Open Books Challenge 2026: Set in South Korea or by a South Korean Author

The Open Books Reading Challenge is a year-long reading challenge for people interested in pushing the boundaries of their reading. For full details of the program, please check-out our page at: https://www.rplmn.org/books-more/discover-more/open-books-reading-challenge

These are suggestions that fit the 2026 category "In honor of Rochester's Sister City in Siheung City, South Korea, read a book by a South Korean author, or set in South Korea."

Happy Reading!

Updated December 31, 2025
RPL Staff
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Nineteen
Angkko
Paper Book
"[Ancco's] stories liberate us to be what we are: friends, artists, monsters, mothers, human beings."-- The Globe and Mail At nineteen, the idea that you have your whole life ahead of you with endless possibilities can leave you terrifyingly stiff. Throwing...
I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki
Baek, Sehee
Paper Book
The New York Times bestselling therapy memoir translated by International Booker shortlistee Anton Hur. PSYCHIATRIST: So how can I help you? ME: I don't know, I'm-what's the word-depressed? Do I have to go into detail? Baek...
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Hwang, Po-rŭm
Paper Book
**AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER** WATERSTONES BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2023 PICK WOMAN & HOME NOVEMBER BOOK OF THE MONTH iPaper TOP FICTION PICK 'An absolutely charming novel that all bookworms will adore' Red
The good son
Jeong, You-Jeong
Paper Book
Kim Jiyoung, born 1982 = Palsip yi nyeon saeng Kim Jiyeong
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
A GUARDIAN 'ONE TO LOOK OUT FOR 2020'  A RED MAGAZINE 'CAN'T WAIT TO READ' BOOK OF 2020   THE MULTI-MILLION-COPY SELLING SOUTH KOREAN SENSATION THAT HAS GOT THE WHOLE WORLD TALKING Kim Jiyoung is a...
Miss Kim knows and other stories
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
FROM THE AUTHOR OF KIM JIYOUNG, BORN 1982 'There is laughter and joy to be found in these pages, along with the kind of laughter that sets two women over 50 rolling in the snow with tears streaming down their frozen cheeks and the aurora borealis dancing above them.' The...
Saha : a novel
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
In a country called Town, a doctor named Su is found dead in an abandoned car. There is only one place the police intend to look for her suspected killer: the Saha Estates. Controlled by a secretive organization of ministers, Town is the safest, richest nation in the world...
Solo leveling. 1
Chugong
Paper Book
Known as the Weakest Hunter of All Mankind, E-rank hunter Jinwoo Sung's contribution to raids amounts to trying not to get killed. Unfortunately, between his mother's hospital bills, his sister's tuition, and his own lack of job prospects, he has no choice but to continue to put his life on the line...
Cursed bunny
Chung, Bora
Paper Book
The Midnight Timetable
Chung, Bora.
Paper Book
Your utopia
Chung, Bora
Paper Book
In 'The Center for Immortality Research', a low-level employee runs herself ragged planning a fancy gala for donors, only to be blamed for a crime she witnessed during the event, under the noses of the mysterious celebrity benefactors hoping to live forever. But she can't be fired - no one can. In...
Seven years of darkness
Chŏng, Yu-jŏng
Paper Book
"You-Jeong Jeong is a certified international phenomenon . . . Genuinely surprising and ultimately satisfying . . . Seven Years of Darkness [bolsters] the case for Jeong as one among the best at writing psychological suspense." --Los Angeles Times NAMED A...
Grass
Gendry-Kim, Keum Suk
Paper Book
Appeared on best of the year lists from The New York Times, The Guardian, and more! Winner of The Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Print Comic of the Year! Grass is a powerful antiwar graphic novel, telling the life story of a Korean girl named Okseon Lee...
The naked tree
Gendry-Kim, Keum Suk
Paper Book
A delicate, timeless, and breathtaking coming-of-age classic, reimagined Critically acclaimed and award-winning cartoonist Keum Suk Gendry-Kim returns with a stunning addition to her body of graphic fiction rooted in Korean history. Adapted from Park Wan-suh's beloved novel,...
