100 Best Hawaii Books of All Time

We've ranked the best hawaii books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.

1

Moloka'i (Moloka'i #1)

Alan Brennert

5.0
This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai'i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place---and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.

Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stol
2

Hawaii

James A. Michener and Steve Berry

5.0
An alternate cover edition for this ISBN can be found here.

Pulitzer Prize–winning author James A. Michener brings Hawaii’s epic history vividly to life in a classic saga that has captivated readers since its initial publication in 1959. As the volcanic Hawaiian Islands sprout from the ocean floor, the land remains untouched for centuries—until, little more than a thousand years ago, Polynesian sea
3

Honolulu

Alan Brennert

4.7
The story of a young immigrant bride in a ramshackle town that becomes a great modern city

"In Korea in those days, newborn girls were not deemed important enough to be graced with formal names, but were instead given nicknames, which often reflected the parents; feelings on the birth of a daughter: I knew a girl named Anger, and another called Pity. As for me, my parents named me Regret."

Honolulu
4

Hawaii the Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook

Andrew Doughty and Leona Boyd

4.6
The finest guidebook ever written for the Big Island. Now you can plan your best vacation--ever. This all new ninth edition is a candid, humorous guide to everything there is to see and do on the Big Island. Best-selling author and longtime Hawai'i resident, Andrew Doughty, unlocks the secrets of an island so vast and diverse that many visitors never realize all that it has to offer. Explore with
5

Unfamiliar Fishes

Sarah Vowell

4.6
Many think of 1776 as the defining year of American history, when we became a nation devoted to the pursuit of happiness through self- government. In Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell argues that 1898 might be a year just as defining, when, in an orgy of imperialism, the United States annexed Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and invaded first Cuba, then the Philippines, becoming an international super
6

The Descendants

Kaui Hart Hemmings

4.5
Now a major motion picture starring George Clooney! Matthew King was once considered one of the most fortunate men in Hawaii. His missionary ancestors who came to the islands were financially and culturally progressive—one even married a Hawaiian princess, making Matt a royal descendant and one of the state's largest landowners. But now his luck has changed. His two daughters are out of control—10
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption book cover7

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand

4.5
Preview Summary
In her long-awaited new book, Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man's journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of
Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook book cover8

Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook

Andrew Doughty

4.5
"USA Today" calls it, "an authoritative and in-depth look at all that the island offers." The authors are residents who personally and anonymously review every facet of Maui. From restaurants to helicopter companies to scuba diving to beaches to trails--they show visitors the best Maui has to offer. Photos.
Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen book cover9

Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen

Liliuokalani

4.5
10

Shark Dialogues

Kiana Davenport

4.4
Spellbinding in its imagery and ancient myths, Shark Dialogues is the stunningly sensual and visionary epic of a Polynesian Hawaiian family, a story of daring, passionate women and men, their losses and triumphs, their comedies and tragedies, their anguish and joy. Set mainly in contemporary Hawaii, it is a spectacular odyssey through fire and water, a journey that begins in the nineteenth century
11

Daughter of Moloka'i (Moloka'i, #2)

Alan Brennert

4.4
This companion tale to Moloka'i tells the story of Ruth, the daughter that Rachel Kalama—quarantined for most of her life at the isolated leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa—was forced to give up at birth.

The book follows young Ruth from her arrival at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu, to her adoption by a Japanese couple who raise her on a strawberry and grape farm in California, her marriag
The Unhoneymooners book cover12

The Unhoneymooners

Christina Lauren

4.4
Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781501128035

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all
The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed book cover13

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed

Andrew Doughty and Leona Boyd

4.4
The finest guidebook ever written for Kaua'i. Now you can plan your best vacation--ever. This all new eleventh edition is a candid, humorous guide to everything there is to see and do on the island. Best-selling author and longtime Hawai'i resident, Andrew Doughty, unlocks the secrets of an island so lush and diverse that many visitors never realize all that it has to offer. Explore with him as he
14

Cloud Atlas

David Mitchell

4.4
A postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twenty-first-century fiction, David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending, philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Umberto Eco, Haruki Murakami, and Philip K. Dick. The result is brilliantly original fiction as profound as it is playful.
Robert Eaglestone portraitThe Centre for the Study of Existential Risk portrait Recommended by Robert Eaglestone and The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk.
Robert Eaglestone portrait
Robert Eaglestone

In this novel, you find stories that interlock like Russian dolls…an obvious example of a writer learning clever postmodern tricks, but domesticating them. [source]

