1 comments about A Portrait of Molokai (2nd Edition).

1. I purchased the book before my trip hoping to learn about the place. It's not a bad book, but I didn't feel like I learned much from it. It is more of a love letter written by the author who is a local resident and business owner in Kaunakakai. The photos are nice although not spectacular, and there are plenty of them, giving a good general overview. During my trip a friend loaned me a Lonely Planet guide to Hawaii which I got much more out of as far as learning about Molokai.

No comments about Exotic Tropicals of Hawaii: Heliconias, Gingers, Anthuriums, and Decorative Foliage.

2 comments about Kauai: A Many Splendored Island.

1. As a collector of all things Hawaiian...this book is one of my favorites. You could take this book and frame every picture on the wall. This book really takes you to Kauai, and if you have never been to Kauai then it will make you want to go to the beautiful laid back not quite yet touristy island. This book has 156 pages. This book does give a little history of Kauai but I think its real purpose was to capture the tranquility and beauty of Kauai....and that is exactly what it does. You will not be sorry for purchasing this book!



2. The item was shipped promptly but had been billed as "like new". The inside of book was indeed like new but both the front and back binding were totally broken. I elected to mend them rather than go thru hassle of returning for a replacement. I probably should have contacted seller but since the price was so low, I figure I got what I paid for.

3 comments about Surfing Hawaii.

1. Bank Wright covers all the Islands, and methodically goes around each, including an insightful one paragraph description of the major breaks, including the best time of year, typical size, etc. The maps included take a while to get used to as north is not always oriented to the top. A good reference if you're traveling to Hawaii and want some fundamental information.



2. This is one for the coffee table. Cheap, and well worth a minor investment. Details a majority of the breaks out there, but does however, miss a few. Fun to look back into an era past.



3. Bank Wright's guide to Hawaiian surf spots touches upon some nice areas, and has a few pleasant PC poems, but ultimately falls short of telling it how it really is. How many times do we need to be warned about dangerous reefs and riptides? Maybe he should have just given this warning once at the beginning and left it at that. But his south shore Oahu map is pretty thorough, and in a few other zones he does find (like a bumbler) some good spots. Overall though, he misses more than he finds, and thus 'Surfing Hawaii' is ultimately blind. If comments such as these upset you- let me ask you, where are the islands of Molokai and Lanai? Overlooking surf spots is excusable- as there are many in the Hawaiian Islands, but calling a book 'Surfing Hawaii' and then excluding two out of five ISLANDS? That seems gravely incomplete, does it not? And I know what you are thinking- "Yea well Molokai and Lanai don't have a lot of good spots." Yeah well from my experiencing scoring on those two islands, there are enough good spots to include in his guide, backwater locals or not. I mean, if Bank is going to hype up places like Tonggs and the east side of Oahu, the least he could do is mention Manele point on Lanai. So I found his poems touching; as for his guide to the waves- not too deep. His 'Surfing California', however, is worth five stars.

5 comments about Rainbow Handbook Hawaii: The Islands' Ultimate Gay Guide.

1. Matthew Link presents a unique side to Hawaii in a complete, fun, and entertaining manner. The book is very well researched, and is suitable for anyone travelling to Hawaii or has been to Hawaii and wants to relive their experiences.



2. Rainbow Handbook Hawaii covers history, gay communities,interviews with local gays and lesbians, places to see, trivia, and photos. Also included in Rainbow Handbook Hawaii: detailed city and island maps - the same-sex marriage battle - homo bed and breakfasts - bars and clubs - eco-tours - restaurants - shops - vacation rentals - Hawaiian language glossary - and loads of gay island facts and pictures!



3. I urge everyone to buy this book right away. It's the best damn book on Hawaii I ever read.



4. I urge everyone to buy this book right away. It's the best damn book on Hawaii I ever read.



5. After reading this book, I felt it was a little "dated" but, overall, it's a great guide for the Gay and Lesbian Traveler to Hawaii. Many lists of what, where, why and when to go to Paradise!

No comments about Exploring Historic Hilo (Small Town Series) (Small Town Series).

3 comments about Shanghai Express: A Thirties Novel (Fiction from Modern China).

1. Don't buy this book expecting a fine and fancy piece of literature: that it ain't. Zhang Henshui was the Danielle Steel of early 20th century China, and this, one of his best known novels, has it all. Sex, suspense, intreague, betrayal...a page turner indeed.

   Shanghai Express is an enjoyable if not very edifying read. Like all trashy novels, its hard not to feel guilty for the expenditure of time and money, but its foreign-ness and time frame should assauge some misgivings.

   As 1930s pop literature, though, it does paint an interesting portrait of the manners and mores of its time. Ways of dressing, talking, eating, etc, present an unintentioned history.

   Be advised, though, the book has absolutely nothing to do with Shanghai. It is also unrelated to the American movie of the same title.




2. I would disagree strongly with the notion that this is a "trashy" novel. As William Lyell says in his afterward, just because this was a "popular" novel i.e. one intended for a mass audience, does not automatically mean it is trash.
   
   The story is told in simple and vivid prose, aided by the masterful translation of Dr. Lyell. The author obviously was a gifted story teller. He shows in this novel an ability for evoking the reality of his characters as he simply describes their actions. The story does not exactly evoke the profoundest human emotions but it does do so with considerable skill nonetheless, particularly at the end. In addition, the author's eye for details is quite profound; life on the trains are described with great precision, particularly life in and the denizens of, the train's third class car.
   
