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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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...
Pachinko
Lee, Min Jin.
Paper Book
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 Apple TV+.  In the early 1900s, teenaged Sunja, the adored...
Free food for millionaires
Lee, Min Jin.
Digital file
Casey Han's four years at Princeton gave her many things, "But no job and a number of bad habits." Casey's parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold on to their culture and their identity. Their daughter, on the other hand, has entered...
Moon pops
Paek, Hu?i-na
Paper Book
A witty, weird, and wonderful spin on a classic Korean folktale, the first picture book to be published in English by internationally acclaimed Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award winner Heena Baek "Whimsically varied perspectives and the unusual depth of field offered by Baek's technique make...
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...

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