Kemang's bookstore swaps used books for baskets

Kemang's bookstore swaps used books for baskets

JAKARTA (JP): There are few shops where you can swap books for baskets but the Maharani bookstore in the expatriate ghetto of Kemang is one. Opposite Chic's Mart on Jalan Kemang Selatan, South Jakarta, this hole-in-the-wall shop holds more than 3,000 secondhand books for sale, or swap.

Maharani's owner, Dewiyanti Elizabeth, also has a cane shop, so baskets line the footpath in front of the bookstore.

Sales assistant Esti Darmiati said the shop opened about three months ago. Since then Stephen King and Danielle Steele have been the most popular authors, although the Ann Rice novels looked like they had passed through more than a few hands.

Indeed most of the books are well-worn "airplane"-type novels (Alistair Maclean, Tom Clancy, Barbara Cartland), with a few hardbacks, John Updikes and Jane Austens thrown in.

Voracious readers may rejoice, because once you've read the book you can take it back and get a 50 percent refund, or discount on the next book or basket you buy.

Most of the books are in English but there are a couple of shelves of books in German, Japanese, Dutch and Italian.

The books are generally half the recommended retail price and if you are looking for a particular book, Maharani can order it in.

If you want a place to off-load a heap of books before you leave the country, this is the place, but if you are after a quality read, happy hunting.

Maharani is open from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.

Other sources of secondhand books in Jakarta are the bar/restaurants along Jl. Jaksa, Central Jakarta, and the bookstalls at monthly meetings of women's organizations such as ANZA (Australian and New Zealand Association).

However, the few books found on Jalan Jaksa are for the English-deprived only as the choice is poor and the books definitely have seen better days. (mlt)