TIME’s Person of the Century, Albert Einstein, once said, “The only thing that you absolutely have to know is the location of the library.” I couldn’t agree more. As a book lover, libraries–both public and academic–have always been among my favorite places. And as a writer, nothing gives me greater pleasure than to have my books included in the catalogs of libraries of any type, where, hopefully, they can be looked up and checked out for a long time to come.

Remember Ken Burns’ TV series about the Vietnam War, back in September 2017? About a year after the series had aired, a friend of mine sent me a link that he had stumbled across by chance. It pointed to a PDF document jointly issued by PBS and the ALA (American Library Association) prior to the broadcast, a programming guide for public libraries (click HERE for the actual website page).  At the end of it was a long list of recommended readings, both fiction and non-fiction, to go with the TV series. My eyes practically popped out when I spotted Once upon a Mulberry Field among the recommended fiction list. Talk about a rush, as I had no idea how it had ended up on the list.

Spurred on by this delightful surprise, I scoured the Internet for any other revelations. I found two other lists just shortly before the pandemic hit (and all the libraries closed down). The first one was a list of romantic fiction recommended by the staff of the public library in Hillsborough County in Florida (Tampa Bay). Mulberry Field was featured on that list (click HERE for the actual web page) alongside works by Erich Segal (Love Story), Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook), Debbie Macomber (Looking for a Hero), Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water) etc. It was quite a jolt (and a thrill) to see the cover of my book highlighted next to all the others.

The second list I came across was an online write-up about “Vietnam Today” published by the staff at the Washington DC Public Library (click HERE for the web page). Their short list of recommended reading mentioned my travelogue Rain Falling on Tamarind Trees along with works by former BBC News correspondent Bill Hayton (Vietnam: Rising Dragon) and Pulitzer-Prize winner Viet Thanh Nguyen (Refugees) as well as the latest travel guides by Lonely Planet Country Guides and DK Eyewitness Travel. The library even held a book club discussion of Tamarind Trees around that same time. Needless to say, I was extremely appreciative of these diligent library staffs who had noticed my works and were kind enough to recommend them to their patrons.

Through the Internet and the World Catalog, I was also excited to discover that one or both of my books are owned by public libraries in several US and Canadian cities as well as some large national libraries such as the Library of Congress, the British Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and the National Library of Australia. To my great surprise and delight, the books also figured in catalogs of academic libraries at Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Irvine, Columbia, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Carnegie Mellon, U. of Michigan, New York U., U. of Florida, Tulane, Brigham Young, etc. as well as overseas: University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies), Australian National University, University of Alberta. 

More than any book sales, rankings, or awards, I consider the inclusion of my books in these libraries my proudest and most gratifying achievement in my short “writing career.” As a thoughtful man once said, “A great library contains the diary of the human race” (George Mercer Dawson). Hopefully, I will be inspired to add yet a few more lines to that living diary we all contribute to.

As always, thank you all for your kind support. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, and do stay safe and healthy. Happy Reading, Writing, or any other creative activity of your choice!