Looking for Books on the Big Island

It’s not as easy as you’d think

At first I thought that no one read in Hawaii (or on the Big Island, at least).  I wanted to visit and review an independent bookstore (because Kim told me to), but we couldn’t find one at any of the shopping centers near the resort we were staying at.  And I don’t think the hotel gift shop counts as much of a bookstore, since they tend to sell Nora Roberts and, well, Nora Roberts.

It wasn’t until we got lost in a more residential part of the city that we finally stumbled upon not one but two Borders, and I felt somewhat reassured that people there do read for pleasure.  But I was still on a quest for an Indie.  Rob did an online search for me and found two listings for independent bookstores on the Big Island.  One sold used books, and while we have reviewed used bookstores in the past, it wasn’t really what I was going for so I was more interested in the other one,  Basically Books.

Basically Books is in Hilo, which was about an hour away from our hotel but on the way to the volcano we had promised ourselves we’d visit this time around.  Of course, everything took longer than we expected and by the time we hit Hilo, we were all starving for lunch and Rob was getting very nervous about having enough daylight hours to sufficiently explore the volcano.

But I was determined to not make Kim mad at me–and had just finished the only book I had brought with me which also made me desperate for reading material–so Annie and I raced over to the bookstore while the men made a pit stop at a health food store.

My first thought on entering Basically Books was, “Basically” is a bit of an overstatement, isn’t it? Books take up at most a quarter of the store, which probably explains their tagline:  “A Gathering of Things Hawaiian.”  There were lots of “things Hawaiian,” including necklaces, stationery, soaps, toys, food . . .

Annie was of course thrilled by all the other stuff and immediately trotted off to look for gifts for people we’d left back home.  I stayed at the front of the store where the books are and prowled about a bit.

And I realized that while the book selection might not have been large, it was “choice,” as they say.  Almost all the books there related in some way to Hawaii, although I did find a random bestselling novel or two thrown in.  There was a large section of travel and picture books about our 50th state and a very proud, very loving tribute to local son Barack Obama, which included a tower of every book he’s ever written and most of the ones written about him (well, the positive ones, at least).  Apparently this Hawaiian-born man has done his home state proud.

The kids’ books selection was also skewed toward Hawaiiana (is that a word?).  I scored two Scott O’Dell books for my 9-year-old son, one about the attack on Pearl Harbor and one about the big Island itself.  (I couldn’t decide between the two and so got both.  He apparently can’t decide between the two and so has read neither.  Argh.)

I drifted over to the adult section which was mostly non-fiction books about . . . oh, you’ve already guessed.    My heart sank a bit: I really wanted another novel to read.  And then I spotted an entire shelf devoted to novels about Hawaii.  I squatted down and pored through them.  I was tempted to buy almost every book I saw–it was that kind of selection.  They all looked kind of great.  I was slightly disappointed not to find any titles by my favorite Hawaii-born author,  Susanna Moore, but the other choices more than made up for her absence and I was glad I was forced to expand my horizons.

In the end I took “home” Moloka’i by Alan Brennert.   True, the guy is an LA-based TV writer (at least according to his bio), but the book is true Hawaiian history about the leper colony in Moloka’i and a (fictional) girl who’s sent there at a young age and spends her whole life fighting both the disease and the second-class citizenship it conferred on anyone who contracted it.

It was fascinating reading and I was riveted–and found myself especially happy that I had an entertaining book to read when two of my kids came down with high fevers over the next 48 hours, which meant they (and I) were confined to our hotel room for the rest of the trip.  The ocean view was beautiful from our balcony and when the invalids’ demands were all met (Motrin and TV being the two panaceas), I curled up with Moloka’i and drifted happily away to another place and time.

I am so glad we made that stop.

Basically Books

160 Kamehameha Avenue

Hilo, Hawaii 96720

(808) 961-0144

Toll-Free: 1-800-903-MAPS