Books like Hawaii by James A. Mitchener

A solitary Chumash girl is left on San Nicolas Island and must learn to survive alone, mastering skills traditionally reserved for men while facing danger, hunger and loneliness.

Balram Halwai rises from servant to entrepreneur, revealing the brutal path of ambition and survival in modern India.

James A. Michener’s sweeping history of Hawaii traces the islands’ geological birth, the arrival and influence of Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese and other immigrant groups, and the role of missionaries in shaping the islands’ modern culture.

A former Japanese POW survivor in post-war Malaya journeys to the secluded Garden of Evening Mists to learn from a reclusive gardener, uncovering secrets of war and forgiveness amid the country's turbulent fight for independence.

South Sea Tales is a collection of short stories by Jack London that explore adventures and observations in the South Pacific.

"Irreverently juggling magical realism, film noir, hip hop, and chicanismo, Karen Yamashita presents an L.A. where the homeless, gangsters, infant organ entrepreneurs, and Hollywood collide on a stretch of highway struck by disaster. The Harbor Freeway crisis becomes the apex of events - caused by an orange, which has been brought to L.A. from just north of Mazatlan, dragging with it the Tropic of Cancer." "Rafaela, caretaking Gabriel's getaway home in Mexico, discovers a dealer of human body parts and flees north, joining a performer/laborer named Arcangel. Meanwhile, Gabriel, a news reporter in L.A., has been following leads in which seemingly unrelated events mysteriously unite as the homeless take up residence in abandoned Mercedes, lowriders, and Cads, and an aged Asian American sansei conducts symphonies from a freeway overpass." "Emi, T.V. executive and Gabriel's girlfriend, along with Buzzworm, his connection to the streets, get caught in the middle of this mounting wildfire just as the cast of characters - diverse as the city itself - assembles for the final event. Tropic of Orange is an apocalypse of race, class, and culture, fanned by the media under the harsh L.A. sun."--BOOK JACKET.

This brief but factual sketch of Hawaiian begins by uncovering the fascinating and often controversial history of the language, from its place among the other languages of Polynesia to the unusual problems faced by missionaries in devising an alphabet. With the help of a clear and concise guide to pronunciation, learn the importance of the okina and the kahako and how these marks affect the meaning as well as the pronunciation of words. Helpful vocabulary lists introduce words heard and seen most often in place names, in restaurants, and in Hawaiian songs - including those commonly mispronounced even by lifelong Hawai'i residents such as ma kai and ma uka. Lastly, the author discusses ongoing efforts to preserve Hawaiian as a living language through language-teaching programs.

A young adventurer finds himself on a forgotten Thai island, slowly turning into a nightmare.