dis book shows wut people in hawaii go tru and how dey talk. reading this book is like reading my life. i bet choke people in hawaii can realate to dis book. i don't find this book offensive...its just how people live. the cussing and the pidgin talk doesn't boddah me at all....i hear that kine words everyday! k-denz

dis book really wen express what da many generations in hawai'i go tru... it also wen show how da yonga generation talk to each oda and what their families had fo go tru... if you really like know what hawai'i is, rather than believe dat we stil stay living in grass huts, and wear coconut bras, read any book that Louis-Ann Yamanaka or any other hawaii writer wrote for the true flavor of our islands.

Like the author, I grew up Japanese-American in 1970s Hawaii, largely in the world that Yamanaka portrays in her stunning literary debut, "Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre." When I first read this book, I felt shocked, offended, scandalized, and totally unprepared to deal with a book that mirrored so closely the world that I knew. That's because I, like everyone else I grew up with, never saw ourselves in literature before. Quite simply, "Pahala Theatre" was the very first of its kind, and powerfully raw, emotional, and effective at that. It pulls no punches, and perhaps captures more pain than pleasure, but believe me, the pain she captures is "authentic" (I know, I know, "authentic" is a questionable descriptive term to use when judging fiction). Still, like none before it, this book provides a cathartic experience for those of us who, up until now, have never seen ourselves expressed as literary characters. (And no, Michener certainly doesn't do it-- not the interiority that we feel is our own, anyway. How could he?). Yamanaka's book focuses on adolescence in a particular time and place, and growing up Japanese-American in post WWII Hawaii meant that one was part of the population majority, and also not necessarily marginalized politically or economically. But you were still an outsider beyond Hawaii's shores, and mainstream American culture, transmitted via the media, made you aware of this daily. So there was a uniquely paradoxical "majority-but-minority" identity dynamic going on, which you should keep in mind while reading the book. Yamanaka's celebrated use of "pidgin," Hawaii's creole dialect, holds a mirror up to nature, as 'twere. You won't find it more "authentic" than in "Pahala Theatre"-- she does a spectularly natural job of it-- and it's gratifying that professional literary reviewers from the mainland have hailed her use of it as an "exciting new poetic language" (I always thought that pidgin has its profoundly expressive moments--even if many of these reviewers benignly misunderstand much of it). Take it or leave it, but know this: Yamanaka's is a literary world that is more deeply and exquisitely rendered than the "hula-girl-grass-skirt-aloha-shirt," commodified vision of Hawaii used for a century to lure tourists to the islands. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, mind you, but still, Yamanaka deftly captures the subtle sights, sounds, smells, thoughts, and feelings of growing up "Local" in Hawaii in the '70s. If you want an unparallelled literary expression of that particular culture-- small, totally unique, fragile, painful, and beautiful as it is --then buy this book!

This is a unique look at the events of December 7, 1941. Mr. Weintraub has taken on the enormus task of not only describing the events of December 7, 1941 in regards to Pearl Harbor, but he examines the Day of Infamy on a world-wide scale. The reader finds themselves in the frozen Soviet Union as the Germans desperatley try to hold back the counterattacking Red Army. In North Africa, Rommel is being harassed by the British at Tobruk. In Washington, the reader is taken inside the White House as Roosevelt writes his personal plea for peace to Hirohito. I thought that the chapter headings with a clock showing the time at different places in the world was a nice touch for the reader. I have read numerous books on the subject, but never on a world-wide scope such as this. I would highly recommend this book for Pearl Harbor readers. Another book that is similar to this one is Gordon Prange's December 7, 1941.

This book reminded me of Manchester's 'Death of a President,' but on a much larger scale. It's an hour-by-hour, and in some cases minute-by-minute, account of events around the world on the Day of Infamy, December 7, 1941. Each hour receives its own chapter, with a graphic at the start of each chapter indicating the time in various cities around the globe.

Weintraub, an excellent biographer and storyteller, does not break new ground attempting either to exonerate or assign blame. Instead, he places the day's events into the larger context of global war, showing how news of the attack was received and acted on in various locations. This is a valuable reminder that war had been raging for more than two years when the Japanese attack launched America into the conflict.

This book is not the most comprehensive look at what happened at Pearl Harbor itself, but there are many other books with that focus (I recommend Prange's 'December 7, 1941'). 'Long Day's Journey...' helps recreate the confusion, the 'fog of war,' that surrounds great events, and helps us understand how the attack affected lives worldwide.

I think this is useful and rewarding addition to the Pearl Harbor student's reference shelf.

