Nauru

One book for Nauru, and it was slim and rather eclectic but fairly enjoyable.

1. Legends, Traditions, and Tales of Nauru, Timothy Detudamo, 2008

• Oceanic Mythology, Roland Dixon, 1916 (Micronesia section)

Kiribati

Last Virgin in Paradise is a bit of a stretch for Kiribati; Teresia Teaiwa is considered an i-Kiribati poet because her father was from Kiribati, but she herself was born in Honolulu and grew up in Fiji (and Vilsoni Hereniko is Fijian). Kiribati is represented by four shortish poems in Lali, which leaves my most substantial offering from the country A Pattern of Islands, which is a memoir by a Brit who spent two decades living in Kiribati as a colonial administrator. It was a decent book, but I feel that I failed in my mission somewhat.

1. Last Virgin in Paradise, Vilsoni Hereniko and Teresia Teaiwa, 1993
2. Lali: A Pacific Anthology, Albert Wendt, ed., 1980
3. A Pattern of Islands, Arthur Grimble, 1952

• The Sex Lives of Cannibals, J. Maarten Troost, 2003 [no more books by white guys exploring the world unless there’s no other option]

Marshall Islands

A startlingly good book, full of fury and despair, from the Marshall Islands.

1. Meļaļ: A Novel of the Pacific, Robert Barclay, 2002

• Marshall Islands Legends and Stories, Daniel A. Kelin, 2003 [I’ve had enough of legends and stories]

Micronesia

1. My Urohs, Emelihter Kihleng, 2008
2. The Book of Luelen, Luelen Bernart, before 1946

• His Majesty O’Keefe, Lawrence Klingman, 1950 [I still think this might be interesting but it’s not by a Micronesian so I’m not reading it now]

Guam

1. Chamorro Legends on the Island of Guam, Mavis Warner Van Peenen, 2010

Palau

1. Words of the Lagoon: Fishing and Marine Lore in the Palau District of Micronesia, R.E. Johannes, 1981