Galeri Buku offers good, cheap books
Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Tucked away in the far right corner of the Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) arts center on Jl. Cikini Raya in Central Jakarta, many people overlook the small bookstore selling both classic and new books at affordable price.
The modest bookstore, called Galeri Buku Bengkel Deklamasi, often packed with art and film students from the Jakarta Institute of the Arts (IKJ), is overshadowed by the movie theater, the planetarium and sidewalk cafes inside the arts center.
But for those searching for English or Indonesian works of fiction and nonfiction, both classic and contemporary, poems or scripts, used and new, the bookstore is worth a visit.
"I've had a passion for collecting books since the 1970s, and I've traveled to a lot of places just to find interesting and difficult-to-find literature," artist and poet Jose Rizal Manua, the owner of the bookstore, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He recalled when he used to travel to Bandung and Yogyakarta just to visit book fairs there.
"I went to Palasari in Bandung and Shopping Center in Yogyakarta to find rare books that I couldn't find anywhere else," Jose, the founder of Teater Tanah Air, said.
Then, in 1988, he had the chance to go to the United States with the famous Indonesian poet W.S. Rendra. There, he said, he saw used bookstores of the kind that did not exist in Indonesia.
When he returned home, he talked to TIM's management about his idea of opening a used bookstore for college students to find books that were difficult to locate and no longer sold.
On April 27, 1996, the bookstore was officially opened in the TIM complex, which is a popular hangout for artists and college students.
A customer, Andono Ahmad, said that he heard about the bookstore from a friend, who told him he had to visit.
"My friend told me that I could find just about any kind of books here, and at much lower prices," said the 28-year-old civil servant.
Another visitor, Olivia Ruslan, said she first happened upon the bookstore by accident.
"I found out about this place a couple of years ago when there was a movie festival at TIM. At the time, I was trying to find interesting stores nearby, and I found the bookstore."
The 29-year-old editor was surprised to find lots of classic literature that she did not see in other bookstores. "And the books were sold at lower prices."
Not all of the books are in perfect condition, but with prices as low as Rp 2,000 (24 US cents) it is easy to overlook the condition of the books as long as they are still readable.
So, as Olivia put it, the next time you want to quench your thirst for good reading, drop by the Galeri Buku in TIM.