The waiting
Gendry-Kim, Keum Suk
Paper Book
The story begins with a mother's confession...sisters permanently separated by a border during the Korean War Keum Suk Gendry-Kim was an adult when her mother revealed a family secret: She had been separated from her sister during the Korean War. It's not an uncommon story--the...
The mermaid from Jeju : a novel
Hahn, Sumi
Paper Book
A POPSUGAR Best Book of December 2020 An AMAZON Editors Pick December 2020 A SHE READS Best Historical Fiction Novel Winter 2021 A BUSTLE Most Anticipated Winter 2021 Read A LIBRO.FM Influencer Pick, December 2020 Inspired by true events on Korea's Jeju Island...
Greek lessons : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE   "[Han Kang's] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life."--The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize   NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE * A...
Human acts : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
From the internationally bestselling author of The Vegetarian, a "rare and astonishing" (The Observer) portrait of political unrest and the universal struggle for justice. In the midst of a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is...
The vegetarian : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE "[Han Kang's] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life."--The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ...
We do not part : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD, THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, AND THE NBCC BARRIOS BOOK IN TRANSLATION PRIZE
The white book
Han, Kang
Paper Book
From the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian comes a stunning meditation on the colour white; about light, about death and about ritualFrom the winner of the Man Booker International Prize for The VegetarianBoth the most autobiographical and...
Umma's table
Hong, Yeon-sik
Paper Book
The joy of food and tradition unites a family faltering in the face of illness and loss Madang is an artist and new father who moves to a quiet home in the countryside with his wife and young baby, excited to build a new life full of hope and joy, complete with a garden and...
Mater 2-10
Hwang, Sŏg-yŏng
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE International Booker-nominated virtuoso Hwang Sok-yong is back with another powerful story--an epic tale that threads together a century of Korean history. In contemporary Seoul, a laid-off worker stages a months-long sit-in atop a...
The cabinet
Kim, ?n-su
Paper Book
Winner of the Munhakdongne Novel Award, South Korea's most prestigious literary prize. Cabinet 13 looks exactly like any normal filing cabinet...Except this cabinet is filled with files on the 'symptomers', humans whose strange abilities and bizarre experiences might just mark...
I'm waiting for you : and other stories
Kim, Bo Young
Paper Book
"Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art itself. Reminiscent of the world we experienced in Matrix, Inception, and Dark City, still it leads us to this entirely original structure, which is a ground-breaking, mystic literary and cinematic experience. Indeed, powerful and graceful....
Concerning my daughter
Kim, Hye-jin
Paper Book
Winner of the Shin Dong-yup Prize for LiteratureKim Hye-Jin's incendiary, internationally bestselling debut confronts familial love, duty, mortality, and generational schism through the sharp gaze of a tradition-bound mother faced with her daughter's queer relationship.When a mother allows...
How we share cake
Kim, Hyo-Å­n
Paper Book
From the creator of multi-award-winning I Am the Subway.  A Kirkus Best of 2024 A 2024 Horn Book Fanfare ★ "[A] sweetly hilarious tale" --Kirkus Reviews ★ "clever, humorous" --Horn Book Review ★ "delicious" --Shelf Awareness ...
Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat
Jiyun, Kim.
Paper Book
Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat is a place where the extraordinary stories of ordinary residents unfold. Situated at the heart of rapidly gentrifying district of Seoul, it's a haven of peace and reflection for many locals.And when a notebook is left behind there, it becomes a place that...
Beasts of a little land
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
City of night birds : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK "This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks and redefine what truly matters." - Reese Witherspoon (Reese's Book Club December '24 Pick) A once-famous ballerina faces a final choice--to return to the world of Russian dance that nearly broke...
Blood of the old kings
Kim, S ng-il (Science fiction writer)
Paper Book
Named a Best Fantasy Book of the Year by NPR, Amazon, Paste, and Book Riot! From award-winning Korean author Sung-il Kim & translated by the world-renowned Anton Hur, Blood of the Old Kings begins an epic journey unlike any other. There is no...