   About eighty five or ninety percent of the story takes place on the "Shanghai Express", a train going from Beijing to Shanghai. The novel takes place in the mid 30's, when it was first published. The story takes place over the several days of the trip and involves the eventually successful intrigue by passenger Hu Ziyun to get into bed, a young female fellow passanger, Liu Xichun. Ziyun is a very successful banker and Xichun claims to have married into the family of one of his friends.
   
   The novel is quite drawn out and, perhaps consciously intended for its popular audience, well into the book springs upon the reader, a major twist, relating to the character of Liu Xichun. After this twist is fully exposed, we jump forward about ten years and look at the very profound tragedy of what has become of Hu Ziyun. That evocation of that tragedy by the author is probably the most impressive part of the book.
   
   I was most bothered in the novel by some of the lengthy dialogues about their relationship between Xichun and Ziyun which sometimes seem a little unnatural and slightly abstrusely over-intellectualized. Overall, however, the novel is pretty impressive.



3. During the 1930s, Zhang Henshui (pen name of Zhang Xinyuan --ÕÅÐÄÔ¶) enjoyed the status of China¡¯s most popular author. Born in 1895, Henshui departed for Beijing in 1919 to work as a newspaper editor. His first major long work, Chunming Waishi (An Unofficial Tale of Peking), was serialized between 1924 and 1929. The smashing success of this series established him as the preeminent popular novelist of his generation. His masterpieces include Jinfen Shijia (A Family of Distinction--1927-32) and Tixiao Yinyuan (The Fates of a Marriage of Tears and Laughter--1930). In 1935, Shanghai Express was China¡¯s most read novel by her most popular author. Although Zhang Henshui is associated with the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School, his later writing took a more serious and political tone. During the anti- Japanese war, he took a patriotic stand and published satirical novels such as Eighty-One Dreams. Always prolific, Henshui had penned over one hundred novels by the time he died in 1967.
   In Shanghai Express, a socially prominent and well-to-do banker¡ªHu Ziyun--falls for an alluring young woman¡ªLiu XiChun--while traveling from Beijing to Shanghai. Henshui keeps the reader constantly moving among the sights, sounds, and smells in all three classes of passenger cars, while allowing the tale to unfold. As the two protagonists move among the three classes of train cars, the author offers insights into the characters who populate the various cars. Through the story of Ziyun and XiChun, Henshui explores the boundaries between past and present, public and private, and self and community. Although Ziyun believes that he got lucky when he met XiChun, by the story¡¯s end he realizes the luck was all hers. Hu Ziyun has paid a heavy price for indulging his vanity, proving how fine the lines between the classes can be and how easily people can move or be moved among them.
   
   Shanghai Express provides an example of the ¡°Mandarin Duck and Butterly¡± style of sentimental social romance novel that was enormously popular during the 1920s¡ª1940s in China and for which Zhang Henshui is notable. Though this style of writing was widely enjoyed, some tried to discredit it as mere entertainment for relaxation on a Saturday afternoon¡ªthe equivalent of today¡¯s movies. The Mandarin Duck & Butterfly School of literature was frequently derided by ¡°May Fourth¡± intellectuals as excessively sentimental and trivial. They were the ones who coined the term and used it in a derogatory way. They found this literary style too commercial and ideologically backward during an age when literature in China was dominated by the leftist politics and Europeanising aesthetics of the May Fourth Movement. Arguably, however, Zhang Henshui tried to dignify the genre by retaining the form and language of the old-style Chinese novel, but assimilating techniques and content from May Fourth writing in an effort to modernize traditional fiction and make it more attractive to the masses. The arguments over maintaining scholarly tradition or making literature more approachable to the masses is ages old, and the same disagreements were happening during the Modern era among scholars and writers in the West.
   
   Though this novel may have been written for the general reading public with a slant toward the literary tradition, it may not suit the tastes of contemporary Western readers. The minutiae and drawn out suspense, which create the book¡¯s merit for many, are the very same factors that will make it move much too slowly for other readers. History buffs, Chinese literature fans, and Chinese culture seekers will find the story compelling and will appreciate its exhaustive, Jane Austen-style level of detail. If you¡¯re building a library of Chinese classics, you¡¯re keen to learn something about one of China¡¯s most popular authors, or a fan of 1930s Chinese culture, grab a copy of this translation off amazon.com.

2 comments about Maui.

1. Maui has always been my favorite Hawaiian island, so when I came across this book on a recent trip to Hawaii, I bought it immediately. The photographs are as gorgeous as the island itself. The text is interesting, too. A great coffee table book.



2. My wife and I wnet to Maui for out 10 year anniversary. We bought this in the Maui Costco and it takes me back to the Island everytime I look through it. This is a wonderful book. The images are fantastic and very colorful. Looking through the book, I found several photos that resembled mine. It makes a wonderful coffee table book and spurs several converations about what we enjoyed about Maui. This is a must buy for those who have been to the Island.

No comments about Land of Aloha: The Hawaiian Islands (Island Treasures).

3 comments about Hawaii for Free: Hundreds of Free Things to Do in Hawaii ("for Free" Series).

1. This book is a must for all tourists going to Hawaii. It has everything from concerts, to factory tours, best beaches, parks, art gallerys, gardens, lessons, sports,historical sites ,annual events and more. All for no admission. Also phone numbers to call for more information.



2. A good portion of what Hawaii for Free covers is also covered in many of the better Hawaii guidebooks, like my favorite: the Unofficial Guide to Hawaii. The real question is whether the added tips, like the time and place for free Celtic Pipes and Drums practice is worth the book's price. I thought no.



3. You know, there are people who Want to know where they can find free Celtic Pipes & drums practice opportunities. . . .