This book is organized in a unique way, telling what went on hour by hour all around the world Dec 6, 1941, to Dec 8, 1941--with two tremendous final chapters on the dropping of the Bomb. Those chapters are a fitting end, since the events in the prior part of the book are sobering indeed. While there are a minimum of footnotes, and no real bibliography, the account sounds quite trustworthy. He often mentions authors: James Jones, J. G. Ballard, Pappy Boyington (yes, he did a book: Baa Baa

Black Sheep, which I read 14 Aug 1990), Ezra Pound, Emily Hahn, etc. I found this a great book , even tho Dec 7, 1941, is now overshadowed by the newer day of infamy: Sept 11, 2001.

We have recently returned from a week in Maui and a week in Kauai. This was our Maui guidebook, and although it did lead us to the perfectly beautiful Kapalua Bay, it was not worth the volume and weight it added to my luggage. Another guidebook, "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook", Doughty/Friedman was smaller and lighter, yet packed with valuable information. I'm stll searching for the ultimate Maui guidebook. Next time, I'll leave this book on the shelf.

I reviewed the 8th edition of this book in an earlier review. Now that we are planning a second trip, I shelled out the pukas to buy the 9th version! I was so impressed by the authors' accuracy I knew in advance that I would not be disappointed.

If you are a returning visitor to the islands, spend the money and get the new version. A lot has changed over the years, so why risk missing something important? Compare the price of the book to the price of your trip, and you'll see that it's one of the best investments you'll make. And there are a lot of uses for the book, too! We made notes in our book during our trip. Re-reading the book later brings back memories, almost like a scrap book.

Don't listen to anyone else that slams this book. Heck, maybe they work for the competition!

;) Steve

accurate and extensive information. right on the money! felt it was WELL worth the space and weight in the suitcase.

The author did an outstanding job compiling the many varieties of reef animals present on Hawaii's reefs and including them in one book. This book has it all if you want to get familar with what you'll most likely run into while diving or snorkeling while in the islands, but one drawback is the author's lack of detail in listing and describing the sites in the first part of the book where you're most likely to see such animals. I specifically wanted to know where to find them and at what depths. Using this book and a good dive or snorkeling guide like the O`ahu Snorkelers and Shore Divers Guide by Francisco B. de Carvalho would make anyone's hunt for photographic opportunities a simple task.

This book features good pictures, meaningful information, lively style, and excellent attention to detail. For example, exact locations and depths are given for each photo. This information is at the end of each species description. Although detailed, it is not at all dry--a fun read in fact!

A look at the reverse of the title page reveals that it has been updated and revised several times, and reprinted 8 times! That is testimony in itself. Also, although not mentioned in the book, the author maintains a website where he posts updates and information on his books. The domain name is the title of the book.

I am in complete agreement with Mary Whipple's review of this book, I looked very hard and could not find a more comprehensive book than this. I spent the last six weeks on the island of Maui, diving and snorkelling, I did not see one fish that I could not identify through this book. It is simply the book you are looking for when you want to identify fish in Hawaiian waters. The same goes for the other book, on invertebrates, written by Hoover.

Eileen Root's book on Hawaii'an and English names is an excellent reference for writers and for those who are looking for names for their children. The first half is a list of Hawaii'an names and their definitions. The second half is a list of Anglo names and their Hawaii'an equivalent.

This is a must have for those interested in finding authentic Hawaii'an names for your research.

This is a great little book to have if you need to look up Hawaiian names or refresh your memory of the Hawaiian language. I find it very enjoyable to browse and I am very happy to have it in my library. Never a disappointment.......

I first found this book years ago (sadly, I need another copy!) when I was visiting Hawaii and was well, rather shocked to find out that my Hawaiian name, Kinipela, translated into "a mound of decomposing flesh!" I like how the author does her best to correct things like this and find names based on their meanings and what words may correspond to that in Hawaiian. Definitely a book to read before you get into "Hawaiian names!"

_Paradise News_ concerns Bernard Walsh, a defrocked Anglo-Catholic priest who is teaching theology half-time at a depressing college in a depressing English town. His aunt contacts him from Hawaii with the news that she is dying, and that she would like him to convince his father (her brother) to visit her, at her expense, for one last time. They have not met since the '50s, for insufficiently explained reasons, though the scandal over Aunt Ursula first marrying, then divorcing, an American serviceman might have something to do with it.

