Not as well put together as the first Henry Rios book but still a compulsive read cause it’s a mystery. Rios is summoned to defend a kid who has been charged with the murder of another teen; the story is that he killed a boy who threatened to expose his homosexuality. Rios takes the case thinking his client is certainly guilty but changes his mind over time as he looks into the details. There are two characters affected by HIV: one has AIDS and is dying and the other is Josh, the man Henry falls in love with, who has been diagnosed with HIV. The book was written in 1988 at the height of the AIDS crisis. The plotting doesn’t seem as strong as in the previous book and the writing of the relationship between Henry and Josh is a bit sentimental. But Nava can really write; there’s some beautiful stuff here. I’d never heard of Michael Nava before coming across this list. I like this series, and will definitely read the rest.
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Really enjoyed this, my first book from this list. It’s number one in a series of seven books Chicano lawyer/author Michael Nava wrote about gay lawyer Henry Rios. In this one, Henry quits his job as a public defender and goes about opening his own office. He meets a man named Hugh Paris who has been arrested for disorderly behaviour. Hugh is an ex-junkie and heir to a fortune who believes he is going to be killed. Rios is attracted to Paris and wishes to help him. He is drawn into Paris’ mysterious life and then Paris is killed. Rios feels he has to find out who did it. Michael Nava has the spare/hard-boiled style of a Chandler or a Cain and Henry Rios is as unassumingly tough and witty as the heroes of either of those writers’ books. But this is more than just a well-written mystery novel, because Michael Nava is a wonderful, sensitive, observant writer. His work is simple but very beautiful. Here’s an example: ‘The city from this aspect appeared guileless and serene. Yet, when I walked in its streets what I noticed most was how the light seldom fell directly, but from angles, darkening the corners of things. You would look up at the eaves of a house expecting to see a gargoyle rather than the intricate but innocent woodwork. The city had this shadowy presence as if it was a living thing with secrets and memories. Its temperament was too much like my own for me to feel safe or comfortable there.’ And, of course, like any good mystery, it’s compulsively readable. Had to stay up to three a.m., reading it in one sitting, to find out what happened to Henry. It’s a quick read, only 165 pages in the original edition. Found three of Nava’s books in a second hand store yesterday. Will read more. This first one was published by a small gay/lesbian press in Boston called Alyson Publications. Nava was subsequently picked up by a larger publisher. He has apparently abandoned the series and is reputed to be working on a novel about Yaqui Indians and their treatment by the American government. Nava’s grandfather was Yaqui.
Green I own, blue I’ve read, red I’ve read since posting list.
1. Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick or, Street Life in New York
2. Clive Barker, Imajica
3. James M. Barrie, Peter Pan
4. William Beckford, Vathek
5. Aphra Behn, Oronooko
6. E.F. Benson, Make Way for Lucia
7. Elizabeth Bowen, The Death of the Heart
8. Poppy Z. Brite, Exquisite Corpse
9. Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh
10. Angela Carter, The Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffmann
11. John Cheever, The Wapshot Chronicle
12. Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill
13. Samuel R. Delany, Triton (aka Trouble on Triton)
14. Patrick Dennis (pseudonym of Edward Everett Tanner III), Auntie Mame
15. Norman Douglas, South Wind
16. Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca
17. Brett Easton Ellis, Less Than Zero
18. John Fox, The Boys on the Rock
19. Henry Blake Fuller, Bertram Cope’s Year
20. Nancy Garden, Annie on My Mind
21. Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls
22. Juan Goytisolo, Marks of Identity
23. Joris-Karl Huysmans, Against the Grain
24. Sarah Orne Jewett, Country of the Pointed Firs
25. Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
26. Heinrich von Kleist, The Marquise of O…
27. John Knowles, A Separate Peace
28. Larry Kramer, Faggots
29. Nella Larsen, Passing
30. David Leavitt, The Lost Language of Cranes
31. Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness
32. Matthew Gregory Lewis, The Monk
33. H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth
34. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence
35. Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City Series
Tales of the City (1978)
More Tales of the City (1980)
Further Tales of the City (1982)
Babycakes (1984)
Significant Others (1987)
Sure of You (1989)
Michael Tolliver Lives (2007)
36. James McCourt, Mawrdew Czgowchwz
37. Michael Nava, Henry Rios Series (seven novels)
The Little Death (1986)
Goldenboy (1988)
How Town (1990)
The Hidden Law (1992)
The Death of Friends (1996)
The Burning Plain (1997)
Rag and Bone (2001)
38. Edward Prime-Stevenson (under pseudonym “Xavier Mayne”), Imre
39. Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire
40. Frederick William Rolfe (under pseudonym “Baron Corvo”), Hadrian VII
41. Bram Stoker, Dracula
42. Bayard Taylor, Joseph and His Friend
43. Bruno Vogel, Alf
44. Sylvia Townsend Warner, Lolly Willowes
45. Patricia Nell Warren, The Front Runner
46. Anna Weirauch, The Scorpion
47. Denton Welch, In Youth is Pleasure
48. Glenway Wescott, The Grandmothers
49. Thornton Wilder, The Cabala
50. Cornell Woolrich, I Married a Dead Man