Blood for the Undying Throne
Kim, Sung-Il.
Paper Book
Sarinja ŭi kiŏkpŏp : Kim Yŏng-ha changp'yŏn sosŏl
Kim, Young-ha
Paper Book
The old woman with the knife
Gu, Byeong-mo
Paper Book
Lemon
Kwŏn, Yŏ-sŏn
Paper Book
New York Times Book Review: Editor's Choice  Philadelphia Inquirer: Best Book of the Month   World Literature Today: Notable Translation of the Year   CrimeReads: Best International Crime Novel of the Year Ms. Magazine:...
Brother's keeper
Lee, Julie (Children's fiction writer)
Paper Book
With war looming on the horizon and winter setting in, can two children escape North Korea on their own? WINNER OF THE FREEMAN BOOK AWARD! North Korea. December, 1950. Twelve-year-old Sora and her family live under an iron set of rules: No travel without...
Pachinko
Lee, Min Jin
Paper Book
One of the New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century In this New York Times bestseller, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan-the inspiration for the television series on...
Free food for millionaires
Lee, Min Jin.
Paper Book
The brilliant debut novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Pachinko.'Ambitious, accomplished, engrossing... As easy to devour as a nineteenth-century romance.' NEW YORK TIMESCasey Han's years at Princeton have given her a refined diction, an enviable...
8 lives of a century-old trickster
Lee, Mirinae
Paper Book
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER'Captivating' New York Times'Dazzling' Financial Times'A cracking read' Historical Novel SocietySLAVE. ESCAPE-ARTIST. MURDERER. TERRORIST. SPY. LOVER. MOTHER. TRICKSTER.At the Golden Sunset retirement home, it is not...
The Columbia anthology of modern Korean poetry
McCann, David R.
Paper Book
Korea's modern poetry is filled with many different voices and styles, subjects and views, moves and countermoves, yet it still remains relatively unknown outside of Korea itself. This is in part because the Korean language, a rich medium for poetry, has been ranked among the most difficult for...
Walking practice : a novel
Min, Dolki
Paper Book
Squid Game meets The Left Hand of Darkness meets Under the Skin in this radical literary sensation from South Korea about an alien's hunt for food that transforms into an existential crisis about what it means to be human. After crashing their spacecraft in the middle of nowhere, a...
Magic candies
Paek, Hu?i-na
Paper Book
A quirky story about finding your voice, from internationally acclaimed author Heena Baek. Tong Tong could never have imagined what everyone around him was thinking. But when he gets hold of some magic candies, suddenly there are voices everywhere. He can hear how his couch feels,...
Snowglobe 2
Pak, So-yo?ng
Paper Book
The groundbreaking Korean phenomenon that Entertainment Weekly called "The Hunger Games meets Squid Game" continues with even more dark secrets and shocking surprises. The temperature is rising and the truth at the center of Chobahm's frozen world will be revealed in the...
Love in the big city : a novel
Park, Sang Young
Paper Book
A funny, transporting, surprising, and poignant novel that was one of the highest-selling debuts of recent years in Korea, Love in the Big City tells the story of a young gay man searching for happiness in the lonely city of Seoul Love in the Big City is the English...
Snowglobe
Park, Soyoung
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The groundbreaking Korean phenomenon that Entertainment Weekly called "The Hunger Games meets Squid Game"--now in English for the first time! A COSMOPOLITAN BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE YEAR * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST...
Violets
Sin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
I went to see my father : a novel
Sin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
An instant bestseller in Korea and the follow up to the international bestseller, Please Look After Mom; centering on a woman's efforts to reconnect with her aging father, uncovering long-held family secrets. Two years after losing her daughter in a tragic accident,...
At dusk
Sok-yong, Hwang.
Paper Book
Facing a corruption investigation, and in the twilight of his life, a wealthy man begins to re-examine all. Park Minwoo is, by every measure, a success story. Born into poverty in a miserable neighborhood of Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in a rapidly modernizing society. Now...
