Need friends with whom you can have a good chat about a new book, and maybe the coolest new movies too? Book-lovers' community Goodreads Indonesia (GRI) is the group with all this and more (although the karaoke is optional).
When book lover Rahmad Harun got a bit bored with the usual social networking sites on the Internet, he decided to try something new, and showed up at a book swap event held by Goodreads Indonesia on World Book Day last May.
GRI immediately caught the 24-year-old's interest - through the club he could meet people with similar interests with whom he could discuss hot new titles and review books.
He started to take part in more GRI events, and even started helping organize some of them.
"The best thing about joining GRI is that members can swap books with each other," Harun told the Sunday Post recently.
Each book lover is encouraged to bring a few books (usually two or three) to a meeting, which can be swapped for other books or donated to local libraries.
Amang Suramang, a GRI moderator, told the Sunday Post that book swapping was one way to get around the high prices of books.
Even though there are public libraries in some parts of the city, not every body knows about them, and even then, the lengthy bureaucratic procedures can create a headache for would-be borrowers.
Another GRI member, Suka Rezany or Echa, a secretary, said she did not mind lending her books to people she has never met before.
"It's not a big deal lending books to other people. I completely trust them because they are also book lovers and members of the group," the 26-year-old said.
"I believe they will treat my books as well as they treat their own collections. But I never lend my favorite books, the series of Trio Detektif *Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators* because I love them so much."
She said that she had lent her books to GRI members in Greater Jakarta, as well as those living in places outside the capital, including Surabaya in East Java and Padang in West Sumatra.
"I simply send the books through the post," she said. "So far, they *the borrowers* have always returned my books. I believe they always will."
Harun and Echa agreed that book swapping was definitely a cheap and practical way to get books to read without having to spend money.
GRI was established by writer and translator Femmy Syahrani in June 2007, and it is part of Otis Chandler's social networking site Goodreads.
As of the end of last year, GRI had more than 3,000 members across the country. Members are of all ages, and from various backgrounds and professions, among them scriptwriters, translators, auditors, secretaries and students.
Members are free to write and post book reviews (whether serious or fun) online; others can comment on the reviews.
But despite their love of books, the group's activities revolve around more than online book discussions; they also get together for events in the real world, including holding book discussions with writers, watching movies and going on culinary trips.
In mid-2008, for instance, the club, in collaboration with a publishing company and historical community Sahabat Museum (Museum's Friends), held an event called "Jelajah Rahasia Meede" (The Expedition of Meede's Secret), which was inspired by the book Rahasia Meede (Meede's Secret), written by local writer E.S. Ito.
The event was such a success the club decided to hold a second expedition.
In August 2009, GRI organized "Mencari Bintangmu di Langit" (Looking for Your Stars in the Sky), with the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), to which they invited 200 high school students to discuss a book and watch a movie.
For members who like a little sing along, some GRI members have even organized a regular karaoke night, starting last year.
GRI members also involve themselves in some humanitarian programs, donating books to a number of libraries in the capital and organizing tributes for senior local writers such as Nh Dini and RA Kosasih.
Recently, they donated stationery and hundreds of kilograms of books to help the earthquake victims in Padang.
GRI plans to hold a readers' festival where Jakarta's readers can display their book collections or even sell them.
Interested in joining GRI? Email goodreads.indonesia@gmail.com or log on to http://bacaituseru.blogspot.com or http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/345.Indonesia