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk portrait
The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk

This is the perfect book if you want to read about human extinction but you still need to be ‘seduced’ into it. [source]

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance book cover15

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Barack Obama

4.3
Nine years before the Senate campaign that made him one of the most influential and compelling voices in American politics, Barack Obama published this lyrical, unsentimental, and powerfully affecting memoir, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller when it was reissued in 2004. Dreams from My Father tells the story of Obama’s struggle to understand the forces that shaped him as the son of a bl
Robert McCrum portrait Recommended by Robert McCrum.
16

Captive Paradise: A History of Hawaii

James L. Haley

4.3
The most recent state to join the union, Hawaii is the only one to have once been a royal kingdom. After its “discovery” by Captain Cook in the late 18th Century, Hawaii was fought over by European powers determined to take advantage of its position as the crossroads of the Pacific. The arrival of the first missionaries marked the beginning of the struggle between a native culture with its ancient
17

Lost Kingdom: Hawaii’s Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and America’s First Imperial Venture

Julia Flynn Siler

4.3
"Only one American state was formally a sovereign monarchy. In this compelling narrative, the award-winning journalist Julia Flynn Siler chronicles how this Pacific kingdom, creation of a proud Polynesian people, was encountered, annexed, and absorbed." —Kevin Starr, historian, University of Southern California

Around 200 A.D., intrepid Polynesians paddled thousands of miles across the Pacific and
Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life book cover18

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

William Finnegan

4.3
“Reading this guy on the subject of waves and water is like reading Hemingway on bullfighting; William Burroughs on controlled substances; Updike on adultery. . . . a coming-of-age story, seen through the gloss resin coat of a surfboard.” —Sports Illustrated

Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is some
Barack Obama portrait Recommended by Barack Obama.
19

This Is Paradise: Stories

Kristiana Kahakauwila

4.3
Elegant, brutal, and profound, this magnificent debut captures the grit and glory of modern Hawai'i with breathtaking force and accuracy.

In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kristiana Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawai'i, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authen
20

Song of the Exile

Kiana Davenport

4.3
In this epic, original novel in which Hawaii's fierce, sweeping past springs to life, Kiana Davenport, author of the acclaimed Shark Dialogues, draws upon the remarkable stories of her people to create a timeless, passionate tale of love and survival, tragedy and triumph, survival and transcendence. In spellbinding, sensual prose, Song of the Exile follows the fortunes of the Meahuna family--and t
21

Everything, Everything

Nicola Yoon

4.3
My disease is as rare as it is famous. It’s a form of Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, but basically, I’m allergic to the world. I don’t leave my house, have not left my house in fifteen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla.

But then one day, a moving truck arrives. New next door neighbors. I look out the window, and I see him. He’s tall, lean and wearing all black—blac
22

Shoal of Time: A History of the Hawaiian Islands

Gavan Daws

4.3
Gavan Daws' remarkable achievement is to free Hawaiian history from the dust of antiquity. Based on years of work in the documentary sources, Shoal of Time emerges as the most readable of all Hawaiian histories.
The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai book cover23

The Colony: The Harrowing True Story of the Exiles of Molokai

John Tayman

4.3
In the bestselling tradition of In the Heart of the Sea, The Colony, “an impressively researched” (Rocky Mountain News) account of the history of America’s only leper colony located on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, is “an utterly engrossing look at a heartbreaking chapter” (Booklist) in American history and a moving tale of the extraordinary people who endured it.

Beginning in 1866 and continuing
24

Blood Orchids (Lei Crime, #1)

Toby Nea

4.3
Hawaii is palm trees, black sand and blue water—but for policewoman Lei Texeira, there’s a dark side to paradise.

Lei has overcome a scarred past to make a life for herself as a cop in the sleepy Big Island town of Hilo. On a routine patrol she finds two murdered teenagers—one of whom she’d recently busted. With its echoes of her own past, the murdered girl’s harsh life and tragic death affect Lei
25

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers

Lois-Ann Yamanaka

4.3
Her name is Lovey Nariyoshi, and her Hawai'i is not the one of leis, pineapple, and Magnum P.I. In the blue collar town of Hilo, on the Big Island, Lovey and her eccentric Japanese-American family are at the margins of poverty, in the midst of a tropical paradise. With her endearing, effeminate best friend Jerry, Lovey suffers schoolyard bullies, class warfare, Singer sewing classes, and the surpr
26

From Here to Eternity

James Jones

4.3
Diamond Head, Hawaii, 1941. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Prewitt is a champion welterweight and a fine bugler. But when he refuses to join the company's boxing team, he gets "the treatment" that may break him or kill him.

