Having Our Say: Two Gen X Writers on Their Essential Hawai‘i Books

In the May issue of HONOLULU, which starts landing in subscriber mailboxes in the next few days and goes on the newsstand May 1, we unveil our first-ever list of 50 Essential Hawai‘i Books. Readers naturally will be curious to see the selections. What we can say here is, as might be expected, the list that emerged is weighted toward books that have been around for a while, or by authors who are well-known.

Of course, no list of 50 books about Hawai‘i can be called complete, but what was most obviously missing were titles by more recent generations—a natural outcome of the time it takes for even good books to rise. Here, we attempt to remedy that gap by inviting two Gen X writers, Christy Passion and Kristiana Kahakauwila, whose acclaimed books barely missed the 50, to give a shout-out to books that are particularly resonant from their perspectives.