Welcome to my digital library, beautiful squash blossoms! Here, you will find a collection of profound and powerful highlights from books that had imprinted the deepest impressions on me, and of course, accompanying commentaries  by yours truly. 

No one has more influence on my love for books than my Dad.  Growing up in a humble 360-square-foot home in Vietnam, we didn’t have much, but the book shelves were always well stocked.  As a teacher, Dad said, “Books are your best friends.  Treat them well.”  He always treated them Iike treasures. 

He made sure they were protected with book covers and taught us to never step on them or throw them on the ground.   Sometimes in the few minutes of rest between his classes, he’d try to sneak in a short power nap on the cold kitchen floor, his head pillowed on a stack of dictionaries.  

During the 10 years when the Communist party was treating my dad like a political prisoner, those tattered books were his only source to build the knowledge that he would eventually use to rebuild himself from the ashes.

And as he said, “With our knowledge, we shall rise.”