The Pacific islands have captivated the minds of readers ever since Melville and has become a vibrant setting for some of history's best stories and today's best writers. Not only has the world been influenced by images of an ideal paradise, but the outside world has changed the islands for better or worse. This group strives to bring together...
more »The Pacific islands have captivated the minds of readers ever since Melville and has become a vibrant setting for some of history's best stories and today's best writers. Not only has the world been influenced by images of an ideal paradise, but the outside world has changed the islands for better or worse. This group strives to bring together books about the Pacific and books by Pacific writers. Our goal is to introduce people with an interest in this beautiful place to the voices eminating from there today. We also hope to join historic and current views into a continuous conversation that may provide insights into the attitudes and adjustments that make the equatorial and south seas so facinating to all who dream, visit or live there.
The peoples of the Pacific are facing a changing world brought on by forces beyond the horizon. Writers from this region are influenced by everything from shrinking islands due to global climate changes to the introdcution of global culture icons such as Nike. These influences have lead to both reinterpreting ancient customs and to the development of new and interesting hybrids of cultures and traditions.
We hope that by bringing together the facts and stories from these exotic places so that we may all learn to better appreciate them. Books from Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia are the main focus of this group. Any place within these regions are welcome settings for our group shelf and discussions; including (but not exclusively): Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, The Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, Tahiti and French Polynesia, Fiji, Papua-New Guinea, The Solomons, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Nauru, Kiribati, the Marshal Islands, Micronesia, Guam, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Easter Island. Broader coverage of places like Australia are welcome but we want to emphasize the islands of Oceania first and foremost.
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