Any good books?

[aleno]

I am trying to read more books about the life of people of Hawaii. Any body has any sugestions? Any ethnic background is okay. I want to find out more about the people who lived around the time of the monarchy.

[Leimamo]

I am trying to read more books about the life of people of Hawaii. Any body has any sugestions? Any ethnic background is okay. I want to find out more about the people who lived around the time of the monarchy.
Aloha Ale,

You might want to use this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index%3Dstripbooks%26field-keywords%3Dhawaiian%252520monarchy%26store-name%3Dbooks/102-1225866-1871364) as a starting point then maybe narrow down your search to what you're looking for in particular.

[aleno]

Mahalo Leimamo,

I just ordered the book written by King David Kalakaua,

Myth's and legends. I can't wait to get it.

I've alway been interested in the monarchy and true stories about people who lived in Hawaii. I also enjoy reading about people who immigrated to hawaii. I read an article on my trip back to Hawaii about portuguese immigrants aboard a ship bound for Hawaii. On the flight home to California, I read an article about a person from Japan who got to meet the Queen of Hawaii and how he felt when he heard Hawaii was now part of the USA.

I finished a book about a Hawaiian women who married a sea captain and moved away to the mainland. It's her journal. It was very interesting to read her feelings about being so far away from home. I could relate to her. Also told of how after she dies, her husband brings her back to the islands for burial and camps at her grave because he was afraid the family of his wife might take her body and hide it in a family grave. He camped there for six months before he got sick and was forced to leave.

[Leimamo]

I finished a book about a Hawaiian women who married a sea captain and moved away to the mainland. It's her journal. It was very interesting to read her feelings about being so far away from home. I could relate to her. Also told of how after she dies, her husband brings her back to the islands for burial and camps at her grave because he was afraid the family of his wife might take her body and hide it in a family grave. He camped there for six months before he got sick and was forced to leave.
I can relate too! Maybe even more when you don't understand the language of the foreign country as in my case. The book sounds very interesting, what's the title and who's the author?

[aleno]

The title is - My cherished thoughts by Kenneth Andrews.

A friend of mine is moving to New Zealand. On his way back here he found the book stuffed in the pocket in front of his seat. He started reading it and couldn't put it down, so he took it, He told me to read it since I came from hawaii.
I couldn't put it down either. It starts when she is a lady in waiting for queen kapiolani and they were heading for england. There is a sea captain who is from a prominent family in hawaii. They recieve word that her husband dies and the queen sends her back to hawaii. The captain requested to escort her home.
To make the story shorter.. he marries her and he is assigned a steamer in Washington state. They move and she starts a journal. She wrote of her family, geneology and her life in Hawaii. She also wrote of her feelings living awayy from Hawaii and her thoughts on subjects like the overthrow, death of queen Kapiolani, dwindling population of the hawaiians in hawaii,and the increasing population of hawaiians being born on the mainland.
The author is her great grandson.
If you can find a copy where you are, i say it's a must read. I wish they would make it into a movie.

[Mokihana]

One of my absolute favorite authors is Lois-Anne Yamanaka. Her books are amazing, and full of the flavor of growing up in Hawai'i.

Highly recommended! Every single one of her books is great.

[Mokihana]

another favorite book/author is:

Middle Son
by Deborah Iida

[aleno]

Mahalo Mokihana,

I will definitely check on those authors. I've been looking for books about life in Hawaii but since Barnes and Nobles is about an hour away from where I live, I usually go to the Library. Sometimes I get the feeling they don't want me to get books from other libraries because of the cost to ship it here.

[Mocha]

Aleno: Go to any bookstore site and you can read a review on a title that you may have heard of. You can also search by category so checkout the Hawaiian books they may have. Some books you can even read a short excerpt.

[aleno]

Thank you Mocha. I went to the site that leimamo suggested and order a book. Well I got my order yesterday but it was the wrong book...LOL. I called the company and they said to send the book back and they'll get my book to me. I ordered folklore and legends by Kalakaua and they sent me SS Lurline. I must say it's a good book. I figured why waste a good book. Excellent photos and a story that made it hard to put the book down,

[AuntieNellieKulolo]

If you're in the mood for escapism with lots of drama, I would recommend Kiana Davenport's Shark Dialogues andSong of the Exile . I warn you however-the anti-haole sentiment is laid on a bit thick at times. Still, I like to pick up one of her books when I am feeling homesick(and I am haole), wish she would write more.

