Posts Tagged ‘Books’

The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little

November 6th, 2009 by Lori | 2 Comments | Filed in Hawaii, Photo Talk
clark-little-surf-image

Image by Clark Little

It’s no secret that we here at ISLANDS are big fans of water and some of us have been known to catch a wave or two. So when I met Clark Little at the Maui Photo Festival I was intrigued by the images he was creating. Clark grew up surfing Oahu’s North shore and now spends his days bobbing in the waves creating stunning shorebreak images like the one pictured above. His first book, The Shorebreak Art of Clark Little, will be released November 15. Clark recently sent me a sneak peek and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

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Island Books for Kids

August 31st, 2009 by Adrienne | No Comments | Filed in ISLANDS Experts

Grand Cayman's Camana Bay hosts the Children's Book Festival in November

There’s no place like an island to crack open your newest page turner. Your kids will agree after they attend the Camana Bay Children’s Book Festival (Nov. 28-29) on Grand Cayman. The event, which is in its second year, will be headlined by Fancy Nancy series illustrator Robin Glasser. There will also be traditional Caymanian “Gimistory” performers, who will tell local folk tales and share the importance of story telling in the island culture.

This event got me thinking about some of my favorite island books for kids. And it reminded me of two new island books I’ve come across recently. The first is actually a reprint of The Wonderful O. It’s a whimsical story about a mythical island. Author James Thurber was a contemporary of E.B. White, and one can’t help but notice that The Wonderful O possesses the same fanciful innocence as Charlotte’s Web. The new cloth-bound reprint is fittingly sentimental, a perfect addition to any school-age child’s library.


The second book is Kelanola, The Raven Princess of Oahu. It’s a hand-illustrated storybook with a purely Hawaiian theme. Both the author and illustrator were born and raised in Honolulu and the traces of their heritage are evident throughout this tale about aumakua, an honored Hawaiian spirit who assumes the form of a raven. It’s a nice introduction to the Aloha Spirit, and a glossary at the end is a great primer to the Hawaiian language.

Do your kids have a favorite book about islands? Share your suggestions in the comments.

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Andaman’s Tsunami Watch Cancelled, Plus latest from Scotland and Hawaii

August 11th, 2009 by Adrienne | No Comments | Filed in News and Deals

Scotland by ISLANDS

You can’t be on every island at once – but you can feel like you are. Here are the latest links with useful information about island travel from around the world.

  • A tsunami watch that was issued for the Andaman Islands following an earthquake in the Indian Ocean has been canceled.
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Airplane Reading and Tahiti’s Jane Austen?

June 16th, 2009 by Adrienne | No Comments | Filed in ISLANDS Experts

This Friday, I’m jetting off to Tahiti for a week. While my suitcases are still mostly empty, I have started packing my carry-on bag. I came across Breadfruit ($12.99, Bay Back Books), in a stack of paperbacks at my local bookstore. One look at the colorful cover, and I knew I’d be reading this novel on my Air Tahiti Nui flight from LAX to Papeete. One of my favorite airplane rituals is to read books that are set in the islands I’m headed to. Even better if it’s written by an island-born author like this one (Tahitian Celestine Vaite has actually written three novels set in Tahiti).

The synopsis on the back of Breadfruit describes it as a Tahitian-style Jane Austen story. I’m looking forward to finding out what that means exactly… And reading the other two editions to this series the next time I travel to Tahiti.

What about you? Tell us about your favorite airplane reads in the comments below.

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One great author, Two great books, Countless great islands

June 2nd, 2009 by Adrienne | No Comments | Filed in ISLANDS Experts

This past weekend I started Sea of Poppies ($26, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)  the latest novel by Indian writer Amitav Ghosh and the first installment in his new series, The Ibis Triology. I was sure before I even opened the cover that it was going to be a good read, not just because of the compelling premise (19th-century Opium Wars and a web of strangers connected by fate), but also because I’ve read Ghosh before.

In fact, it was his novel, The Hungry Tide ($13.95, Harper Collins) that first acquainted me with this part of the world. In it, a young marine biologist ventures into the Sundarban islands, an archipelago that fringes along India’s southern coast. Her search for elusive Irrawaddy dolphins finds her in the company of both an educated businessman and an illiterate fisherman. As is the case with any great novel, I felt by the end like I knew these characters — and their island home — personally. If I ever make it to the Sundarbans, I’ll be sure to re-read this book on the plane ride over.

In the meantime, Sea of Poppies is getting me better acquainted with some other Indian Ocean islands — like Mauritius and Jakarta. Look for my full review in an upcoming issue, and find more book reviews at islands.com/read.

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