- sumur by eka kurniawan. this was the first printed short story i've read in a long time (i haven't touched them since my good old days of majalah bobo). sumur, though, was a pleasant one-sit journey. it mainly talks about tragedy, but the book doesn't really delve into the characters' sentiments—it treats each scene, event after event and incident after incident, merely as a property of chronology.
- hujan bulan juni: sebuah novel by sapardi djoko damono. i had heard a ton of good things about the book and its two main characters (slash lovebirds), sarwono and pingkan. i'm so glad i started reading this right after i finished my trip to the east of java, for my memories of the mainly-talked city was still really, really vivid. i could imagine the streets of solo and the nostalgic ambience of them while pingkan's mother talked so highly of the city, debating to herself whether or not she's still a jowo. and also, sar. he's the perfect representation of the characters that i love most: book-loving and so, so good at writing, but is not really friends with spoken words. both pingkan and sar love so beautifully—they're so contrasting, but they find their own way. it works.
jan 2 2022 ∞
jan 21 2022 +