Kalau saya hanya boleh mengutip satu buku saja dari beberapa buku yang saya baca tahun ini, maka mau tidak mau saya akan hanya bisa mengutip bagian terakhir dari buku berjudul “The Humans” karya Matt Haig. Kenapa? Karena di bagian ketiga buku ini, Matt Haig membuat daftar bertajuk “Advice for a Human” sebanyak 97 poin. Saya menyebutnya sebagai manifesto kehidupan.

Kalau beberapa poin terkesan seperti ‘menggurui’, mungkin itu memang disengaja oleh penulisnya. Lagi pula, poin-poin ini masih sesuai dengan sudut pandang karakter utama yang menjadi narator novel ini, yaitu “seorang” alien yang datang ke bumi, menyamar menjadi profesor dengan jenis kelamin laki-laki. Kedatangan alien ke muka bumi untuk, seperti tipikal cerita fiksi ilmiah kebanyakan, menghancurkan kehidupan umat manusia. Namun dalam penyamarannya, alien ini malah takjub dengan flawed characteristics of human beings, dan jatuh cinta dengan cara manusia menjalani kehidupannya.

Kalau terdengar klise, memang novel ini klise. Tidak ada yang baru. Tapi bukan berarti hal itu menjadikan novel ini tidak layak baca. Justru sebaliknya. Bab demi bab dihadirkan dengan mulus dalam jalan penceritaan, membuat kita susah berpaling. Seperti layaknya buku cerita yang baik, dengan mudah kita jatuh cinta pada karakter utama, dan rela mengikuti perjalanan beratus-ratus halaman, sampai di bagian akhir.

Kalau tidak percaya, baca saja beberapa poin dari bab “Advice for a Human” di buku “The Humans” ini:

[one] Shame is a shackle. Free yourself.

[two] Don’t worry about your abilities. You have the ability of love. That is enough.

[four] Technology won’t save humankind. Humans will.

[five] Laugh. It suits you.

[nine] Sometimes, to be yourself you will have to forget yourself and become something else.

[eleven] Sex can damage love but love can’t damage sex.

[fifteen] The road to snobbery is the road to misery. And vice versa.

[twenty-two] Don’t worry about being angry. Worry when being angry becomes impossible. Because then you have been consumed.

[twenty-four] New technology, on Earth, just means something you will laugh at in five years. Value the stuff you won’t laugh at in five years. Like love. Or a good poem. Or a song. Or the sky.

[thirty] Don’t aim for perfection. Evolution, and life, only happen through mistakes.

[thirty-seven] Don’t always try to be cool.The whole universe is cool. It’s the warm bits that matter.

[forty-one] Your brain is open. Never let it be closed.

[forty-four] You have the power to stop time. You do it by kissing. Or listening to music. Music, by the way, is how you see things you can’t otherwise see.

[forty-six] A paradox: The things you don’t need to live – books, art, cinema, wine and so on – are the things you need to live.

[fifty-one] Alcohol in the evening is very enjoyable. Hangovers in the morning are very unpleasant. At some point you have to choose: evenings or mornings.

[fifty-three] Don’t ever be afraid of telling someone you love them. There are things wrong with your world, but an excess of love is not one.

[fifty-eight] It is not the length of life that matters. It’s the depth.

[sixty-one] One day, if you get into a position of power, tell people this: Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should. There is a power and a beauty in unproved conjectures, unkissed lips, and unpicked flowers.

[sixty-five] Don’t think you know. Know you think.

[seventy-three] No one will understand you. It is not, ultimately, that important. What is important is that you understand you.

[seventy-five] Politeness is often fear. Kindness is always courage. But caring is what makes you human. Care more, become more human.

[eighty-two] If you think something is ugly, look harder. Ugliness is just a failure of seeing.

[ninety-five] Be kind to your mother. And try to make her happy.

[ninety-seven] I love you. Remember that.

Wow. There you go.

Bahkan saya sempat gemetaran sendiri saat menulis ulang poin-poin di atas. Padahal buku ini selesai saya baca di bulan Juni, namun efeknya masih terasa sampai sekarang.

Demikian juga dengan buku-buku lain yang membuat saya tersenyum sendiri saat membacanya, yaitu “Less” karya Andrew Sean Greer dan “Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies” karya Michael Ausiello. Bahkan judul kedua membuat saya diam-diam menitikkan air mata, walaupun sambil tersenyum.
Kok bisa?

Baca saja sendiri, ya. Mumpung cukup banyak waktu luang di akhir tahun.

Selamat membaca!

PS: Apa buku kesukaan Anda tahun ini?