Summer Beach Reads

Books released over summer seem to be the hot thing here in the US. Everywhere I look there is a new title coming out, making my reading list longer and longer! I have been at home recovering from surgery this week and I was hoping to get cracking on all my new novels, but unfortunately this has not happened - yet. And to top that off, Seattle is experiencing one of the best summer seasons in history so that makes it hard to stay indoors and read (house is too hot) or go outside and read (sun is too hot)!

However I am committed to getting through a few novels this summer season and here is my recommended reading list - all of these books are available from Amazon.com. If anyone has read any of these let me know, in case I have a book on the list that doesn't make the cut!

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
Holly's Inbox by Holly Denham
A Better View of Paradise by Randy Sue Coburn
The Husband Habit by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

The Heart of Being Hawaiian - Take 2

I recently purchased the book, The Heart of Being Hawaiian and had committed to writing a review about the book about 2 weeks ago. Well, sadly I have still not read the book and am having trouble finding time to do so. I am bummed as I think this book will really provide me with some interesting insight into the Hawaiian culture and what it truly means to be Hawaiian, whether you are born in the Islands or not. I will get to it, but have set a new goal to have finished the book - end of April. I look forward to posting the review for you to read!

Hawaiian Books and More at Amazon.com

Happy Friday everyone! Yet another week of crazy happenings, but at the end of it all I am still standing so I guess it wasn't that bad after all. I thought as you got older that life became easier but I am learning the hard way that this is not the case. But, today there is no time to complain because the weekend is here and I want to share a great blog post from Amazon.com's Omnivoracious Blog. This blog is written by the book editors at Amazon.com, and they regularly write blog postings about: "The Books of the States". This week, Hawaii was featured on the blog and they have some great recommendations if you are looking for books about Hawaii, fiction, non-fiction, or both.

As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday it is often hard to decide on what books to read as there are so many to choose from. Some of the books that are mentioned include, Hawaii, by James Michener, and Hawaii's Story by Queen Liliuokalani. Hopefully this selection of titles from Amazon will help you get started if you are thinking about starting a new book, or you just want to keep adding to your collection. Read the entire blog post from Amazon here, and have a great weekend!

The Heart of Being Hawaiian

There are a lot of books about Hawaii that have been written, from travel guides, to fiction, to cook books. I often have trouble deciding on a book to read because of the abundance of choice. When it comes to books about Hawaii, I also want to read something original and authentic. So, when I first read about "The Heart of Being Hawaiian", by Sally-Jo Bowman in Hawaii Magazine, I thought that it was worth purchasing and would make for a fascinating read. I just received my copy in the mail and I look forward to reading it this weekend. Sally's book focuses on a journey of discovery as she tries to define what it truly means to be Hawaiian, and how her life experiences and teachings help her find the answers to that question.

You can purchase Sally's book through Watermark Publishing. I look forward to writing a review for this book in the next couple of weeks. If anyone else has read the book I would be interested to know your thoughts.

Watermark Publishing - Hawaii

I recently discovered this cool site - Le Chic - Daily finds for life and style in Hawaii. This website reminds me of the Daily Candy emails I get delivered to my inbox every day - but the site is all things Hawaiian! Perfect! Today, Le Chic did a feature on a new Hawaiian cookbook release, through Watermark Publishing, which is a homegrown Hawai´i publisher specializing in books about the 50th State. I went to the Watermark Publishing site and was thrilled to find endless books, all about Hawaii. Right now I spend a lot of time at the local library near my house reading books on Hawaii and trying to get the latest and greatest info, especially from the travel guides as they are updated every year. I have wanted to buy some Hawaii books but wasn't sure what the best ones were to purchase. Now I know where to go to get the best selection of local Hawaiian books, at a good price. Check out their website for the complete selection.