First Sgt. Milton Anthony Warden knows how to soldier better than almost anyone, yet he's risking his career to have an affair with the commanding officer's wife.

Both Warden and Prewitt are
27

House of Many Gods

Kiana Davenport

4.3
From Kiana Davenport, the bestselling author of Song of the Exile and Shark Dialogues, comes another mesmerizing novel about her people and her islands. Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling agai
28

The Last Aloha

Gaellen Quinn

4.2
2010 BAIPA Award Winner: Best Historical Fiction. How did Hawaii become part of America? This story, inspired by true events suppressed for nearly 100 years, is the one James Michener never wrote. In 1886, Laura Jennings travels to Hawaii to live with missionary relatives. She imagines she'll live in a grass hut, ministering to savages. When she arrives in Honolulu, she's surprised to find her rel
29

Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

Janet Mock

4.2
In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those twenty-three hundred words were life-altering for the People.com editor, turning her into an influential and outspoken public figure and a desperately needed voice for an often voiceless community. In these pages, she offers a bold and inspiring perspective on be
30

Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement & Political Manipulation at America's Largest Charitable Trust

Samuel P. King, Randall W. Roth

4.2
Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the largest landowner and richest woman in the Hawaiian kingdom. Upon her death in 1884, she entrusted her property--known as Bishop Estate--to five trustees in order to create and maintain an institution that would benefit the children of Hawai'i: Kamehameha Schools. A century later, Bishop Estate controlled nearly one out of every nine acres in the state, a con
31

Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Kawai Strong Washburn

4.2
"Sharks in the Time of Saviors is the story of a family, a people, and a legend, all wrapped in one. Faith and grief, rage and love, this book pulses with all of it. Kawai Strong Washburn makes his debut with a wealth of talent and a true artist's eye." --Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling

In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a c
32

Honor Killing: How the Infamous "Massie Affair" Transformed Hawai'i

David E. Stannard

4.2
In the fall of 1931, Thalia Massie, the bored, aristocratic wife of a young naval officer stationed in Honolulu, accused six non-white islanders of gang rape. The ensuing trial let loose a storm of racial and sexual hysteria, but the case against the suspects was scant and the trial ended in a hung jury. Outraged, Thalia's socialite mother arranged the kidnapping and murder of one of the suspects.
33

The Girl from Everywhere

Heidi Heilig

4.2
The Girl from Everywhere, the first of two books, blends fantasy, history, and a modern sensibility. Its sparkling wit, breathless adventure, multicultural cast, and enchanting romance will dazzle readers of Sabaa Tahir and Leigh Bardugo.

As the daughter of a time traveler, Nix has spent sixteen years sweeping across the globe and through the centuries aboard her father’s ship. Modern-day New York
34

Torch Ginger (Lei Crime, #2)

Toby Nea

4.2
The island of Kaua`i is remote jungle, golden beaches and ancient culture—but transients are disappearing in paradise, and only Detective Lei Texeira notices.

Fleeing a failed engagement, Lei transfers to the island of Kaua`i, where she uncovers a pattern of disappearances that may be related to a bizarre cult—or is it just one madman at work? In Lei's world, everyone is guilty until proven innocen
35

High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Tree House, #28)

Mary Pope Osborne and Sal Murdocca

4.2
Catch the wave!

That's what Jack and Annie do when the Magic Tree House whisks them back to a Hawaiian island of long ago. They learn how to surf and have a great time—until strange things start happening. Jack and Annie soon discover the cause: A tidal wave is headed their way! Can they help save their new friends in time?
The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean book cover36

The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks, and Giants of the Ocean

Susan Casey

4.2
From Susan Casey, bestselling author of The Devil’s Teeth, an astonishing book about colossal, ship-swallowing rogue waves and the surfers who seek them out.

