T

he man behind the phenomenal Lupus novel series has ventured in writing scripts for a TV series and feature films in the past decade. Hilman Hariwijaya's latest work was an novelization of comedy drama flick Finding Srimulat.

Hilman has enjoyed reading since he was a child. Bobo children's magazine was his favorite. When he was in junior high school, Hai teen magazine was published and it soon became his favorite read as a teenager.

In 1978, his piece Bian, My Brother Who Never Existed, won a short story-writing contest held by Hai. In 1986, his first piece in the Lupus short story series was published, also in Hai. A year later Gramedia published his first Lupus book, Tangkaplah Daku, Kau Kujitak! (Catch Me, You'll be Slapped!).

The series went to sell more than 3.1 million copies. Here are some books that have special place in the 49-year-old's heart.

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

This series by the Swedish author was my inspiration to write Lupus. The stories were crazy and the characters in the books were ultimately wacky. The author had an incredibly high sense of humor. I laughed like crazy reading the books and I wanted to be able to write books that could make people laugh. I wanted to be like Lindgren and then Lupus was born.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien

I read the book when I was a junior high school student, quite a long time ago. I really like the fantasy world and the way the English author described the realm. It was as if I were in the Hobbit's world and was there when they slayed the dragon. It was over the top fantasy and I was amazed that anyone could have such imagination.

The Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I like detective stories, and Holmes is my favorite. I remember reading those books for the first time and tried my best to guess how the cases would end. I never got them right. Holmes has a peculiar way to solve problem and I think that is very interesting.

' Andreas D. Arditya