Never fails. I pack a book to read on vacation and finish it in two days. Soon, I’m reduced to reading tourist magazines and the superlative-overloaded tripe composed by the local convention and visitors bureau. What’s a word-starved haole  to do? On Maui, you’ve got two bookstores to replenish your portable library. We know what Barnes & Noble is about, so I head for touristy Lahaina, wade through a sea of ice-cream-cone-licking couples in matching Hawaiian shirts and find the Old Lahaina Book Emporium.

A few steps off Front Street, Lahaina’s main drag, I arrive at the Emporium’s pale green and orange wooden storefront. Next to the door, I spot a basket of used VHS movies. “Free! Take One!” reads a hand-scrawled cardboard sign. Thanks, I would, but I’m not really in the mood for 'The Thorn Birds' at the moment. Inside the Emporium’s first room I see Elvis, festooned with the most obnoxious carnation lei known to man. His grinning mug graces the cover of Elvis in Hawaii , a slick oversized picture-paperback chronicling The King’s visits to Oahu and Kauai. It’s in this first room that the Emporium stocks its Hawaiianna books – from a full array of tourist guides and maps (current and vintage) to tomes on Hawaiian history, hiking, snorkeling and beyond.

With a stack of purchases under my arm, I wander. Wooden shelves sag under the weight of musty old hardbacks. The huge selection of well-worn romance paperbacks and thrillers is unreal. Two entire wall-length bookcases cover the sci-fi genre. I snag the weird Philip K. Dick novel I’ve been searching for and browse on. Whether you’re looking for a 1965 Ford Mustang repair manual, a book on “superconsciousness” by an Indian guru, a compendium of baseball statistics or a World War II hardcover of the Time-Life variety, the Emporium has it.

Sadly, used bookstores are a dying breed. And it’s wonderful to see one thriving, smack-dab in the middle of touristy Lahaina. Any other noteworthy bookstores on the islands? Please, point the way.