Balada 11 Murid, Seorang Guru dan Sekolah Reot

SETELAH serial Lupus karya Hilman Hariwijaya pada dekade 80'an, baru kali ini ada lagi fiksi yang ditulis anak muda meledak di pasaran. Laskar Pelangi, judul pertama dari tetralogi yang dikarang Andrea Hirata, mengalami cetak ulang hingga delapan kali.


Empat halaman awal bukunya memasang puja-puji dari komentar manis 25 orang. Sejak Prof Dr Ahmad Syafi'i Maarif hingga Febi Liana. Mulai majalah Tempo sampai tabloid Indigo.

Tapi bagaimana caranya menjadi anggota Laskar Pelangi? ...sore yang dingin setelah hujan lebat, saat pelangi melingkar dan guruh bersahut-sahutan membahana di atas langit Belitung Timur, seseorang mengucapkan janji persaudaraan sebagai anggota Laskar Pelangi (halaman 359).

Novel ini menyajikan metafora habis-habisan tentang tingkah-polah sebelas anak Belitung yang sekolah sejak di SD lalu SMP Muhammadiyah. Narasinya ramai dengan kata-kata "seperti, laksana, bak, seolah, bagaikan" yang memang jadi kekuatan kelas kata metafor dalam tata bahasa.

Dari kesebelas tokoh, novelisnya memilih Ikal sebagai "aku-liris" penyampai cerita. Ceritanya mengenai persahabatan, kebersamaan, rasa takut, sedih, kegembiraan, persatuan.

Membaca novel ini seperti mengingat semangat petualang Greenpeace yang tengah mengembara di atas kapal Rainbow Warrior. Bagi yang pernah menginjakkan kaki ke Belitung, keindahan Pulau Timah itu tergambar bahkan secara bombastis.

Empat bab terakhir, Hirata menggoreskan penanya secara meliuk-liuk lampai laksana nyiur melambai, menghadirkan nuansa dan sirat-siratan hebat ke benak pembaca.

Setelah tetralogi Pramoedya Ananta Toer, inilah pengarang cemerlang yang melemparkan ke wajah pendidikan negeri ini: sebuah kenyataan miris, bahwa tidak ada korelasi kognitif yang positif antara orang cerdas dan nama besar.

Kepintaran Lintang, si anak nelayan Belitung yang mengayuh sepeda sejauh 40 kilometer menempuh jarak rumah-sekolah, ternyata terus mengendap abadi dalam keterpurukan nasib buruk yang miskin. Yang paling memilukan, ada berjuta-juta orang seperti dia hidup hari ini di Indonesia bukannya di selembar halaman buku fiksi.

Laskar Pelangi memberi pelajaran untuk kita dengan sama konyolnya ketika menamatkan novel impor Forest Gump. Sementara prinsip pendidikan Indonesia mulai terbang tinggi ke awang-awang bagai layang-layang putus

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New Novel James Bond in 2008

James Bond will soon be back in bookstores. "Devil May Care," a novel written by British author Sebastian Faulks and authorized by the estate of the late Ian Fleming, is due to come out in 2008, the centennial of Fleming's birth. According to the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, "Devil May Care" is set during the Cold War and, like so many Bond adventures, moves about a variety of scenic locales.

"My novel is meant to stand in the line of Fleming's own books, where the story is everything," Faulks, whose books include "Birdsong," "Charlotte Gray" and the upcoming "Engleby," said in a statement issued Tuesday by Doubleday.

"In his house in Jamaica, Ian Fleming used to write a thousand words in the morning, then go snorkeling, have a cocktail, lunch on the terrace, more diving, another thousand words in the late afternoon, then more martinis and glamorous women. In my house in London, I followed this routine exactly, apart from the cocktails, the lunch and the snorkeling."

Fleming, who died in 1964, wrote such favorites as "Goldfinger," "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love." Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore are among those who have played the debonair secret agent on screen.

The Bond series has continued over the past 40 years, with Kingsley Amis and John Gardner among those writing stories. Corinne Turner, managing director of Ian Fleming Publications Limited, said Faulks was ideal for the job.

"We had him in mind for our centenary novel for quite some time. He has an ability to write convincingly in whichever period or genre he chooses, and his novel 'On Green Dolphin Street' in particular made me think he might enjoy exploring the world of Ian Fleming and James Bond," Turner said in a statement.

"We gave a sneak preview of the manuscript to Barbara Broccoli (daughter of Bond film producer Albert Broccoli), who said if I had told her the family had found an old manuscript of Ian's in the basement she would have believed me. Sebastian couldn't have written a better book to celebrate Ian's 100th birthday."

Film rights have not yet been sold, Doubleday said.

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Sang Musafir (Novel Mohamad Sobary )

Dalam novel ini Sobary bicara soal "absurditas". Baginya, dunia sosial memiliki struktur yang tampak teratur, pola-polanya mudah dibaca, aturan-aturannya jelas, seperti dalam birokrasi kantor, tapi jalan hidup manusia tak selalu setia pada garis yang ditentukan struktur sosial.

Ada garis hidup yang tak terbaca mata dan hati kita, tapi berkuasa dan sangat menentukan. Dan itu yang baginya selalu menjadi kejutan-kejutan kecil yang keindahannya tak mudah dimengerti. Tak mengherankan ia pun selalu bertanya dan memperoleh jawaban yang lebih merupakan pertanyaan-pertanyaan baru yang membuatnya makin penasaran.