[BKHale2007]

I recommend as just a good reference book The Companies We Keep: Amazing Stories About 450 of Hawaii's Best Known Companies by Bob Sigall. It's not a biography or centered only in the monarchy period, but does have, in addition to scattered mentions of 19th-century Hawaii, a list of "Businesses and Organizations Associated With Hawaiian Royalty":

King Kalakaua ... met with Thomas Edison on a world tour, and encouraged scientists to electrify Iolani Palace." (p. 391.)

[Linkmeister]

Don't forget the very dry but indispensable Land and Power in Hawaii by Gavan Daws.

[Albert]

Check out this week's Honolulu Weekly. A review of a local book in there (sorry, don't have a copy handy to give details) but it is one I intend to read.

[BKHale2007]

Whoever has a copy of the Weekly: please share details of the book Albert's referring to.

[Serenity]

"Any Good Books", huh?

Well, I got this cool book...
Author is: Lee M. Silver
Title: Remaking Eden.
It has 385 pages, which includes the index pages.
It starts off from Boston in the year: 2010

Sounds rather interesting &
at the sametime, to me it sounds
like it came out of a Sci Fi movie.

Not sure if any one is interested in that or not,
But it seems rather interesting enough.

[Mocha]

Just finished: Sam's letters to Jennifer by James Patterson. Kind of like his other book...can't remember the name (another senior moment). Am starting a book called: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, it won the Pulitzer Prize. Seems "heavy" reading as compared to the other mentioned book. Anyone read it? Comments? :)

[pzarquon]

Whoever has a copy of the Weekly: please share details of the book Albert's referring to.Although the front page of the Weekly says the review is on page 14, it's actually on page 15. And the book is Clay's Way by Blair Mastbaum. It's the story of Sam, a 16-year-old gay haole from Haiku Village.
Books about Hawaii edited by Los Angelenos make their own errors: Here ti leaves is changed to "tea leaves" and Portlock becomes "Port Lock." But the story is authentic, and Sam is breathing, living human being speaking directly to us, even providing us with some lousy-to-good haiku, to boot.

[Albert]

So, has anyone bought the 9/11 Commission report?

[Linkmeister]

So, has anyone bought the 9/11 Commission report?

I bought what I think was the next-to-last copy at Borders Express (formerly Waldenbooks) at Pearlridge at 10:45am today.

If you want it in PDF format, you can find it at the commission's website (http://www.9-11commission.gov/). I can't imagine (or rather, I can imagine, so I don't want to) scrolling through 550+ pages in Acrobat Reader, but...

[Albert]

"scrolling through 550+ pages in Acrobat Reader, but..."

Now there's a major nightmare.

[Olgica]

Not long ago I read this awesome book by Nana Veary called "Change We Must" (http://www.booklineshawaii.com/BOOK/bsp/982067.html). It's an amazing book about her life in Hawaii, the old days and how the Hawaiians used to live, her spiritual journey and so on. She speaks about metaphysical truths that can be applied practically to daily life and also adds guided meditations for morning and evening. It felt almost like reading the Dalai Lama. I strongly recommend this book!!

[Ailina]

Aloha e Aleno. I have to plug James Michener's Hawaii. It's fiction, written in the 50's, so I don't know how it jives with accurate history, but it is a fantastic read. It begins with the volcanic formation of the islands and ends somewhere post-Annexation (I'm not sure if it touches on statehood or not). I'm working on it right now. I've been documenting my thoughts on segments of the novel as I go, and you can read them here (http://panahula.blogspot.com/2004/09/on-james-micheners-hawaii-chp-1-2.html) and here (http://panahula.blogspot.com/2004/09/hawaii-missonary-chapters-breaking-of.html), if you like.

From what I understand, there was also a movie based on the book, but I haven't seen it, and I'm not sure if its any good.

[Albert]

"From what I understand, there was also a movie based on the book, but I haven't seen it, and I'm not sure if its any good."

It isn't.

[BKHale2007]

I saw the movie version of Hawaii. It was good. It focused on the early 19th century arrival of the missionaries.

[Albert]

"I saw the movie version of Hawaii. It was good."

