Interest in Korean books spiked upon the announcement that South Korean author Han Kang had won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
With a rich history and a vivacious contemporary culture, South Korean books navigate the line between tradition and modernity to create striking works of literature that convey the South Korean experience with universally enjoyable prose.
If you’re eager to dip your toes into Korean literature, the following are considered some of the best Korean books to date, making them excellent starting points to explore the country’s magnificent literary body.
Pachinko
Genre(s): Historical Fiction.
In early 1900s Korea, Sunja falls in love with a wealthy stranger. Upon becoming pregnant and discovering her lover is married, she accepts a proposal from a minister traveling towards Japan.
Pachinko follows four generations of Koreans living in Japan amidst political unrest and war and stands out among other Korean books as a quintessential book for historical fiction fans.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982
Genre(s): Contemporary, Feminist Literature.
Jiyoung is the average millennial Korean woman. She has a common name, got married, and had a regular desk job, which she quit upon giving birth to her newborn daughter. However, soon enough, she starts developing strange symptoms impersonating the voices of countless other women.
Hailed as one of the pinnacles of Korean feminist literature, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 explores the main character’s average Korean life—and the psychological toll of its rigid misogyny.
Human Acts
Genre(s): Historical Fiction.
A young boy called Dong-ho is killed during a violent student uprising, but his death is not the end. Subsequently, victims and survivors must deal with the ripple effect of what happened. Inspired by the Gwangju Uprising and written by the 2024 Nobel Prize winner, Human Acts is considered a controversial yet poignant novel, deemed one of the best Korean books ever.
Almond
Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary.
Yunjae suffers from alexithymia—that is, he has problems feeling emotions. Nonetheless, he tries. He has post-it notes with reminders on portraying emotion, and his mother and grandmother assist him as they can.
But now, suddenly alone at 16, Yunjae must deal with his new life, step outside his comfort zone, and change everything.
Beasts of a Little Land
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, War Literature.
In 1917, during Japan’s occupation of Korea, a Korean hunter saved a Japanese soldier from certain death, inadvertently changing their lives and many more across the subsequent decades. Much later, a young girl named Jade is sold to the courtesan school in Pyongyang, where she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, whose life remains connected to her through the years.
Beast of a Little Land is one of the best Korean books that spans half a century and covers the landscape of Korea amidst the changes brought by history and war.
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop
Genre(s): Cozy Mystery, Contemporary, Slice of Life.
Yeongju seemingly has everything: a successful career, a marriage, and a thriving life in Seoul. But she is burned out, drained, and miserable, so she decides to make radical changes: divorce her husband, quit her job, leave her old life behind, and start anew with her dream: a bookshop.
Cozy, warm, and healing, Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop is one of the Korean books that proves it is never too late to start again.
Free Food for Millionaires
Genre(s): Historical Fiction.
Casey is the daughter of Korean immigrants, yet she is eager to break free from them. Yearning to escape the tight-knit community and thrive in Manhattan, she lives a glamorous lifestyle she can’t afford—at least until a chance meeting gives her a chance to join the powerful, the privileged, and the wealthy. Evocative and sharp, Free Food for Millionaires is a portrait of Korean-American experiences, social mobility, and the pitfalls of greed, making it one of the best Korean books addressing the immigrant experience.
Miracle Creek
Genre(s): Mystery Thriller, Contemporary.
The Yoos are an immigrant family from Korea who run a hyperbaric chamber treatment center where they conduct hyperbaric oxygen therapy—high-pressure believed to help a wide range of conditions. But when the chamber explodes, and two people die, investigations determine it wasn’t an accident.
A question remains: who did it?
I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Memoir, Self-Help.
The first nonfiction book on this list unravels Baek Sehee’s sessions with her psychiatrists as she tries to discover what is wrong with her. She’s successful but anxious, self-doubting but judgmental of others, and tired of masking.
Despite geographical and cultural differences, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki is a part memoir, part self-help book that speaks to global feelings.
Please Look After Mom
Genre(s): Contemporary.
In a busy Seoul subway station, 69-year-old So-nyo separates from her husband and goes missing. Her family—husband, and adult children—are desperate to find her and riddled with guilt as they realize that they might not even truly know the woman they call Mom. A moving and heartfelt tale of family love, Please Look After Mom has won multiple literary prizes and is deemed one of the best Korean books of the last twenty years.
Untold Night and Day
Genre(s): Magical Realism, Contemporary.
After suddenly becoming unemployed, actress Kim Ayami faces the unknown when contemplating her future. In her search for something, she finds herself in an actual search alongside her boss, seeking a missing friend. The next day, she looks after a visiting poet. At each turn, the talks unravel and turn Ayami into an unwitting guide.
The Vegetarian
Genre(s): Horror, Feminist Literature.
Yeong-hye’s nightmares, full of blood and gore, haunt her. She decides to become a vegetarian to break free from them, but her small act of defiance sets forward a chain of events when her family attempts to regain control.
Another book by the 2024 Nobel Prize winner, The Vegetarian, is a profoundly allegorical tale that delves into mental health, control, and autonomy and how they reflect women’s experiences and oppression.
If I Had Your Face
Genre(s): Contemporary, Feminist Literature.
Kyuri is a salon girl whose services attract the rich and powerful. Miho is her roommate, an artist whose life changes forever when she connects with the wealthy. Wonna is their neighbor, a pregnant woman struggling with the economy and her husband. Ara is a hair stylist obsessed with a K-Pop star—all four of them connected by the oppressive weight of Seoul’s beauty standards and plastic surgery culture.
Cursed Bunny: Stories
Genre(s): Short stories, Horror, Magical Realism,
Fantasy.
Cursed Bunny is a Korean book of short stories about the strange and horrifying. It sits at the intersection between horror, magical realism, and science fiction while addressing contemporary society’s more grounded terrors.
Crying in H Mart
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Memoir.
Crying in H Mart is a memoir by Japanese Breakfast vocalist Michelle Zauner. This New York Times best-seller narrates her experiences as an Asian-American, her separation from her Korean ancestry, and her eventual reclaiming of her identity in the wake of her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer.
The Good Son
Genre(s): Mystery Thriller, Horror.
Yu-jin is 26 years old and, by all means, a good son. He’s intelligent, athletic, and successful—until one day, he wakes up with the body of his murdered mother lying in a pool of blood. He has been suffering seizures and memory loss his whole life, so now Yu-jin’s mission is to discover what happened and whether or not he’s guilty.
Don’t Stop Here When It Comes To Korean Books
Korean literature is rich, vast, and varied as they come. Although the entries in this article are considered among the best Korean books, they are only a tiny sample of the excellent stories you can find, each reflecting the Korean experience and, thus, opening the door for a brand-new type of narrative.
If you enjoyed exploring these captivating Korean books, why not expand your literary horizons even further?
Our blog has a variety of booklists, reviews, and recommendations to suit every taste.
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