Bernard's father is a disagreeable old man who is afraid of flying, but somehow, with the unexpected help of Bernard's scheming sister Tess, who is afraid of losing Ursula's fabled inheritance, he is convinced to go. Bernard lucks into a last-minute cancellation of a tourist package, getting the two of them a cheap flight, and more to the point of the book, allowing Lodge to portray a wide variety of English tourists, to a variety of comic effect. Some of the thematic center of the book is provided by an academic, an anthropologist of tourism, who has various cockeyed theories about the ritualistic place of tourism in human life, and who is much taken with the repeated motif of "Paradise" in the names of Hawaiian tourist traps. The other thematic center, of course, revolves around Bernard's own loss of faith, and the stories of his rigid Catholic upbringing, his seminary training, his years teaching, and his brief time as a parish priest.

In Hawaii, Bernard's father is almost immediately run down by a car. So Bernard's time is taken up with dealing with his father's hospitalization, and then with Aunt Ursula's situation, partly in a shabby nursing house, partly in hospital. Bernard must deal with finding a place for Ursula to live out her short expected term, and this in the light of her rather more straitened than expected circumstances. Bernard also meets and falls in love with the woman who ran over his father, a woman in the process of divorcing her husband, who hates Hawaii, but who proves just the right woman for an ex-priest whose only sexual experience has consisted of humiliating failure. We also get glimpses of the other English tourists, these functioning mostly as pretty effective comic relief.

I enjoyed this novel very much. It's both very funny, and quite serious at core. It's well-written, the characters are very well delineated, and their stories are involving and moving. The serious aspects -- the exploration of faith, and paradise, and, yes, tourism, are interesting and intelligent. The only quibbles I'd have would be the convenient resolution of some difficulties: some financial difficulties, and also the easy coincidence of Bernard's "meet cute" with an appropriate woman. But, to be sure, those are conventions of comedy, to some extent.

In Paradise News, David Lodge does something unusual. His main character is a forty-something virgin, sexually inhibited and celibate by force of habit. Perhaps more uncommon, Bernard is an honest man. He's even a somewhat boring, ordinary man, not particularly neurotic or troubled, and yet still cabable of growth over the course of the novel. More extraordinary still, Lodge gives us a sensible love story and sensible sex. How often do we see that? It makes a refreshing change. But for those who don't think an honest man with moral concerns getting a sensible--if much overdue--introduction to sex and falling in love in a sensible way doesn't sound interesting, think again. Lodge is always worth reading. He entertains (funny situations; the wish fulfillment story of how Bernard's aunt ends the book better off than she started it) and he provokes thought (among other things, vacationing as the modern-day pilgrimage, a pursuit of paradise).

The only strikes against this book are that it starts off a bit slow, focusing at first on characters you know will be minor. It picks up speed quickly enough, but the minor characters are perhaps not all they could be--a small concern really, when they are better than many writers would have managed. And the incest theme lacks punch. It may be a sad commentary on the cynicism and jaded sensibilities of my generation when one of us can say, "Ho hum, incest again", but that's the way it is. The incest serves its purpose in the novel, but that whole subplot just wasn't as interesting as the larger story of Bernard's renewal. And as that IS intersting, Paradise News is well worth reading.

David Lodge is one of the most gifted writers around and Paradise News is one of his best books.
Bernard is an ex-priest who who left the priesthood after realizing that he was and always had been an atheist. His decision to leave the priesthood (which he entered as an adolescent) leaves him with no real meaning in his life until his aunt calls him to her deathbed. With his father, Bernard travels half-way around the world (from England to Hawaii) in an attempt to reconcile his father and his aunt. In doing so, he discovers who he is and what he has been searching for.
The themes in this book (pedophilia/sex abuse, unresolved sexuality among young priests etc.) are especially timely right now but even without these themes the book has an incredible pull and power.

This book has taken us thorugh tropical rain forests, dense valleys, and sun-parched craters. The variety of hikes is wonderful. There is something for everyone in here, well, everyone except the beginner hiker. It seems even beginning hikes in the book are a bit challenging. This is because Oahu has such a varity of terrain. However, if you are looking to take a relaxing stroll through the woods this book will be of no use to you. We have children so we only do the novice hikes and even those are challenging, but fun and dirty! This is probalby for more serious hikers and some of the hikes mentioned are 12 miles long! That takes a long time in Oahu's terrain! The author always write in interesting tidbits of info in his hike description which I like. Things such as the where the strawberry guava trees are, where the WWII tunnel is, etc...The one negative to this book is that many of the hikes the author writes about are closed to the public and you have to write for permission to hike them. To me, this is a pain and I am not organized enough to plan ahead and do this. If you are better organized than I, I am sure you would enjoy them. We are just a bit more spontaneous. Enjoy!

Working as an outdoor guide in Hawaii for a summer gave me a chance to discover the island of Oahu. It also helped me realize the that is the ONLY guide to hiking on Oahu that is worth buying. Not only do you get VERY accurate trail descriptions, you also get driving directions, directions from TheBus and information on flora and fauna in the area. I dare you to try and get lost!

