What Books Affect You the Most

The other day, I read about this subject on my timeline, tweeted by a dear friend. It was already so late, I didn’t respond anything, but it got me thinking and inspired to write about it.

When someone asks what my favorite books or authors are, I usually state Agatha Christie’s and Paulo Coelho’s. They wrote many books, I’ve read most and adore them. I always remember the excitement I felt from the moment I went to the bookstore, held the book, made the purchase, and got home to read it.

Of course, many other books gave me the same excitement too. ‘Harry Potter’, of course. ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, definitely. Mitch Albom’s books. In fact, there’re too many to name, it would no longer suitable to be called “the most”.

And then, I remember these books I read when I was not even ten years old yet. It was the Malory Towers book series by Enid Blyton. They were amazing. The story is about a fictional girl’s boarding school for the age of 12-18 (give or take). The main character is Darrell Rivers. She and her girlfriends are the best of characters. I learned about friendship, hard work, honesty, sacrifice, creativity, all from that book series, for the first time in my childhood life. Although now I don’t remember the stories anymore, but I still remember the way I feel when I was reading them. Amazed, happy, excited, furious, touched. Such a leisure. 

If I’m not mistaken, the price of Malory Towers series was around IDR 3,600 (Indonesian rupiah). I scrimped and saved out of my IDR 300/day allowance to buy them. It was the first book that encouraged me to save money. And that’s what I did subsequently, save some of my allowance to buy books. After Malory Towers, there were ‘The Three Investigators’ by Alfred Hitchcock (also a huge fan), ‘Five Find-Outers Mistery series’ (also by Enid Blyton) and so forth.

Other memorable books have given me knowledge, enlightenment and prudence so many times in so many ways. But it was Malory Towers that nurtured my passion for reading and writing in the first place. So, I’m gonna say that Malory Towers book set is the books that influence me the most. Malory Towers affected my life.

What’s yours?

Tenggelam dalam Harry Potter

Akirnyaah..Half-blood Prince edisi Indonesia paling irit (a.k.a softcover)keluar juga. And it was a beautiful 1.5 days reading it.
Sebenarnya dah agak lupa juga gimana rasanya jalan2 ke Hogwarts itu, berhubung jeda sejak jilid 5 lama banget. Kemaren jadi ngrasain lagi gimana menyenangkannya berfantasi bersama Harry Potter itu (sebenernya bersama Rowling c). Dan sejenak segala duka lara terlupakan..kqkqkq. Lupa seblomnya bete jadi jobseeker yang dah hampir sampe ke limit desperado. Lupa kalo seharusnya aku bete karena sms-ku ga dibales2 juga.
Wahh…singkat kata, Harry Potter is da best dah. Kita mungkin mengalami pencerahan, renaissance, aufklarung saat membaca buku tertentu. Ato merasa terketuk dan tersentuh oleh suatu teladan dan amal pada buku yang lain. Tapi when you wanna have fun and forget bout anything else, read Harry Potter! (At least it works for me)

Walo, kemaren sempet nangis juga c..waktu baca deskripsi indah Rowling saat pemakaman Dumbledore. (Aku sebenarnya tidak rela Dumbledore mati.. Apa jadinya Hogwarts tanpa Dumbledore? Tapi, mengingat tinggal 1 jilid lagi, yah mungkin kehilangan itu ga akan lama)

Dan yang kusesali lagi..ga ada adegan mesra Ron sama Hermione! Padahal tinggal 1 jilid lagi niy..

Hahaha… aneh c kalo dipikir betapa aku yang usianya udah beranjak ke barat ini, msh ambil pusing soal Harry Potter dan tetek bengeknya. (Termasuk penasaran soal casts movie selanjutnya, no more Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint n Emma Watson! Padahal dah terbiasa baca bukunya dengan mbayangin wajah2 mereka)
Well..I guess there’s always a piece of childhood inside every heart. And those who keep it alive, are those who’ll stay young.

Ga sabar nunggu jilid tujuuhh…!!!