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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I want to die but I want to eat tteokbokki
Baek, Sehee
Paper Book
**THE SEQUEL I WANT TO DIE BUT I STILL WANT TO EAT TTEOKBOKKI OUT NOW** THE PHENOMENAL SUNDAY TIMES AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER | TRANSLATED BY INTERNATIONAL BOOKER SHORTLISTEE ANTON HUR 'Will strike a chord with anyone who...
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop: The Heart-Warming Korean Sensation
Bo-reum, Hwang
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
Ch ng, Yu-j ng
Paper Book
'For fans of Jo Nesbo and Patricia Highsmith' A. J. Finn, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window YOU WAKE UP COVERED IN BLOOD THERE'S A BODY DOWNSTAIRS YOUR MOTHER'S BODY YOU DIDN'T DO...
Kim Jiyoung, born 1982
Cho, Nam-ju
Paper Book
The multi-million copy selling, international bestseller Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is the South Korean sensation that has got the whole world talking. The life story of one young woman born at the end of the twentieth century raises questions about endemic misogyny and...
Human acts : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
A riveting, poetic and unrelentingly powerful work from the author of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize-winning novel The Vegetarian.
We do not part : a novel
Han, Kang
Paper Book
Beginning one morning in December, We Do Not Part traces the path of Kyungha as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to the home of her old friend Inseon. Hospitalized following an accident, Inseon has begged Kyungha to hasten there to feed her beloved pet bird,...
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 ritual
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
THE TIMES SCIENCE FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH 'Her fiction is a breath-taking piece of a cinematic art ... powerful and graceful' - Bong Joon-ho, Oscar-winning director of Parasite 'Dazzling' - The Times A stunning collection of short fiction by one of South Korea...
Concerning my daughter : a novel
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
We are three sisters and two brothers. This is a story about how we can't eat this cake alone. A new picture book by Kim Hyo Eun, author of I Am the Subway(2021 World Illustration Award and The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children's Books Award) Kim Hyo...
Blue sky morning
Kim, Jihyun (Illustrator)
Paper Book
Named a Best Book of 2025 by The Center for the Study of Multicultural Childrens Literature Eunny and Mama notice the beauty of an ordinary day in this mindful picture book from the creator of The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky. Eunny wakes up slowly. Soon it's time for...
Yeonnam-Dong's smiley laundromat
Kim, Jiyun
*THE HEARTWARMING KOREAN BESTSELLER* *A new book from Shanna Tan, translator of Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop* Situated at the heart of a rapidly gentrifying district of Seoul, the Yeonnam-dong Smiley Laundromat is a place where the...
Beasts of a little land : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
Winner of the Yasnaya Polyana Award * Finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize 'Unforgettable' Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, author of The Mountains Sing As the Korean independence movement gathers pace, two children meet on the streets of Seoul. Fate will bind them...
City of night birds : a novel
Kim, Juhea
Paper Book
'A novel that will be read and loved for the next one hundred years, and essential reading for right now. I could not have loved it more.' Coco Mellors, author of Blue Sisters 'This story left me thinking about the ways we overcome setbacks...
The old woman with the knife : a novel
Ku, Pyŏng-mo
Paper Book
Lemon
Kwŏn, Yŏ-sŏn
Paper Book
This is not a murder story. It is the story of those left behind. Parasite meets The Good Son in this piercing psychological portrait of three women haunted by a brutal, unsolved crime.In the summer of 2002, nineteen-year-old Kim Hae-on was murdered in what became known as the...
Pachinko
Lee, Min Jin
Paper Book
* The million-copy bestseller* * National Book Award finalist * * One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2017 * * Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club * 'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through...
8 lives of a century-old trickster : a novel
Lee, Mirinae
Paper Book
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER 'Captivating' New York Times 'Dazzling' Financial Times 'A cracking good read' Historical Novel Society SLAVE. ESCAPE-ARTIST. MURDERER. TERRORIST. SPY. LOVER. MOTHER....
Snowglobe 2
Pak, So-yo?ng
\"This fast-paced examination of reality television and surveillance ... boasts a cast of resourceful and morally gray teens and teems with anticipatory tension reminiscent of The Hunger Games.\" Publishers Weekly WHEN YOU'RE INSIDE, THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING. WHEN...
Snowglobe
Park, Soyoung
Paper Book
Discover the groundbreaking Korean YA thriller, for fans of Squid Game, Black Mirror and The Hunger Games! WHEN YOU'RE INSIDE, THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING . . . Raised in a climate-ravaged, frozen world, every day is a struggle for survival for...
Violets
Sin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
I went to see my father : a novel
Sin, Kyŏng-suk
Paper Book
'A powerful, elegant page-turner' J.M. Lee 'Gentle yet piercing' Kirkus Reviews After losing her daughter in a tragic accident, Hon returns to her childhood home in the Korean countryside to look after her elderly father. There, the discovery of a...
The starlet and the spy
Yi, Chi-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 How do you...
Marigold Mind Laundry
Yun, Jungeun
Paper Book
The NEXT irresistibly uplifting read for fans of BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD set in a magical laundry The #1 International word-of-mouth bestseller Heartwarming and inspirational, MARIGOLD MIND LAUNDRY will remind you there is always a reason to feel positive
The disaster tourist : a novel
Yun, Ko-Å­n
Paper Book
A satirical Korean eco-thriller with a fierce feminist sensibility.

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