I won a copy of the first edition of this book in a contest in 1994, and since then it has helped me find dozens of beautiful and enjoyable trails.

For example, one of the trails we found was a great hike in Wahiawa through the back country of an Army training base. As the author suggested, we wrote to the commander and we got permission to do this hike that rambles over hills and across streams, and all at the cool elevation of Wahiawa.

Some of the highlights of the book include great descriptions of the flora along the trail, reproductions of topo maps for each hike that show you the pitch of the trail(although you should probably get the real topo if you plan to get lost), clear route descriptions that show that the author has been on these trails many times, and a wonderful layout.

It is the best hiking book I have ever read (although I've probably only read about a dozen). It is without equal among O`ahu hiking books.

I just bought the second edition, and if possible, it's even better than the first one.

This is Kathleen Tyau's second novel about life in post WW II Hawaii. Like it's predecessor, A Little Too Much is Enough, it conveys a sense of what life in Hawaii was like foe the native, local Hawaiians through the eyes and experiences of one family.

This is a much more expansive book than it predecessor. It introduces elements of the impact of mainland society into the picture through expatriate's returning home for a visit, providing for a comparative look at shared memories that begin in Hawaii during World War II and continue to a present in the 1970s from divergent viewpoints.

Alice's best friend, Annabel Lee, is coming back to Maui after years in Florida, but she has been preceded by her son, Wick, who is romancing Alice's daughter. Alice is beside herself with the preparations of Annabel's return and flooded with memories of their lives growing up together at St. Andrew's Priory after the war. As if all this weren't enough, Alice's daughter has announced she's broken up with her husband and is now seeing Annabel's son after a visit to their family in Florida.

Like it's predecessor, this is a book rich in detail and evocative of a time past that not too many people really know about. It stands as both a fascinating character study and history lesson as well.

On the whole this is a better written and more sophisticated book than A Little Too Much, but I thought the earlier effort was a better story as it captured much more effectively the spiritual and mystical side of native Hawaiian culture, which is almost totally absent from this effort. Nonetheless, both are excellent and I would recommend either in a heartbeat.

Set in post WW II Hawaii, "A Little Too Much is Enough" chronicals the life experiences of a young Chinese-Hawaiian woman growing up in Honolulu from the perspectives of various members of her extended family. A very rich, colorful, highly ethnic portrayal of Hawaii's development into a major tourist location and that development's effects on the native population. Several core incidents and experiences are told, and re-told, through severl different voices and perspectives, yeilding a rich texture in which one comes to savor the totality of the experiene's effects on the entire Wong family. Delivered in a highly vernacular Hawaiian voice throughout, "A Little Too Much is Enough" in the end stands as not just a wonderful story, but also as a rich, multicultural experience

I must respectfully disagree with the previous reviewer who stated that the book was disjointed and didn't make sense. It is a warm, wonderful story with chapters that tell different stories from the point of view of some of the main characters. Not at all difficult to understand, and in a way it is like putting together pieces of a puzzle. By the end of the book you will be sorry that it has ended. A bit like Amy Tan's Joy Luck Club, with wonderful characterizations of the family and all the aunties and uncles. The Hawaii setting is great too, but the themes are universal. Highly recommended.

This book was OK. It did have interesting points, but I didn't feel that all the characters were credible (who could get away with killing a whole bunch of people in Mexico anyway?).

All in all, it was reading entertainment, just not too fullfilling.

(...)When John D. MacDonald, author of a dozen or more novels featuriing Travis McGee, died several years ago, he left legions of Travis fans mourning his loss. In Sand Dollars, Charles Knief brings us a Travis-like character in John Caine, private eye. Actually, this is his second appearance in what promises to be a series.

Caine, like Travis, is intelligent, ideallistic (in his own unique way), observes a strict code of ethics, chooses his own private eye jobs, and resists becoming sexually involved with clients. And like Travis, Caine lives on his own boat, comparable to Travis' Busted Flush.

That said, Sand Dollars is more or less your standard pot boiler. Caine kills a half-dozen or so bad guys, escapes from seemingly inescapable life-threatening situations, and in the end is triumphant over evil. Despite all this, or maybe because of all this, we look forward to more adventures of John Caine. Sand Dollars is entertaining reading and Caine an acceptable protagonist. He just isn't Travis McGee. But then, who is?

