Last week the biggest bookstore chain in Indonesia, Gramedia, hosted an online book sale on their website. I’d never bought anything from them online before, but the 20-50% offer got me hooked. With barely any expectations at all, I checked out what they had in store. It thrilled me to find so many amazing titles—some of which I’d been dying to own for so long—and incredible book covers in the store. The Indonesian book industry is certainly thriving and I’m very excited to dive deep into these local books again.
Long story short, I ended buying quite a few books from this site and today a couple of them have been thoroughly read. Without further ado, here’s what I’ve got.
Gadis Daun Jeruk
Rinda Maria Gempita
When I found out that one of my favourite local illustrators, Wickana Laksmi Dewi, designed a graphic novel, I was quickly intrigued. This is a bilingual, cute short tale of a girl who believes the old adage that says, “If you eat a fruit and swallows its seed, it’ll grown as a tree inside of you.” It’s a simple premise and one we can all relate to, which is why this story is so heartwarming and incredibly cute at the same time. It’s a story about dreaming and not letting it go when you’ve grown older.
The book contains both the Indonesian and English version of the story, printed on opposite sides of it. Using only orange as the dominant colour and numerous blacks with pops of white, the illustrator captures the essence of the story perfectly.
Mantra Orang Jawa
Sapardi Djoko Damono
First spotted on Goodreads, this book caught my attention straight away. At first I mistook the author as the one who wrote a different piece, but it turns out to be someone else—I’m sorry for all fans of Mr. Darmono. Normally, I wouldn’t be into poetry, but if I had to choose, I’d rather have conservative poems to modern poetry anytime of the day. I feel like modern poetry is stripped off its rules, which leaves it quite bare and unruly in my eyes—and ears. Conservative poetry, often deeply entrenched in culture, holds more weight for me. Thankfully, this book is one of those.
Other than that, the cover got me hooked, with the gorgeous blue as the chosen colour for batik and the beautiful silhouette of a man wearing blangkon, with textures of scrunched up paper on it.
Sorgum
Ahmad Arif
Ever since I discovered sorghum at a bulk grocery store, I was intrigued to find out about this grain. I thought, at first, that it is imported like so many harvested goods in this country—ironic I know. Then I saw it mentioned in an instagram post by Saya Pilih Bumi.
Apparently, it is deeply rooted in Indonesian history and the multitude of tribal cultures across the archipelago. Then how come I’ve never heard of it before? Not once in my 27 years of life did it ever make its way to conversation or even into our curriculum at school. This piqued my interest so much, that when I saw this book on sale—with its beautifully designed cover—I grabbed it without much thought. Let’s find out how sorghum plays a role in Indonesian culture and history, shall we?
Bonus Book: Agung’s purchase
Unbranding
What a title, am I right? It caught my eye instantly too—and, apparently, mine wasn’t the only one. Truth be told, I’ve never heard of the authors, Scott and Alison Stratten, so I don’t really have much expectations for their work. However, I do hope that this book will be groundbreaking, to say the least. Is that a tall order? It is just so close to my professional life right now that I feel it could really be useful for me. Fingers crossed, you know. I’ll have to pry it off Agung’s hands first, of course.
This year, truth be told, I haven’t had much chance to do some reading. Work and thesis project have been keeping me incredibly busy and on my toes everyday. As you might know, from my instagram post at the end of January, I barely had enough time to update my social media.
We’re coming to a close on the thesis project right now, though, so I might have time again to indulge in my hobbies. I’m very excited to borrow books from other people again—you guys know who you are (lol). There are numerous titles—new and old—that I’m determined to read this year, if I could. I’d like to find those titles and actually dig into them soon. I can’t wait!
What are you reading lately? Anything you think I should read?
Last week the biggest bookstore chain in Indonesia, Gramedia, hosted an online book sale on their website. I’d never bought anything from them online before, but the 20-50% offer got me hooked. With barely any expectations at all, I checked out what they had in store. It thrilled me to find so many amazing titles—some of which I’d been dying to own for so long—and incredible book covers in the store. The Indonesian book industry is certainly thriving and I’m very excited to dive deep into these local books again.
Long story short, I ended buying quite a few books from this site and today a couple of them have been thoroughly read. Without further ado, here’s what I’ve got.
Gadis Daun Jeruk
Rinda Maria Gempita
When I found out that one of my favourite local illustrators, Wickana Laksmi Dewi, designed a graphic novel, I was quickly intrigued. This is a bilingual, cute short tale of a girl who believes the old adage that says, “If you eat a fruit and swallows its seed, it’ll grown as a tree inside of you.” It’s a simple premise and one we can all relate to, which is why this story is so heartwarming and incredibly cute at the same time. It’s a story about dreaming and not letting it go when you’ve grown older.
The book contains both the Indonesian and English version of the story, printed on opposite sides of it. Using only orange as the dominant colour and numerous blacks with pops of white, the illustrator captures the essence of the story perfectly.
Mantra Orang Jawa
Sapardi Djoko Damono
First spotted on Goodreads, this book caught my attention straight away. At first I mistook the author as the one who wrote a different piece, but it turns out to be someone else—I’m sorry for all fans of Mr. Darmono. Normally, I wouldn’t be into poetry, but if I had to choose, I’d rather have conservative poems to modern poetry anytime of the day. I feel like modern poetry is stripped off its rules, which leaves it quite bare and unruly in my eyes—and ears. Conservative poetry, often deeply entrenched in culture, holds more weight for me. Thankfully, this book is one of those.
Other than that, the cover got me hooked, with the gorgeous blue as the chosen colour for batik and the beautiful silhouette of a man wearing blangkon, with textures of scrunched up paper on it.
Sorgum
Ever since I discovered sorghum at a bulk grocery store, I was intrigued to find out about this grain. I thought, at first, that it is imported like so many harvested goods in this country—ironic I know. Then I saw it mentioned in an instagram post by Saya Pilih Bumi.
Apparently, it is deeply rooted in Indonesian history and the multitude of tribal cultures across the archipelago. Then how come I’ve never heard of it before? Not once in my 27 years of life did it ever make its way to conversation or even into our curriculum at school. This piqued my interest so much, that when I saw this book on sale—with its beautifully designed cover—I grabbed it without much thought. Let’s find out how sorghum plays a role in Indonesian culture and history, shall we?
Bonus Book: Agung’s purchase
Unbranding
What a title, am I right? It caught my eye instantly too—and, apparently, mine wasn’t the only one. Truth be told, I’ve never heard of the authors, Scott and Alison Stratten, so I don’t really have much expectations for their work. However, I do hope that this book will be groundbreaking, to say the least. Is that a tall order? It is just so close to my professional life right now that I feel it could really be useful for me. Fingers crossed, you know. I’ll have to pry it off Agung’s hands first, of course.
This year, truth be told, I haven’t had much chance to do some reading. Work and thesis project have been keeping me incredibly busy and on my toes everyday. As you might know, from my instagram post at the end of January, I barely had enough time to update my social media.
We’re coming to a close on the thesis project right now, though, so I might have time again to indulge in my hobbies. I’m very excited to borrow books from other people again—you guys know who you are (lol). There are numerous titles—new and old—that I’m determined to read this year, if I could. I’d like to find those titles and actually dig into them soon. I can’t wait!
What are you reading lately? Anything you think I should read?