For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dismissed these stories—waves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few decades, as a startling numb
37

From a Native Daughter: Colonialism and Sovereignty in Hawai'i

Haunani-Kay Trask

4.2
Since its publication in 1993, From a Native Daughter, a provocative, well-reasoned attack against the rampant abuse of Native Hawaiian rights, institutional racism, and gender discrimination, has generated heated debates in Hawai'i and throughout the world. This 1999 revised work includes material that builds on issues and concerns raised in the first edition: Native Hawaiian student organizing a
38

Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism

Noenoe K. Silva

4.2
In 1897, as a white oligarchy made plans to allow the United States to annex Hawai'i, native Hawaiians organized a massive petition drive to protest. Ninety-five percent of the native population signed the petition, causing the annexation treaty to fail in the U.S. Senate. This event was unknown to many contemporary Hawaiians until Noenoe K. Silva rediscovered the petition in the process of resear
Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board book cover39

Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board

Bethany Hamilton

4.2
They say Bethany Hamilton has saltwater in her veins. How else could one explain the passion that drives her to surf? How else could one explain that nothing—not even the loss of her arm—could come between her and the waves? That Halloween morning in Kauai, Hawaii, Bethany responded to the shark’s stealth attack with the calm of a girl with God on her side. Pushing pain and panic aside, she began
40

Spider Bones (Temperance Brennan, #13)

Kathy Reichs

4.2
Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with the thirteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan.

John Lowery was declared dead in 1968—the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried long ago in North Carolina. Four decades later, Temperance Brennan is called to the scene of a drowning in Hemm
41

Oahu Revealed: The Ultimate Guide to Honolulu, Waikiki & Beyond

Andrew Doughty and Leona Boyd

4.2
The finest guidebook ever written for O'ahu. Now you can plan your best vacation--ever. This all new expanded sixth edition is a candid, humorous guide to everything there is to see and do on the island. Written by the author of the best-selling guides, Maui Revealed, Hawaii The Big Island Revealed and The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook. Explore with him as he reveals breathtaking trails, secluded beach
42

Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings

Christopher Moore

4.2
Just why do humpback whales sing? That's the question that has marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn and his crew poking, charting, recording, and photographing very big, wet, gray marine mammals. Until the extraordinary day when a whale lifts its tail into the air to display a cryptic message spelled out in foot-high letters: Bite me.

Trouble is, Nate's beginning to wonder if he hasn't spent just
43

Diamond Head

Cecily Wong

4.2
A sweeping debut spanning China to Hawaii that follows four generations of a wealthy shipping family whose rise and decline is riddled with secrets and tragic love—from a young, powerful new voice in fiction

At the turn of the nineteenth-century, Frank Leong, a fabulously wealthy shipping industrialist, moves his family from China to the island of Oahu. But something ancient follows the Leongs to H
44

Under the Blood-Red Sun

Graham Salisbury

4.2
Tomi was born in Hawaii. His grandfather and parents were born in Japan, and came to America to escape poverty.

World War II seems far away from Tomi and his friends, who are too busy playing ball on their eighth-grade team, the Rats.

But then Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, and the United States declares war on Japan. Japanese men are rounded up, and Tomi’s father and grandfather are arre
45

Blu's Hanging

Lois-Ann Yamanaka

4.2
On the Hawaiian island of Molokai, life goes on for the three young Ogata children after the death of their mother and subsequent emotional withdrawal of their grief and guilt-stricken "Poppy." The eldest at 13, Ivah is now responsible for the safety and well-being of tiny Maisie, vulnerable and mute since their mother's passing; and for Blu, her uncontainable brother whose desperate need for love
46

The Aloha Quilt (Elm Creek Quilts, #16)

Jennifer Chiaverini

4.1
Another season of Elm Creek Quilt Camp has come to a close, and Bonnie Markham faces a bleak and lonely winter ahead, with her quilt shop out of business and her divorce looming. A welcome escape comes when Claire, a beloved college friend, unexpectedly invites her to Maui to help launch an exciting new business: a quilter's retreat set at a bed and breakfast amid the vibrant colors and balmy bree
47

ʻŌlelo Noʻeau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings

Mary Kawena Pukui, Dietrich Varez, Barbara Pope

4.1
Considered the finest ines compendium of traditional Hawaiian insight and lore handed down through generations of oral tradition. This book is a treasure of more than 3,000 proverbs and sayings displaying the knowledge, compassion, foibles, humor, morality, and beliefs of the Hawaiian people.
48

Letters from Hawaii

Mark Twain

4.1
I went to Maui to stay a week and remained five. I had a jolly time. I would not have fooled away any of it writing letters under any consideration whatever. --Mark Twain
So Samuel Langhorne Clemens made his excuse for late copy to the Sacramento Union, the newspaper that was underwriting his 1866 trip. If the young reporter's excuse makes perfect sense to you, join the thousands of Island lovers w
49

Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers

Sara Ackerman

4.1
When her husband mysteriously disappears and rumors swirl about his loyalties, a mother must rely on the remarkable power of friendship in war-torn Hawaii

It’s 1944, combat in the Pacific is intensifying, and Violet Iverson and her daughter, Ella, are piecing their lives back together one year after her husband vanished. As suspicions about his loyalties surface, Violet suspects Ella knows somethin
50

The Islands at the End of the World (Islands at the End of the World, #1)

Austin Aslan

4.1
Right before my eyes, my beautiful islands are changing forever. And so am I ...

Sixteen-year-old Leilani loves surfing and her home in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. But she's an outsider - half white, half Hawaiian, and an epileptic.

