Category Archives: Uncategorized

I only read eight non-fiction books this year. Of those, by far my favorite was Solito by Javier Zamora. I read it first for a book review I wrote and then I went back and listened to it in audio because he did the … Continue reading →

WITH ONLY a few days before the new year arrives, it is time to let you know which books I enjoyed the most this year. As if you gave a hoot! There were a lot of books released this year, many … Continue reading →

Solito, A Memoir, by Javier Zamora (Hogarth, 381 pp) By Juan R. Palomo [Note: this review is being published by “Voices de la Luna,” a San Antonio literary magazine] AS A YOUNG boy growing up in his grandparents’ home in … Continue reading →

THE FIRT TIME I ever went to Eagle Pass, Texas, I was a third-grader. I joined all the other students from my school who’d tested positive for TB on a school bus for the 45-mile trip to an old hangar in … Continue reading →

  THE MONTH of May summons many images. Mother’s Day. Cinco de Mayo. Graduation. But any Catholic will tell you the real significance of the month: May is the Virgin Mary’s month. During May, Catholics gather – in their churches, at … Continue reading →

THE LENTEN SEASON never fails to evoke strong memories of my grandfather. My father’s father was a big man. At least that’s the way I remember him. He had dark skin and white hair. He sported a broad, drooping mustache. He … Continue reading →

On this day, 122 years ago, my father’s oldest sister was born near San Luis Potosí in Mexico. She died in 2003, at the age of 103. I wrote this about her 28 years ago: Her eyes closed, she sat … Continue reading →

Whenever I mention the 10-year-plus long distance friendship with a guy on Texas death row (Rogelio Reyes Cannady, who was executed May 19, 2010) and talk about the numerous letters we exchanged, I’m often asked what I wrote to him … Continue reading →

I HAD PRETTY much finished compiling this list of my favorite books of the year when I started listening to Louise Erdrich’s newest novel, The Sentence. I didn’t think I’d finish it before the end of the year, so I didn’t … Continue reading →

IN 1992, NOT long after I had started writing a column for The Houston Post, I received a letter from a reader named Michael Dale, who was very much in disagreement with something I wrote. Unlike most of the ranting … Continue reading →