Great books for the Hawaii lover on your list

A Hawai'i vacation makes a wonderful holiday gift, so if you're a secret Santa who's passing them out this year, please send one my way. In the meantime, anyone can enjoy armchair travel with prose and photos from the islands — which may also make a more reasonably priced present for the Hawai'i lover on your list. Here are five recent titles that may bring back memories of Hawai'i Nei, or even better, inspire the reader to create some new ones.

1: "Practice Aloha: Secrets to Living Life Hawaiian Style"
Compiled and edited by Mark Ellman and Barbara Santos
Mutual Publishing, $15.95 (paperback)

Armchair appeal: For Hawaiians at heart and those who "heart" Hawai'i

What's the deal: Subtitled "Stories, Recipes and Lyrics from Hawai'i's Favorite Folks," this anthology could be considered a "Saimin for the Soul" companion to the "Chicken Soup" series. Longtime Maui chef Mark Ellman, a self-described "haole boy from the Mainland," says in a promotional video for the new book that customers at his Māla Ocean Tavern restaurant often asked him what "aloha" really means, which in turn intrigued him. "I really wanted to know what Hawaiians, kama'āina and kūpuna (elders) thought it meant, as opposed to what musicians, or a chef, or a schoolteacher, or surfers thought it meant," Ellman says.

With the help of co-editor Barbara Santos and a story-gathering website, Ellman eventually collected the anecdotes, songs, recipes and poems of 140 people, including famed musicians such as the Cazimero Brothers and Mick Fleetwood, Hawai'i politicians such as outgoing Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona and incoming Gov. Neil Abercrombie, and people with less exalted professions such as a school crossing guard and a tattoo artist. As Patrick Ching says in the book, "When someone gets aloha, they can't wait to share it."

Keeping it real: Every day is a chance to "practice aloha," but you can also meet the editors at book-signing parties at Borders in Kahului Nov. 27, the Maui Ocean Center Nov. 28 and at the Barnes & Noble in Honolulu's Ala Moana Center Dec. 4, which includes live music and an appearance by San Francisco Chinatown cuisine expert Shirley Fong-Torres, one of the few non-Hawai'i residents featured in the book. (For more "Practice Aloha" readings in Hawai'i, click here.)

Another contributor, Maui's popular recording artist Willie K, shares his aloha Wednesday nights at Mulligan's on the Blue in Wailea. Touring in support of his new "Willie Wonderland" CD, he'll also be sharing the holiday spirit with Christmas dinner shows at the Maui nightspot Dec. 21-23 and 27-29, and California concerts at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz Dec. 17 ($26) and Menlo College in Atherton Dec. 18 (advance tickets $30, door $35).

2: "Some Fishes I Have Known: A Reef Rescue Odyssey"
By Snorkel Bob
Skyhorse Publishing, $25

Armchair appeal: For snorkelers, divers and anthropomorphic-animal-photo fans

What's the deal: It would be easy to focus just on the 300 riveting photos of reef denizens taken by "Snorkel Bob," a.k.a. Robert Wintner, the founder of Hawai'i's ubiquitous Snorkel Bob's dive shop chain, but the subtitle suggests an underlying purpose for this underwater journey. The Maui-based entrepreneur is also a passionate advocate against the destruction of Hawaiian reef life by aquarium collectors, who can disrupt the ecoystem's delicate balance by wide-scale removal of desirable species. "There is no limit on the catch, there is no limit on the number of catchers....entire reefs have been emptied of yellow tangs, which exposes the reef to algae overgrowth," Wintner said in a recent phone interview, with alarming anecdotes of other vanished reef residents.