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rabbing public attention through her performances in TV series Kiamat Sudah Dekat (Doomsday Is Near) and Para Pencari Tuhan (God Seekers) in the early 2000s, actress Zaskia Adya Mecca, 24, is now a screen sweetheart.

Besides TV series, Zaskia also had notable roles in Ayat-ayat Cinta (Verses of Love, 2007) and Sang Pencerah (The Enlightener, 2010). Her latest appearance was in Para Pencari Tuhan last Ramadhan.

After having her first daughter, Kanna Sybilla Bramantyo, in October 2010, Zaskia stepped back from soap operas and TV series to devote her full attention to raising Kanna and supporting her husband, filmmaker Hanung Bramantyo, in producing movies.

To enrich her acting skills, Zaskia often reads novels or biographies.

“I really love to read. My first love of reading was cultivated by Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden,” Zaskia told The Jakarta Post recently. “I had it when I was in seventh grade. It was indeed a bit vulgar for me at that time, but I was really blown away by Golden’s writing.”

In terms of biographies, Zaskia found reading former president Sukarno’s biography Penyambung Lidah Rakyat (Mouthpiece of the Indonesian People) by American author Cindy Adams to be particularly exciting. Following its debut in 1971, the biography was republished in 2007.

These days, Zaskia said that she reads more entertaining novels, such as those from English author Sophie Kinsella. “I have them all, from Confessions of a Shopaholic to I’ve Got Your Number.”

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

I don’t know what made me interested in reading this novel, but afterward I kept looking for this kind of book whenever I went the bookstore. I was crazy about this book.

Penyambung Lidah Rakyat by Cindy Adams

Adams did a good job of describing Bung Karno’s feelings: his shyness, anger and sadness. It really flows, just like a novel.

Adams made readers understand that Sukarno was also a human being through this biography by describing his feelings. I saw a more humane Bung Karno in this book, not only “the big man”. I really like how fluently Adams was able to tell the real story through her writing.

Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella

I don’t like reading books that are popular at the time I’m reading them. So, when people were all about Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic, I picked the less-popular Can You Keep A Secret?

— Niken Prathivi