don't believe that any of these Black dads would get their kids back in the world Chan set up and it annoyed me that Chan recognized the inflated incarceration of Black and brown men but defaulted to a simplistic "men are judged less harshly than women" approach by the end. Disappointing read.

Spellbound by Bishakh Som -Interesting way to do a trans narrative but reading about the author's life as a diplomat's kid bored me to death.

Little Fish (2018) by Casey Plett -- idk I just didn't like this one "¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 19. Did you use your library?

Yes!!! This year I started a mind-numbingly boring receptionist job. I work in a university, at the financial aid office. My job makes me feel like human AI, because I answer the same things over and over, and more often than not, due to federal regulations (or my coworkers, the financial aid counselors not wanting to go above the bare minimum to help a student out), I'm not able to actually help students who need funding. But, my job is to answer emails and phone calls and assist walk-in students. Especially during non-peak periods, that is not eight hours of work. Very quickly after I started, I realized that in my "free time" I could read ebooks through the library without being bothered about it. I'm so thankful to the library because it keeps my world big and interesting. I think to not be properly stimulated for eight hours (especially in an environment like the financial aid office where the boring work you're doing is a for a particularly pernicious institution) is bad for people. My coworkers are all petty people, but I feel like the constraints of the job (understimulating + being the face of the shitty student aid system w/o any power to actually help students financially due to being bound by federal guidelines) shapes them into that. The library protect me from BECOMING my job and I love it very much for that. Thank you public library. Also yes, I am looking for a new job. Thankful for the ability to read so much but oh my god, the environment there is so fucking bad.

[nansheonearth]

Amanda is a producer for National Public Radio’s show 1A and tomorrow’s is about lesbian bars. They’re doing an open call for audience input (they share and discuss voicemails during the show). Feel free to send to folks you know!

Tomorrow’s show:

In the 1980's there were roughly 200 lesbian bars. Today, there are less than 30. We sit down with Krista Burton the author of "Moby Dyke" who journeyed around the U-S to visit all of them and find out why they're disappearing. If you frequent a lesbian bar in your town, we'd love to hear what this space means to you. Or, if you don't have a lesbian bar in your area, how does the lack of space affect the way you connect with your community?

Call us: 8-5-5, 2-3-6, 1-2-1-2.

How do you think spaces for lesbians and queer women have changed over time?

Leave us a voicemail: 8-5-5, 2-3-6, 1-2-1-2 or a message with our app, 1A Vox Pop. And we’ll get to your stories tomorrow on 1-A.