A Balinese Book Exchange
Recently I travelled through the fine island of Bali, staying in a variety of hotels all surrounded by lush gardens and smiling people. At every new place, I’d wander into the reception and discover the same thing: a book exchange - a few shelves dedicated to the travelling person, bereft of reading. With an almost pathological urge I would find myself scanning the books held within these shelves, pondering who the travellers were that had been and gone, imagining them simply by what they had left behind.
In Ubud - now well-known by literary lovers in Australia as the home of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival - I found an interesting collection of books and journals. There was a copy of Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap in German and a Stephen King book that was perfect for my son. I passed on my finished copy of Chris Womersley’s Cairo to a fellow reader from Brisbane who grew up in Melbourne in the 80’s, and in return received Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel. A more than fair exchange.
Up in the mountains of Bali where many travellers go in search of yoga retreats and waterfalls to swim in, I discovered books that were of a more spiritual nature. Representing Australian authors was a range of Stephanie Dowrick’s titles, and there were also many books in German and Dutch all about breathing and being still. This mixed collection suited the travellers there I thought.
Down by the seaside where the water is warm and the cocktails have names like ‘Summer Fancy’ it seemed that the reading (and sharing) travellers fell neatly into three categories: trash magazines, romance of improbable nature and crime. There was Dick Francis, Jo Nesbo and Jackie Collins - as far as the eye could see and all available in a variety of languages.
Here, I fell back to my wonderful copy of Donna Tartt’s latest book,
(out in Australia soon). It’s a whopper of a book set mainly in New York and involves wintery days, and nights of intrigue, and some sadness. The depicted world, one of art and loss was the exact opposite of my present location, and the novel was perfect reading for long days broken only by cocktail hour.
I reckon the book exchange shelves in Bali show a few good things about humanity. Namely, reading actual books is still considered relaxing by many. And most importantly, sharing books is giving.