I couldn't stop reading "Sand Dollars" until there were only about 20 pages left. Only then did I realize the wonderful ride was about ready to end. So I slowed down to make it last a little longer. With great reluctance, I finally finished it.
*
The only potential drawback in reading this book is that the main character, John Caine -- a one-man army, who backs away from nothing to protect his clients' interests -- caused this reader to suffer from hero worship.
*
Chuck Knief's writing style is superb. His imagery, peppered with first-person wit, made me feel as if I were standing right next to Caine during all the action. When the tension nearly becomes too intense, however, Knief expertly uses his brilliant sense of humor: "I'd hit him hard over the bridge of the nose, a little too hard. When I checked his vital signs, I found none. He was dead.... I shrugged. Anybody who pissed into the wind wasn't that high on the evolutionary scale, anyway."
*
Caine, however, frequently shows his humanitarian side, making him a true warrior. For example, he lets a youthful gangster live -- a gangster who would have killed him in seconds, given the chance -- which was nicely in keeping with Caine's Navy SEAL background. Also, I liked how Caine basically goes about looking for war. Where others would waiver, rationalizing a far simpler, less confrontational way of doing business, Caine moves forward with guts and savvy.
*
There is a scene where Caine, after having saved a bunch of frightened illegal immigrants from a bandit, sends the hapless bandit away without any of his clothes on. Said Caine, "For an instant, our eyes met. I don't know what he saw, but I saw only surrender. He was finished as a bandit. He might have been finished as a man.... Not my problem." Caine's viewpoint is similar to the military mentality of seeing through the target and not being emotional about it -- the way one has to be in Caine's many dangerous situations.
*
Personally, I think "Sand Dollars" should be required reading for all SEALS and/or aspiring SEALS -- or anyone who dares to peer into that way of life. Still, the main theme is about helping people. From Caine's affluent clients to the illegal immigrants, the bottomline is being professional, maintaining the code, and always looking for war.

This fine story is another example of Jean Craighead George's close bond with nature, elegant writing, and her grandchildren. The Newbery Medal-winning author has written several picture books for her grandchildren--ARCTIC SON, a magnificent book, tells the story of her grandsons Luke and Sam who live in Alaska; DEAR REBECCA, WINTER IS HERE is written in the same format as DEAR KATIE, THE VOLCANO IS A GIRL, and that book, which I liked better, is the story of Katie's sister Rebecca asking the grandmother (Ms. George, we presume) what winter is all about. DEAR KATIE, THE VOLCANO IS A GIRL, is an intriguing tale, in which Katie and her grandmother go to Hawaii to see the great Kilauea Volcano. As the fire explodes around them, the grandmother remarks, "A volcano is a geophysical phenomenon," to which young Katie responds, "The volcano is a girl." So begins a daylong quest to find the truth behind the mysteries of Kilauea. Katie tells her grandmother the story that the native Hawaiians tell, of a fiery goddess who is mad at her sister, the tidal waves. The grandmother insists that the secrets of the volcano is explained using pure science. Following their journey, Daniel Powers's colorful illustrations go along nicely with Ms. George's writing. Young children, especially, will find the pictures exciting. In the end, the grandmother writes to Katie telling her that the legend and the scientists' story are the same. Ms. George has a gift for sharing legends and culture with her readers--in her young adult novels, the JULIE OF THE WOLVES books, she describes with great detail the lives of Inupiat Eskimos, and in SHARK BENEATH THE REEF, the story of a little-known town in seaside Mexico. If you're wondering why I gave this book only 3 stars, the reason is because I think Ms. George's other picture books are more satisfying. I wouldn't recommend this book to people who love Ms. George's nature writing--her other picture books, such as the ones mentioned above, are better. Of course, she has written almost 100 books for children, young adults, and even grown-ups, so there's an endless supply to choose from.

In reading this book, I am reminded of how often I have found that myths that explain how the world works are often merely a symbolic explanation that when cut down to bare bones are exactly the same as science claims. My belief that religion and science have no need to clash is reinforced. They are two different explanations for the same fact. Religion and science can work together, in fact. Science answers our need for an intellectual explanation and religion fulfills our spiritual nature. For me, science has never undercut my faith as it only reinforces the miracle of our world.

I also find it amazing that these ancient myths have such basis in fact. It seems to me that the workings of this world our something a human being can know inately and are not solely the knowledge of the wild animals.

We used this as a teaching story at our local Unitarian Universalist sunday school, showing that Humanist and Pagan beliefs can indeed coexist. In this story, the girl tells her grandmother about the Goddess Pele and Her sacred mountain, while the grandmother tells the girl about volcanoes and geological activity. At the end of the book, the grandmother says "I told you the scientific story, and you told me the religious story, and *they were the same*".

Beautiful illustrations and very respectful treatment of Pele and Her mountain. Highly recommended.