Inilah pertanyaan Sobary: Aku mungkin hanya musafir iseng tak punya tujuan? Apa yang kucari? Aku terpenjara oleh kantor, oleh keluarga, oleh orangtua dan mertua, oleh istri dan anak-anak. Tapi siapa bilang aku tak terpenjara oleh nafsuku sendiri, dan kecenderungan-kecenderungan sok mengejar apa yang abadi, tapi tak sadar telah kandas di atas segala yang fana?

Harga : Rp 40.000,-
Ukuran : 13.5 x 20 cm
Tebal : 272 halaman
Terbit : Agustus 2007
Soft Cover

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The King Of Horror

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of over 200 stories including over 50 bestselling horror and fantasy novels. King was the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

King evinces a thorough knowledge of the horror genre, as shown in his nonfiction book Danse Macabre, which chronicles several decades of notable works in both literature and cinema. He has also written stories outside the horror genre, including the novella collection Different Seasons, The Green Mile, The Eyes of the Dragon, Hearts in Atlantis and his magnum opus The Dark Tower series. In the past, Stephen King has written under the pen names Richard Bachman and (once) John Swithen.


King attended Durham Elementary School and Lisbon Falls High School. As a young boy, King was an avid reader of EC's horror comics including Tales from the Crypt, which provided the genesis for his love of horror. His screenplay for Creepshow would later play tribute to the comics. When in school, he wrote stories based on movies he had seen, copying them with a mimeo machine his brother used to publish a newspaper, Dave's Rag, to which King contributed. King sold the stories to friends, but his teachers disapproved and forced him to return his profits.

His first published story was "In a Half-World of Terror" (retitled from "I Was a Teen-Age Grave-robber"), published in a horror fanzine issued by Mike Garrett of Birmingham, Alabama.

From 1966 to 1971, King studied English at the University of Maine at Orono, where he wrote a column entitled "King's Garbage Truck" for the student newspaper, the Maine Campus. He met Tabitha Spruce there; they married in 1971. The campus period in his life is readily evident in the second part of Hearts in Atlantis, and the odd jobs he took on to pay for his studies, including one at an industrial laundry, would later inspire stories such as "The Mangler" and the novel "Roadwork"(as Richard Bachman).

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English and a certificate to teach high school, King taught English at Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. He and his family lived in a trailer, and he wrote short stories, most for men's magazines, to help make ends meet. As Carrie's introduction relates, if one of his kids got a cold, Tabitha would joke, "Come on, Steve, think of a monster."King also developed a drinking problem which would stay with him for over a decade.
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Hardcover Fiction Best Seller Version New York Times

1. THE QUICKIE, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) A police officer’s attempt to get back at her husband, whom she suspects of cheating on her, goes dangerously awry.
2. HIGH NOON, by Nora Roberts. (Putnam, $26.95.) A hostage negotiator must face down her unknown stalker.
3. A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, by Khaled Hosseini. (Riverhead, $25.95.) A friendship between two women in Afghanistan against the backdrop of 30 years of war.
4. LEAN MEAN THIRTEEN, by Janet Evanovich. (St. Martin’s, $27.95.) The New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum becomes a suspect when her ex-husband disappears.
5. BUNGALOW 2, by Danielle Steel. (Delacorte, $27.) A writer must deal with the effects of Hollywood success on her family life. 5 3
6. THE JUDAS STRAIN, by James Rollins. (Morrow, $25.95.) Sigma Force operatives trained in science search for the secret behind the re-emergence of an ancient plague.

7. DROP DEAD BEAUTIFUL, by Jackie Collins. (St. Martin’s, $24.95.) Lucky Santangelo’s preparations for the opening of a Las Vegas hotel complex are complicated by the reappearance of an old family foe.
8. THE BOURNE BETRAYAL, by Eric Van Lustbader. (Warner, $25.99.) Continuing the story of Robert Ludlum’s character Jason Bourne, who tangles with a group of diabolical Islamic terrorists.
9. DOUBLE TAKE, by Catherine Coulter. (Putnam, $25.95.) Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock — F.B.I. agents as well as husband and wife — join with a San Francisco colleague to solve a murder and find a missing woman.
10. PEONY IN LOVE, by Lisa See. (Random House, $23.95.) Love, death and ghosts in 17th-century China.
11. THE 6TH TARGET, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Detective Lindsay Boxer and the Women’s Murder Club investigate the disappearance of several children in San Francisco.
12. KILLER WEEKEND, by Ridley Pearson. (Putnam, $24.95.) A local sheriff must protect a presidential candidate from a would-be assassin.
13. THE NAVIGATOR, by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos. (Putnam, $26.95.) Kurt Austin and his team track down a stolen Phoenician statue.
14. BLAZE, by Richard Bachman. (Scribner, $25.) An early Stephen King novel — Bachman is his alias — here revised.
15. THE DOUBLE AGENTS, by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV. (Putnam, $25.95.) Another volume of the “Men at War” series about O.S.S. agents in World War II.
16. THE CHILDREN OF HÚRIN, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Illustrated by Alan Lee. (Houghton Mifflin, $26.) In Middle-earth, an evil lord wants to destroy his rival’s children.

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