Books from South Korea
72 popular south korean books
Travel the world without leaving your chair.
The target of the Read Around The World Challenge is to read at least one book written by an author from each and every country in the world.
All books that are listed here as part of the "Read Around Asia Challenge" were written by authors from South Korea.
Find a great book for the next part of your reading journey around the world from this book list. The following popular books have been recommended so far.
61.
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize From Booker Prize-winner and literary phenomenon Han Kang, a lyrical and disquieting exploration of personal grief, written through the prism of the color white While on a writer's residency, a nameless narrator wanders the twin white worlds of the blank page and snowy Warsaw. THE WHITE BOOK becomes a meditation on the color white, as well as a fictional journey inspired by an older sister who died in her mother's arms, a few hours old. The narrator grapples with the tragedy that has haunted her family, an event she colors in stark white-... continue
62.
Three Generations by Yom Sang-Seop EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Touted as one of Korea’s most important works of fiction, Three Generations (published in 1931 as a serial in Chosun Ilbo) charts the tensions in the Jo family in 1930s Japanese occupied Seoul. Yom’s keenly observant eye reveals family tensions withprofound insight. Delving deeply into each character’s history and beliefs, he illuminates the diverse pressures and impulses driving each. This Korean classic, often compared to Junichiro Tanizaki’s The Makioka Sisters, reveals the country’s situation under Japanese rule, the traditional Korean familial structure, and the battle between the modern ... continue
63.
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Tower is a series of interconnected stories set in Beanstalk, a 674-story skyscraper and sovereign nation. Each story deals with how citizens living in the hypermodern high-rise deal with various influences of power in their lives: a group of researchers have to tell their boss that a major powerbroker is a dog, a woman uses the power of the internet to rescue a downed fighter pilot abandoned by the government, and an out-of-towner finds himself in charge of training a gentle elephant to break up protests. Bae explores the forces that shape modern life with wit and a sly wink at the reader.
64.
True Beauty Volume Three by Yaongyi EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
From the smash hit WEBTOON comic comes a story about self-esteem, love, and learning to accept yourself for who you are. Once bullied for being perceived as ugly, young Jugyeong Lim uses online video tutorials to transform into a beautiful popular girl. Caught in a love triangle between a mystery man and a bad boy, Jugyeong navigates both high school and her personal life, while her self-esteem, romantic life and career are constantly in flux.In this third book of the series, we focus on Seojun, Suho and Seyeon. . . Three guys whose painful pasts are about to be revealed. The three S's! Best F... continue
65.
Untold Night and Day by Bae Suah EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
The day after her last shift at an audio theatre for the blind, Ayami guides a detective novelist through Seoul only to discover a frayed reality where the multiverse asserts itself, overlapping realities and potential outcomes before her eyes.
66.
Walking Practice : A Novel by Dolki Min EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
"The mere act of walking on the Earth is a challenge for our most unusual protagonist -- a shapeshifting, gender-bending alien. After crashing their spacecraft in the middle of nowhere, they find themself stranded on an unfamiliar planet, where gravity is a disabling force. They'll need to practice walking in the Earth's atmosphere to survive. And what better way to practice than hunt delicious humans? They chooses their prey, shifts their gender, appearance, and conduct based on the prey's sexual preference, only to attack at the pivotal moment of their encounter. They has found ways to adapt... continue
67.
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop : A Novel by Hwang Bo-reum EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
The Korean smash hit available for the first time in English, a slice-of-life novel for readers of Matt Haig's The Midnight Library and Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of AJ Fikry.
68.
Whale : SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE by Cheon Myeong-Kwan EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
** SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE ** A sweeping, multi-generational tale blending fable, farce, and fantasy--a masterpiece of modern fiction perfect for fans of One Hundred Years of Solitude Whale is the English-language debut of a beloved and bestselling South Korean author, a born storyteller with a cinematic, darkly humorous, and thoroughly original perspective. A woman sells her daughter to a passing beekeeper for two jars of honey. A baby weighing fifteen pounds is born in the depths of winter but named “Girl of Spring.” A storm brings down the roof of a ramshackle restaur... continue
69.
Years and Years by Jungeun Hwang EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
Three women--the old mother and her two daughters--contemplate their family life and their bottled-up feelings through the novel's placating yet oddly unnerving prose. Every Year is divided into four large chapters; the first unravels from the perspective of Sejin, younger daughter, the second from that of Youngjin, older daughter, the third from the mother's, and the fourth, back to Sejin's. Throughout the course of the novel, a number of themes are developed, including its discussion of interracial marriage, different forms of family, and sexual minorities. Circumstances and history forced t... continue
70.
Your Republic Is Calling You by Kim Young-ha EN
Country: Asia / South Korea
South Korea
Description:
This psychological thriller of a North Korean spy living in Seoul is “perhaps the most intriguing and accomplished Korean fiction yet to appear in English” (Kirkus). Foreign film importer Kim Ki-Yong is a family man with a wife and daughter. Living a prosperous life in Seoul, South Korea, he’s an aficionado of Heineken, soccer, and sushi. But he is also a North Korean spy who has been living among his enemies for twenty-one years. Then, after more than a decade of silence from the home office, he receives a mysterious email stating that he has one day to return to headquarters. But is the mess... continue