Almond : a novel
Son, W¿n-p'y¿ng
Paper Book
A BTS fan favorite! A WALL STREET JOURNAL STORIES THAT CAN TAKE YOU ANYWHERE PICK * ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY'S STAY HOME AND READ PICK * SALON'S BEST AND BOLDEST * BUSTLE'S MOST ANTICIPATED  The Emissary meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the...
I Decided to Live As Me : An Illustrated Checklist for How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others So You Can Learn to Love Yourself
Suhyun, Kim/ Hur, Anton (TRN)
Paper Book
The million-copy internationally bestselling illustrated life guide about how to stop comparing yourself to others--especially on social media--and how to find the strength to be yourself In a world where it can seem impossible to feel that you are ever good enough, and where it...
1439670-1001
XX(1439670.1)
Paper Book
From the acclaimed author of Beasts of a Little Land and City of Night Birds, an exquisite, globetrotting story collection about humans in precarious balance with the natural world Spanning multiple locales and epochs, and rendered in fine detail and vivid color, this transportive...
Broken summer : a novel
Yi, Ch ng-my ng (Novelist)
Paper Book
A death, a lie, a secret. For twenty-six summers he didn't have the courage to face the past. Lee Hanjo is an artist at the peak of his fame, envied and celebrated. Then, on his forty-third birthday, he awakens to find that his devoted wife has disappeared, leaving behind a soon-to...
Door
Yi, Chi-hy n (Illustrator)
Paper Book
A New York Times Editors' Choice Book! "This remarkable wordless picture book bursts with buoyant energy as a boy finds the key to a long-unopened door and makes his way from drabness to a joyful, magical land." --The New York Times Book Review What's...
Marilyn and me
Lee, Ji-min
Paper Book
'A beautifully woven page turner' Heather Morris, author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz A gripping and heartwrenching novel of damage and survival, grief and unexpected solace, Marilyn and Me is a fascinating - and timely - insight into an extraordinary time and place ...
The picture bride
Yi, KÅ­m-i
Paper Book
Winner of the Nautilus Award for Historical Fiction "Lee Geum-yi has a gift for taking little-known embers of history and transforming them into moving, compelling, and uplifting stories. The Picture Bride is the ultimate story of the power of friendship--a must read...
DallerGut Dream Department Store : the dream you ordered is sold out
Lee, Miye
Paper Book
|| THE NO.1 KOREAN BESTSELLER WITH OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD || 'These days I'm reading a book called DallerGut Dream Department Store and when they talk about the dream department store I can see it in my head. I imagine I'm shopping there as I read.'...
The Dallergut Dream-Making District : a novel
Yi, Mi-ye
Paper Book
Take a train ride to where dreams are made... It's been a year since Penny first walked through the doors of the Dallergut Dream Department Store, and surviving a year at the store means one thing... She is now an official employee of the dream industry! She can finally take the...
Close encounters with humankind : a paleoanthropologist investigates our evolving species
Yi, Sang-h i (Professor of anthropology)
Paper Book
What can fossilized teeth tell us about the life expectancy of our ancient ancestors? How did farming play a problematic role in the history of human evolution? How can simple geometric comparisons of skull and pelvic fossils suggest a possible origin to our social nature? And what do we truly...
My life as an internet novel
Yu, Han-ryeo
Paper Book
What happens when you're thrown into a fictional world...not as the main character, but as the main character's best friend? This Korean manhwa puts a twist on romance and proves that falling in love is more than just a trope. Every internet novel has the usual cast- a gorgeous...
Marigold Mind Laundry
Yun, Jungeun
Paper Book
Welcome to the Marigold Mind Laundry, where we wash away the stains from your heart. In this enchanting tale--a blockbuster bestseller in Korea--the enigmatic owner of a magical laundromat that erases people's painful memories must learn to find her own peace...
The disaster tourist : a novel
Yun, Ko-Å­n
Paper Book
This stunning "dystopian feminist eco-thriller" from an award-winning South Korean author "takes on climate change, sexual assault, greed, and dark tourism" (Ms. Magazine). Welcome to the desert island of Mui, where a paid vacation to paradise is nothing short of a...

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