While Lei and her father are on a visit to Oahu, a global disaster strikes. Technology and power fail, Hawaii is cut off from the world, and the islands revert to
51

Freckled: A Memoir of Growing up Wild in Hawaii

TW Neal

4.1
Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before book cover52

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before

Tony Horwitz

4.1
Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone BeforeTwo centuries after James Cook's epic voyages of discovery, Tony Horwitz takes readers on a wild ride across hemispheres and centuries to recapture the Captain's adventures and explore his embattled legacy in today's Pacific. Horwitz, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of Confederates in the Attic, works as a sailor aboard a replica of Cook's ship, me
53

Kaiulani: The People's Princess, Hawaii, 1889

Ellen Emerson White

4.1
54

The Tattoo

Chris Mckinney

4.1
“A book about ‘the sins of the fathers.’ . . . A gritty, troubling book.”—The Honolulu Advertiser

“The other Hawai’i, the one tourists never get to see.”—Ian MacMillan

Ken Hideyoshi is the new guy in Halawa Correctional Institute. He’s tough looking, a hard case, observes his cellmate Cal—the mute tattoo artist of the prison, a wife murderer. SYN, a gang symbol, is tattooed on his hand, and he has
55

Six Months in the Sandwich Islands: Among Hawaii's Palm Groves, Coral Reefs and Volcanoes

Isabella L. Bird

4.1
56

Hawaiian Mythology

Martha Warren Beckwith

4.1
Ku and Hina-man and woman-were the great ancestral gods of heaven and earth for the ancient Hawaiians. They were life's fruitfulness and all the generations of mankind, both those who are to come and those already born.

The Hawaiian gods were like great chiefs from far lands who visited among the people, entering their daily lives sometimes as humans or animals, sometimes taking residence in a ston
57

Hotel Honolulu

Paul Theroux

4.1
Newly married and having recently taken over the management of a hotel in Honolulu, a former writer is drawn into the chaotic lives of his guests and into the distinctive customs and rhythms of the distant island. As witness to the many contrasting, and often ribald, chronicles of the hotel's characters, he ultimately finds personal salvation through returning to writing once again. The result is
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running book cover58

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Haruki Murakami

4.1
An intimate look at writing, running, and the incredible way they intersect, from the incomparable, bestselling author Haruki Murakami.While simply training for New York City Marathon would be enough for most people, Haruki Murakami's decided to write about it as well. The result is a beautiful memoir about his intertwined obsessions with running and writing, full of vivid memories and insights, i
Anant Jain portraitBrian Koppelman portrait Recommended by Anant Jain and Brian Koppelman.
Anant Jain portrait
Anant Jain

On the non-business side of things, “What I Talk about When I Talk About Running” by Haruki Murakami is my recent favorite. I’m a long distance runner and I was extremely delighted to find out that one of the top fiction writers in the world draws a huge chunk of his inspiration from long distance running. In this book, Murakami beautifully connects running to writing, which are two skills close to me that I want to get better at. [source]

Brian Koppelman portrait
Brian Koppelman

The single best distillation of the kind of focus, commitment, and sense of mission it takes to become a great artist. [source]

59

The Legends and Myths of Hawai'i

David Kalakaua, Rollin Mallory Daggett

4.1
"The Legends and Myths of Hawaii" is not all mythology. It is rich in historical narrative. King Kalakaua relates the stories of certain great events with such verve that one can readily imagine he was an eyewitness. No doubt he had heard the same tales from the sons and daughters of those who had been present on occasions such as the death of Captain Cook. Since the momentous Hawaiian rejection o
60

Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii, 1835-1920

Ronald Takaki

4.1
Life on the plantation from 1835-1920.
Lab Girl book cover61

Lab Girl

Hope Jahren

4.1
Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.

Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncomp
Gail Kelly portrait Recommended by Gail Kelly.
62

All I Asking for Is My Body

Milton Murayama

4.1
63

Fodor's Oahu: with Honolulu, Waikiki & the North Shore (Full-color Travel Guide)

Fodor's Travel Guides

4.1
64

Pele: Goddess of Hawaiis Volcanoes

Herb Kawainui Kane

4.1
Myths, legends, romances and folktales of the most fascinating goddess of old Hawaii. Pele lives in Hawaiian hearts and minds as the personification of volcanic majesty and power. Having the power to create new land, she has a volcanic personality - an impetuous, lusty nature, jealous, unpredictable, capable of sudden fury and great violence. Yet she can also be gentle, loving and as serene as her
Oahu Revealed: The Ultimate Guide to Honolulu, Waikiki & Beyond book cover65

Oahu Revealed: The Ultimate Guide to Honolulu, Waikiki & Beyond

Andrew Doughty

4.1

The finest guidebook ever written for O‘ahu. Now you can plan your best vacation—ever. This all new eighth edition is a candid, humorous guide to everything there is to see and do on the island. Written by the author of the best-selling guides, Maui Revealed, Hawaii The Big Island Revealed and The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook. Explore with him as he reveals breathtaking trails, secluded beaches, prist

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed book cover66

The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed

Andrew Doughty

4.1

The finest guidebook ever written for Kaua'i. Now you can plan your best vacation--ever. This all new 14th edition is a candid, humorous guide to everything there is to see and do on the island. Best-selling author and longtime Hawai'i resident Andrew Doughty unlocks the secrets of an island so lush and diverse that many visitors never realize all that it has to offer. Explore with him as he revea

67

Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii

Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau

4.1
68

Maui Widow Waltz (Islands of Aloha Mystery, #1)

JoAnn Basset

4.1
Even ‘death do us part’ couldn’t halt her march down the aisle…
Cash-strapped Maui wedding planner Pali Moon can’t believe her luck when a prospective bride flashing a five-carat dazzler pops into her shop, “Let’s Get Maui’d,” to request a glitzy beachside wedding. But then Pali learns the lavish wedding must take place on Valentine’s Day—only nine days away. Oh, and one other little hitch—the groo
69

Broken Ferns (Lei Crime, #4)

Toby Neal

4.1
The island of Oahu is warm breezes, skyscrapers and green mountains—but a daring young thief is out to make a statement, and Special Agent Lei Texeira’s new career is already on the line.

Lei Texeira has made a difficult transition from detective on Maui to the FBI on Oahu—and her first big case as an agent draws national media attention. With her typical jump-first, look-later style, she pursues
Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West book cover70

Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West

David Wolman and Julian Smith

4.1
In the spirit of The Boys in the Boat comes the captivating true story of the Hawaiian cowboys who changed rodeo and the West forever. In August 1908, three unknown riders arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming, their hats adorned with wildflowers, to compete in the world’s greatest rodeo. They had travelled 3,000 miles from Hawaii, where their ancestors had herded cattle for generations, to test themselves
71

Night of the Howling Dogs

Graham Salisbury

4.1
DYLAN'S SCOUT TROOP goes camping in Halape, a remote spot below the volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. The only thing wrong with the weekend on a beautiful, peaceful beach is Louie, a tough older boy. Louie and Dylan just can't get along.

That night an earthquake rocks the camp, and then a wave rushes in, sweeping everyone and everything before it. Dylan and Louie must team up on a dangerous resc
The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory book cover72

The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory

Julie Checkoway

4.1
The New York Times bestselling inspirational story of impoverished children who transformed themselves into world-class swimmers.

In 1937, a schoolteacher on the island of Maui challenged a group of poverty-stricken sugar plantation kids to swim upstream against the current of their circumstance. The goal? To become Olympians.

They faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The children were Japan
73

Rani Patel in Full Effect

Sonia Patel

4.1
Almost seventeen, Rani Patel appears to be a kick-ass Indian girl breaking cultural norms as a hip-hop performer in full effect. But in truth, she's a nerdy flat-chested nobody who lives with her Gujarati immigrant parents on the remote Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, isolated from her high school peers by the unsettling norms of Indian culture where "husband is God." Her parents' traditionally arran
74

Black Jasmine (Lei Crime, #3)

Toby Neal

4.1
“Toby Neal's stories have a relentless, charged energy that heats up every page.” Holly Robinson, author of Sleeping Tigers

The island of Maui is turquoise ocean, stunning vistas, and whalesong—but organized crime has a hidden hold, and Detective Lei Texeira tracks evil that hides behind a beautiful face.

