Recommendations based on "Yeonnam-Dong's Smiley Laundromat: The Heartwarming Korean Bestseller"

Based on your reading history, we think you will also enjoy the following books.

By JaHyun Kim Kim Haboush, Dorothy Ko

Lady Hyegyong's memoirs, which recount the chilling murder of her husband by his father, form one of the best known and most popular classics of Korean literature. From 1795 until 1805 Lady Hyegyong composed this masterpiece, depicting a court life Shakespearean in its pathos, drama, and grandeur. Presented in its social, cultural, and historical contexts, this first complete English translation opens a door into a world teeming with conflicting passions, political intrigue, and the daily preoccupations of a deeply intelligent and articulate woman.JaHyun Kim Haboush's accurate, fluid translation captures the intimate and expressive voice of this consummate storyteller. Reissued nearly twenty years after its initial publication with a new foreword by Dorothy Ko, The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong is a unique exploration of Korean selfhood and an extraordinary example of autobiography in the premodern era.

By Yeonmi Park

'I am most grateful for two things: that I was born in North Korea, and that I escaped from North Korea.'Yeonmi Park was not dreaming of freedom when she escaped from North Korea. She didn't even know what it meant to be free. All she knew was that she was running for her life, that if she and her family stayed behind they would die - from starvation, or disease, or even execution.This book is the story of Park's struggle to survive in the darkest, most repressive country on earth; her harrowing escape through China's underworld of smugglers and human traffickers; and then her escape from China across the Gobi desert to Mongolia, with only the stars to guide her way, and from there to South Korea and at last to freedom; and finally her emergence as a leading human rights activist - all before her 21st birthday.

By Sara Martin

Chloe always knew this day would come, but the notice still came as a shock.Flung apart from her love once again, Chloe must learn to navigate Seoul as the girlfriend of a famous K-drama actor, all by herself, and while recovering from trauma.Coping won’t be easy, and it’s made even more difficult when a dark plot at KAM Entertainment unfolds around her, threatening to destroy everything she holds dear.To get to the truth, Chloe’s going to have to leave her comfort zone and venture into murky territory.She promised Jinseung she’d stay out of danger, but can she keep her promise?

By Michelle Jungmin Bang

A charming guide to living a longer, happier, healthier life, rooted in Korean self-care For centuries, Korean families have shared wellbeing wisdom with loved ones, like gifted heirlooms passed down from generation to generation, to prevent and treat early illness. The idea is to stop symptoms before they become chronic, taking inspiration from the ssukgat, or chrysanthemum greens, that are treasured in Korean culture for their ability to heal. Natural, effective, and environmentally conscious, these solutions quietly and radically shift conventional Western thought. Eco-entrepreneur Michelle Jungmin Bang takes readers on a journey across Korea - from scenic mountains with Buddhist nuns to a seaside village with the haenyeo divers of Jeju Island, and the urban landscapes of Seoul to the much-loved, bustling bathhouses for young and old. Reflecting on how we can live sustainably and reconnect with nature, Michelle offers insight into Korean cultural concepts like jeong, the connection linking loved ones and places, and shares delicious, nourishing recipes inspired by her grandmother's kitchen. Blending travel, experience, research, recipes and Michelle's beautiful illustrations, Sun & Ssukgat will empower readers with the age-old advice needed to escape the whirlwind of modern life and embrace a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle.

By Bamwoo

Despite growing up together, these childhood friends have grown apart. The fan-favorite boys’ love manhwa turned K-drama comes to print for the first time.Seo Haebom was seven years old when his parents died in an accident. With nowhere else to go, he moves in with the family of his childhood friend Jo Taesung, who suddenly grows cold and distant, destroying their friendship.Now it’s their senior year of high school and, after years of barely speaking to each other, Haebom and Taesung are in the same class for the first time. Haebom struggles to make friends and is plagued by bullying, but after the handsome and popular Taesung fends off his most persistent bully, everything changes—they sit together at lunch and begin to act like friends again. Haebom is unsure what to make of the shift, but this could be his last chance to mend their relationship.Volume 1 includes episodes 1–15 of the webcomic Cherry Blossoms After Winter.

By Bamwoo

Never has a final year of high school had so many new beginnings. The second volume of the fan-favorite BL manhwa turned K-drama, now in print for the first time.Seo Haebom had only just gotten used to having his friend-turned-distant-housemate, Jo Taesung, acknowledge his existence, but now it seems like they might actually be...friends again? As Taesung brings Haebom into his social circle, Haebom discovers not only how much he’s missed his childhood playmate, but how much more fun high school can be if he has the confidence to stop being such a wallflower.But after so many years of a predictable—if lonely—life, Haebom now can’t seem to stop his world from changing too quickly. Just as he begins to enjoy his new normal, Taesung starts acting like he might want to change their relationship yet again, this time to something more than friends.Volume 2 includes episodes 16-30 of the webcomic Cherry Blossoms After Winter.

By Hyeonseo Lee

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An extraordinary insight into life under one of the world's most ruthless and secretive dictatorships - and the story of one woman's terrifying struggle to avoid capture/repatriation and guide her family to freedom.

By So Hee Park

During the royal family's first public interview with Prince Sun, the nation is shocked when the youngest prince accidentally reveals Shin's intention to get married and leave the palace! Recognizing Sun's voice from her mysterious phone call a few nights before, Chae-Kyung drags her new boyfriend to the royal family's parade. Shin spots her from the car, and Chae-Kyung follows him to the palace, where they are reunited...

By Janet Poole

Taking a panoramic view of KoreaÕs dynamic literary production in the final decade of Japanese rule, When the Future Disappears locates the imprint of a new temporal sense in Korean modernism: the impression of time interrupted, with no promise of a future. As colonial subjects of an empire headed toward total war, Korean writers in this global fascist moment produced some of the most sophisticated writings of twentieth-century modernism. Yi TÕaejun, ChÕoe Myongik, Im Hwa, So Insik, ChÕoe Chaeso, Pak TÕaewon, Kim NamchÕon, and O Changhwan, among other Korean writers, lived through a rare colonial history in which their vernacular language was first inducted into the modern, only to be shut out again through the violence of state power. The colonial suppression of Korean-language publications was an effort to mobilize toward war, and it forced Korean writers to face the loss of their letters and devise new, creative forms of expression. Their remarkable struggle reflects the stark foreclosure at the heart of the modern colonial experience. Straddling cultural, intellectual, and literary history, this book maps the different strategies, including abstraction, irony, paradox, and even silence, that Korean writers used to narrate life within the Japanese empire.

By Alice Amelia

An addictive, tell-all memoir about what happens when you try to make your dreams come true - as well as a love letter to KoreaAged twenty-one, fuelled by a love of K-dramas and a need to find herself, Alice Amelia moves to Seoul. She knows no one in her adopted country, doesn't speak the language, and hasn't tried kimchi, let alone grilled cow intestines or Korean corn dogs. But she soon realises that real-life Seoul isn't the romanticised city she'd watched on television - and it doesn't have subtitles.Determined to follow her dream, Alice becomes everything she wasn't in England: adding spicy gochujang sauce to every meal, dancing in K-pop videos, dating HOT Korean models, and even injecting salmon sperm into her eye bags. But as she breaks into the Korean entertainment industry which she idolised from afar, her life spiralled in ways she never could have imagined. Wanting to stay true to herself, she wonders, will she ever belong in Korea? And what price will it cost her to stay?