World Book Day
Today is World Book Day.
Someone asked me once, how come upon interviewing Indonesians about their reading as their hobby, he was told that they read comics? For him reading means reading proper books, not comics. U told me once, for him reading is not a hobby, it's like breathing, a must.
I guess culture plays role in this. In Indonesia, our oral tradition is still strong, most people prefers to talk than write, to listen to stories than reading them, coupled that to the condition where not everyone is literate, and the difficulty gaining access to public libraries, or just to get books for that matter.
I wish Indonesian government did what Indian government did. They publish cheap foreign (text)books, it help students across the nation. Giving tax exemption on books is a must, they still put tax on ours. Books in general, and imported books in particular are expensive in Indonesia. I find it even more expensive than in NL, and I kept complaining about it back then! At least back in NL I could get cheaper ones from Bol.com, Proxis.nl, Amazon.nl or Boeken beurs. Right now, when I buy books online, I need to ship it to my friends or family abroad who bring it to me on their vacation. Why not sending it straight to Indonesia? It's because I keep losing my mails from abroad, not all of them, but there some important ones that I've never received to this day from 2008/2009! I dont want to gamble on it.
There is a trend of emerging writers in Indonesia, which is encouraging to see. Some of them are bloggers. However, if you live in small town, it is still not easy getting their books other than school books. I was in Metro, Lampung last year for a while, and I cant recall seeing a bookshop like the one I saw in a much smaller town of NL such as Heiloo.
So, the trend is there, I just hope the government supports it even more. Reading's by far a much healthier addiction than any other addiction I've known.
5 comments:
Wow. This is my soft spot.Reading is a healthy addiction indeed. Good for developing both the right and left part of the brain.
I'm very interested in young Indonesian authors who are writing their blogs in English and/or have their books translated and published in that language. If you can give me some hints..??
Also I did experience the flaws of postal services. Recently a book and a DVD went missing in action on its way to an address in Indonesia.
But if I ever can do you a favor with some book I can lay hands on here, I gladly will send it to you as a present ( Booklovers should help each other).
Wow, thank you for the offer.
As for bloggers/books in English. Hmm..all bloggers publish their books in Indonesian, with no translation. Even if they also have blog in English such as http://miund.wordpress.com/. http://afeministblog.blogspot.com/ is interesting, but she hasnt published any book to my knowledge.
I like Andrea Hirata's Laskar Pelangi, but you need to wait for the English version, they are working on it. There's Saman in Dutch by Ayu Utami. People says she's good, but I dont feel any connection with her writings.
There's this new book published in English by Erick Setiawan "of bees and mist" NYtimes said it was good. Too bad, I didnt find it here the last time I went to bookstores. Hope it helps
Thanks. Very much.
I've added both blogs ou mentioned to my favs. And I'm going to order "Of bees and mist" today.
Two of Ayu Utgami's translated novels (Saman and Larung) as well as "They say I'm a Monkey'( Djenar Maesa Ayu) are on my bookshelves. But I regret however that last five years I didn't read any new Indonesian novel.
The other day I sent A comics of Berny & Mice in English.
How do u like Saman & Larung? I didnt even finish Larung. What are you reading at this moment? I'm trying to read Carlos Ruiz Zafon's angel's game.
@ triesti:
Actually I liked Saman ( and to a lesser degree Larung) for it theme and crafwomanship - in spite of it's pretty tradional style and structure.
I just finished Jonathan Littel's "The Kindly Ones" (A huge, great yet inconvenient novel on the experiences at the Eastern front during WW II of a fictitious SS officer. Heavy, disturbing stuff.
I've just started to read a collection of essays - "Strawdogs" - by John Gray. And bought a paperback of Anuradha Roy's "An Atlas of Impossible Longing" which will be the next one.
I did love Carlos Ruiz Zafón's "The Shadow of the Wind", so I'm curious what your opinion on the "Angel's Game" is.
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