Lei and Stevens find a haven on Maui—until their new life as a couple is interrupted by murder.
Hawaii the Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook (All new 12th ed.) book cover75

Hawaii the Big Island Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook (All new 12th ed.)

Andrew Doughty

4.1

The finest guidebook ever written for the Big Island. Now you can plan your best vacation--ever. This all new 12th edition is a candid, humorous guide to everything there is to see and do on the Big Island. Best-selling author and longtime Hawai'i resident, Andrew Doughty, unlocks the secrets of an island so vast and diverse that many visitors never realize all that it has to offer. Explore with h

76

The House Without a Key (Charlie Chan, #1)

Earl Derr Biggers

4.1
Charlie Chan is back!

Earl Derr Biggers' crackling six-volume series featuring the clever, chubby Chinese Detective of the Honolulu Police Department, is coming back into print.

Biggers brings Honolulu to life with his deft descriptions of the landscape and its hybrid ethnic communities. And with the creation of Inspector Chan, Biggers also shatters stereotypes and is ahead of his time in highlighti
Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero and Pioneer of Big Wave Surfing book cover77

Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero and Pioneer of Big Wave Surfing

Stuart Holmes Coleman

4.1
In the 1970s, a decade before bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing the phrase Eddie Would Go began popping up all over the Hawaiian islands and throughout the surfing world, Eddie Aikau was proving what it meant to be a "waterman." As a fearless and gifted surfer, he rode the biggest waves in the world; as the first and most famous Waimea Bay lifeguard on the North Shore, he saved hundreds of live
78

Stories of Hawaii

Jack London

4.1
Thirteen yarns drawn from the famous author's love affair with Hawaii Nei. London was at the peak of his powers when he wrote them. Foreword by A. Grove Day.
79

Ho'onani: Hula Warrior

Heather Gale, Mika Song

4.1
An empowering celebration of identity, acceptance and Hawaiian culture based on the true story of a young girl in Hawaiʻi who dreams of leading the boys-only hula troupe at her school.

Ho'onani feels in-between. She doesn't see herself as wahine (girl) OR kane (boy). She's happy to be in the middle. But not everyone sees it that way.

When Ho'onani finds out that there will be a school performance of
80

Summer Bird Blue

Akemi Dawn Bowman

4.1
Rumi Seto spends a lot of time worrying she doesn’t have the answers to everything. What to eat, where to go, whom to love. But there is one thing she is absolutely sure of—she wants to spend the rest of her life writing music with her younger sister, Lea.

Then Lea dies in a car accident, and her mother sends her away to live with her aunt in Hawaii while she deals with her own grief. Now thousands
81

The Curse of Lono

Hunter S. Thompson, Steve Crist, Ralph Steadman

4.1
A wild ride to the dark side of Americana The Curse of Lono is to Hawaii what Fear and Loathing was to Las Vegas: the crazy tales of a journalist's ""coverage"" of a news event that ends up being a wild ride to the dark side of Americana. Originally published in 1983, Curse features all of the zany, hallucinogenic wordplay and feral artwork for which the Hunter S. Thompson/Ralph Steadman duo becam
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq book cover82

Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq

Stephen Kinzer

4.0
A fast-paced narrative history of the coups, revolutions, and invasions by which the United States has toppled fourteen foreign governments -- not always to its own benefit

"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and cont
83

The Betrayal of Liliuokalani: Last Queen of Hawaii 1838-1917

Helena G. Allen

4.0
84

Twisted Vine (Lei Crime, #5)

Toby Nea

4.0
The island of Oahu is skyscrapers and rainforests, beaches and boutiques—but Special Agent Lei Texeira is drawn into a shadow world connected by death and the Internet.
Mysterious suicides draw Lei and her team, including tech specialist Sophie Ang, to hunt a criminal who plays with the thin gray line between right and wrong. Lei stirs up a hornet’s nest on the investigation as her past reaches out
85

Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior

Mark Panek

4.0
86

Distant Echoes (Aloha Reef #1)

Colleen Coble

4.0
In the land of aloha and paradise, dark secrets lurk just below the surface.

When a tragic accident downs a tourist boat off the coast of Hawaii, dolphin researcher Kaia Oana is one of the first in the water, risking her own life to try and save others. She’s enlisted to help the U.S. Navy find out what really happened – utilizing her specially trained dolphins to help

Kaia and Lieutenant Commander
87

Frommer's Hawaii 2020 (Complete Guides)