Liked the "Sound of Music", too, didn't you? :)

[Linkmeister]

I ran across this in a medical newsletter. "Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown" (Oxford University Press, 2004) represents the culmination of a project that was sparked about 20 years ago when Mohr spotted a simple sign while walking in Honolulu's modern Chinatown.

It tells the story of how the not-yet-territorial government turned control of the city over to public health officials to fight the bubonic plague outbreak of that year. Looks interesting.

[Glen Miyashiro]

I ran across this in a medical newsletter. "Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown" (Oxford University Press, 2004) represents the culmination of a project that was sparked about 20 years ago when Mohr spotted a simple sign while walking in Honolulu's modern Chinatown.

It tells the story of how the not-yet-territorial government turned control of the city over to public health officials to fight the bubonic plague outbreak of that year. Looks interesting.
Sounds interesting. However, if it's set in 1900, then isn't it incorrect to call it the "not-yet-territorial" government? I thought the Territory of Hawai'i was established in 1898.

[Linkmeister]

Sounds interesting. However, if it's set in 1900, then isn't it incorrect to call it the "not-yet-territorial" government? I thought the Territory of Hawai'i was established in 1898.

Yeah, I mistyped that. Here's the review:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/?newsid=16556

[Glen Miyashiro]

Peter Moon mentions the 1900 Chinatown fire in his song, "Chinatown":

The ships arrived from the seven seas
Bringing black market gold and the black disease
See the rats scatter, smell the kerosene
You can smell Hell burning and times are lean
In Chinatown...

[kimo55]

Aloha e Aleno. I have to plug James Michener's Hawaii.

From what I understand, there was also a movie based on the book, but I haven't seen it, and I'm not sure if its any good.

you...
have not seen...
"Hawaii".
hmmmm.

oh. It's good, allright.
richard harris.
How could it NOT be "any good"?

go rent it now.
Look for cameos of
bette midler
Zulou of "Howareya five oh" fame.

(ok, maybe I am prejudiced; I watched them film some of it...)

[kimo55]

I ran across this in a medical newsletter. "Plague and Fire: Battling Black Death and the 1900 Burning of Honolulu's Chinatown" (Oxford University Press, 2004) represents the culmination of a project that was sparked about 20 years ago when Mohr spotted a simple sign while walking in Honolulu's modern Chinatown.

It tells the story of how the not-yet-territorial government turned control of the city over to public health officials to fight the bubonic plague outbreak of that year. Looks interesting.


Cool.

and that IS following the thread, in that; this episode of history is covered in the movie: "The Hawaiians", the 2nd part of Michner's book, and considered the 2nd part of the movie "Hawaii"...

[sheik yerfani]

I have several recomendations. My all time favorite is, "My Time in Hawaii." Can't recall the authors name but it can be easily found. Secondly I liked "Our Hawaii" by John and Bobbye McDermott. Also a great poet is Don Blanding at www.don-blanding.com He was quite a guy who did all the artwork in his books.

[waikikiluau]

:) Try reading Moloka'i by Alan Brennert.. it's a novel that tells an amazing story of life in Hawaii.. You could learn much from the story about the history of Hawaii too.. because the main character who is Rachel Kalama would take you to a journey, to an experience of knowing the culture, the disease (mai' pake), the place in 3 generations... but what's cooler is you'll get to learn lessons about life, loss, challenges and love, and more... ;)

Don't miss checkin' out this book.. coz it's really, really AWESOME!!! :cool:
Not long ago I read this awesome book by Nana Veary called "Change We Must" (http://www.booklineshawaii.com/BOOK/bsp/982067.html). It's an amazing book about her life in Hawaii, the old days and how the Hawaiians used to live, her spiritual journey and so on. She speaks about metaphysical truths that can be applied practically to daily life and also adds guided meditations for morning and evening. It felt almost like reading the Dalai Lama. I strongly recommend this book!!

sounds great ;)

[Menehune Man]

The K Street Gang: The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine

The Author: Mathew Continetti

Part of the book description: It's the inside story of how a group of self-styled Republican reformers succumbed to the temptations of power, becoming even worse than the Democrats they had been elected to replace.

An Interview (www.nationalreview.com/interrogatory/qa200604180713.asp)

Full description on AMAZON (www.amazon.com/gp/product/038551672x/103-3418095-4567844?v=glance&n=283155)

Check it out. I will sometime too.