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span class="inline inline-left">Talented film producer, director and screenwriter Nia Dinata, 42, is a person with a talent for multi-tasking. Married with two children, Nia had accomplished several movies including Ca Bau Kan (The Courtesan) in 2002, Arisan! (The Gathering!) series in 2002 and 2011, Berbagi Suami (Love for Share) in 2006 as well as Long Road to Heaven in 2007.

Nia is currently working on a short movie which will be hosted on a website early next year, and she’s also working on a feature documentary film but she refuses to reveal the titles of her upcoming film projects. Nia loves to read two or three books of different genres in a day and is happy to share her thoughts on that!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I love anything by Jane Austen but my all time favorite is Pride and Prejudice. One of my friends from England, who happens to be a filmmaker, once said that my film Arisan 2! is so Pride and Prejudice but in a modern way.

Like Austen’s work, the film also portrays social classes in our society where people tend to judge each other.  When you read the book, yes, you can get carried away by her style of writing, but Pride and Prejudice is actually a social commentary from a woman’s view in Austen’s era. I do admit that I was probably influenced by the novel because it is a book that read in high school.

Osho: Living Dangerously by Osho

I’m a fan of the spiritual teacher from the US, Osho. He has this radical spiritual thought for his era. I really love this book because we are living in a stressful Jakarta with its infamous traffic jams.

 Whenever I need peace of mind while I am in the car, I just simply pick up his book.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

This is a pleasing and fun novel that I’m currently reading by a Canadian author. The story is about Indian boy named Piscine Molitor Patel — the namesake of a swimming pool in France. Because of his challenging name, the boy changes his name to Pi.

Pi’s father owns a zoo in Pondicherry, India, and he is sent off to Canada for his education. I started to read this during the Idul Adha holiday. It is a really amazing book because it’s adventurous, full of dreams and a bit surreal. I heard that the novel is going to be made in to a movie.

— Niken Prathivi