Martha Cheng and Jeanne Cooper

4.0
88

Molokai

O. A. Bushnell

4.0
Molokai--one of the beautiful Hawaiian islands, but in the late nineteenth century, a name synonymous with a desolate leper colony. Kalaupapa, accessible only from the sea, was "The Given Grave," where victims of the dreaded disease were sent to die, exiled in a desperate attempt to halt the spread of this horror newly come to the islands. For the stricken there was no return, no treatment, no cur
89

The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative

W. S. Merwin

4.0
From a major American poet -- a thrilling story, in verse, of nineteenth-century Hawaii. The story of an attempt by the government to seize and constrain possible victims of leprosy and the determination of one small family not to be taken. A tale of the perils and glories of their flight into the wilds of the island of Kauai, pursued by a gunboat full of soldiers.

A brilliant capturing -- inspired
90

Waking Up in Eden: In Pursuit of an Impassioned Life on an Imperiled Island

Lucinda Fleeson

4.0
Like so many of us, Lucinda Fleeson wanted to escape what had become a routine life. So, she quit her big-city job, sold her suburban house, and moved halfway across the world to the island of Kauai to work at the National Tropical Botanical Garden. Imagine a one-hundred-acre garden estate nestled amid ocean cliffs, rain forests, and secluded coves. Exotic and beautiful, yes, but as Fleeson awaken
Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia book cover91

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

Christina Thompson

4.0
92

Fascinating Facts About Hawaii

Jim Loomis and Kristin Lipman

4.0
93

Mai Tai One On (A Tiki Goddess Mystery, #1)

Jill Landis

4.0
Six months ago, if anyone would have told Em Johnson she'd end up divorced, broke, and running the dilapidated Tiki Goddess Bar on the magical North Shore of Kauai she would have told them to shove a swizzle stick up their okole.

As if all that isn't bad enough, when an obnoxious neighbor with a grudge is found dead in the Goddess luau pit, suspicion falls on Em and the rest of the Goddess staff. W
94

Explosive Eighteen (Stephanie Plum, #18)

Janet Evanovich

4.0

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich.

Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 from Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, she’s flying back to New Jersey solo, and someone who sounds like Sasquatch is snoring in row

95

Hawaii's Hidden Paradise

Graham Osborne

4.0
Hawaii's breathtaking beauty makes it one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. With over 70 full-color photographs, this stunning book captures some of the most remote and untouched parts of this amazing archipelago, including lush tropical valleys, hidden waterfalls, and more.
96

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Hawaii

DK Eyewitness

4.0
Packed with culture and activities for travelers to enjoy including beautiful beaches, volcanoes, and insider tips for everywhere from Honolulu to Waikiki. Try local delicacies with our guide to great restaurants and cafes featuring island cuisine, or check out the best restaurants, clubs, and bars. We have the best hotels for every budget, plus fun activities for solitary travel or for families a
97

The Lieutenant's Nurse

Sara Ackerman

4.0
November, 1941. She’s never even seen the ocean before, but Eva Cassidy has her reasons for making the crossing to Hawaii, and they run a lot deeper than escaping a harsh Michigan winter. Newly enlisted as an Army Corps nurse, Eva is stunned by the splendor she experiences aboard the steamship SS Lurline; even more so by Lt. Clark Spencer, a man she is drawn to but who clearly has secrets of his o
98

The Raft

S. A. Bodeen

4.0
Robie is an experienced traveler. She's taken the flight from Honolulu to the Midway Atoll, a group of Pacific islands where her parents live, many times. When she has to get to Midway in a hurry after a visit with her aunt in Hawaii, she gets on the next cargo flight at the last minute. She knows the pilot, but on this flight, there's a new co-pilot named Max. All systems are go until a storm hit
99

Dark Lava (Lei Crime, #7)

Toby Nea

4.0
Maui is sacred places, ancient artifacts, and the dark lava of deepest passions.

Nothing ever goes easy for detectives Lei Texeira and Michael Stevens. An investigation into heiau desecrations must take a back seat to the emergence of an enemy who targets those closest to them, leaving shrouds as a calling card. Lei and Stevens face challenges of the body, mind and heart in this seventh in the be
100

A Song for the Stars

Ilima Todd

4.0
Inspired by a true story

Hawaiian Islands, 1779

As the second daughter of a royal chief, Maile will be permitted to marry for love. Her fiancé is the best navigator in Hawaiʻi, and he taught her everything he knows—how to feel the ocean, observe the winds, read the stars, and how to love.

But when sailors from a strange place called England arrive on her island, a misunderstanding ends in battle, a