my favorite korean books 🇰🇷 from YA to literary to translated novels

[@forrest_reads]

One thing I’ve wanted to do is read some Korean fiction. I am not Korean but my sister in law is and it would be nice to understand her culture more. I also got the opportunity to live in Korea for a year! It was a dream of mine and God let me live it!

[@artzbysalva]

Wow amazing.. that's nice

[@bts_vinyl]

I absolutely loved If I Had Your Face! It was such an easy 5 stars for me. My all time favorite Korean novel is Human Acts by Han Kang. It's a beautifully written punch to the gut.

[@cozymonica]

ahh im so so glad! it’s such an amazing book 💞

[@morganking757]

As someone who has found Korean culture and language so beautiful and interesting, I’m so happy to find a recommendation list like this, so thank you!! Also you’re gorgeous and I love your aesthetic! 🥰💖

[@rustyallen1695]

glad to say I've read a number of these this year thanks to your recs 😸 pachinko and if I had your face - two of my all time faves!

[@cozymonica]

ahh im so so glad! 💛💛

[@JayGTheAwkwardBookworm]

Ooo the earrings are so cute! But I am IN LOVE with the butterfly

[@icknic]

And now ACTUAL books about K-pop! Here's a couple: ❤️ Bias - a K-pop Romance - Lucy Gold ❤️ Comeback - Lynn Ashwood and Rachel Rose Somewhere Only We Know - Maurene Goo

[@hyacinth2743]

Please Look After Mom is my favourite book of all time! It was my introduction to Korean literature and was such a unique read. Reading it was my first time encountering second person pov! I really recommend it to literally everyone.

[@juliette360]

Every book seems so interesting !! I am super excited about the genres included in your recs and I just want to read them all 🌟✨

[@reyduaXO]

Hello My Twenties is my favorite kdrama so now I'm even more excited to pick up If I Had Your Face

[@StudioLindsay]

I just finished reading If I Had Your Face yesterday - what a great read!

[@cozymonica]

so glad to hear that! 💞

[@miale693]

ahhh i just found this video while looking for more korean books and i love wicked fox and the silence of bones! june hur has become one of my favorite authors!! im glad to see someone promoting this books and telling others about them!

[@ginnyvanoh]

A Step from Heaven! I fell in love with An Na when I was late teen/early 20s. I also adore The Fold by her. I'd recommend The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir by E.J. Koh. It is told via Korean letters on one page, then translated to the English, with the author telling the story of her childhood when her parents left her and her brother in America while they stayed in Korea to work and make money for the family. Let's see, Almost American Girl is a graphic novel memoir by Robin Ha and another one that is just fantastic!

[@funaek3601]

Also, a couple recs, Flowers of Mold by Ha Seoung Nan, Diary of a Murderer by Young Ha Kim, and Readymade Bodhisattva (a Korean scifi anthology).

[@funaek3601]

I completely agree about wanting to see more Korean fantasies that play around with Korean mythology. I have an Audible Original that mixes Korean food & time traveling called The Golden Orchard. If you're interested, I can send you a free download code!

[@ReadByTiffany]

this was such a thoughtful video, and i'm loving all these recommendations! i'm really enjoying pachinko so far 🥰

[@cozymonica]

thanks so much tiffany! im glad you’re liking it! 💛

[@ReadingNymph]

I enjoyed Wicked Fox, like you said its just good fun 😊 Silence of Bones was very good, i need to get their latest book

[@LilyEleanorReads]

i recently got Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 for my birthday and was already excited to read it but hearing you talk about it has me even more interested! I hadn't heard of If I Have Your Face and Almond before but they sound right up my street and amazing, will definitely be adding them to my wishlist!! Ugh i've been meaning to get to June Hur's books for a while, this one and her new one sound so good. I haven't read many Korean books yet but Human Acts was one of my favourite books from last year, I'm still in awe of it. Thank you so much for making this! 💖

[@letsgoevie]

I really love this filming set up and those earrings are stunning💖 Pachinko is one of my favorites and all the other books you mentioned are moving higher up on my TBR. Thank you so much🌻 I’d recommend The Machineries of Empire series by Yoon Ha Lee. It’s one of the best sci-fi series I’ve read. The world building and characters are both fantastic💙

[@cozymonica]

thank you so so much! 💛 and im so glad you enjoyed pachinko! i’ll definitely add the machineries of empire on my list!

[@CallMeDabz]

yesss i always love novels by korean authors, as a korean person myself. I've read wicked fox and to all the boys and I enjoyed them both! ill have to check out some of these other books tho. (also your aesthetic! your organization😍)

[@lyannastarkweather]

I read If I Had Your Face and Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, earlier this year. They are both among my favorite reads of the year. Kim Jiyoung, in particular, stuck with me for weeks afterward. I simply could not stop thinking about it. Thank you for sharing this recommendation video. I'm not Korean, but I'm always looking for books about cultures other than my own to round out my reading.

[@blablu1317]

Thank you so much for your recommendations! Love that you give a selection across genres. And that you have a Korean section in your bookshelves 🤩 Inspiration!

[@seakbooks4346]

Thank you for the great book reviews! I'm a Korean bookseller, but didn't know there were so many Korean American authors! Learned about Maurene Goo, Kat Cho, Frances Cha, June Hur, Jenny Han, and An Na. I will definitely look into their books. Thanks for the video, and look forward to more videos on Korean books!

[@Be-so_fr-]

RM or Kim Namjoon recommend almond and thanks so much now i know what i want... ALL OF THEM 🤣

[@farha28]

This was a lovely video! I had to pause so many times to add things to my basket!! I’ve been in such a massive reading slump this year but this video really sparked something in me again, so thank you for that Monica! The one recommendation that comes to mind is The White Book by Han Kang, it’s a poetry book and it’s so incredibly written and moving

[@anautisticreader2963]

I have a TBR game I do on my channel. I have put the countries I know my ancestors are from in a “jar”. Each month I am going to pull a country out and then find a book by an author from that country. I am excited to start doing that. 📖😁

[@cozymonica]

that’s such a clever idea!

[@anautisticreader2963]

@@cozymonica Thank you! I am so excited to start. 😆😆

[@hellohaley45]

I loved The Silence of Bones so much and I can’t wait to pick up If I Had Your Face! 💕 I would highly recommend Miracle Creek. It’s an adult courtroom thriller/mystery featuring a family who immigrated from Korea, and the author is Korean as well! It’s dark, but one of my favorite books of the year!

[@옹영앙]

Thank you for loving Korean books.♡

[@ginnyvanoh]

Ohh I did not know about the name of Kim Jiyoung! That truly adds an additional layer to the story. It is one of my 2020 faves, and I couldn't put it down either! I had to sit quitetly for awhile after the ending and just reflect on EVERYTHING in life!

[@sinaseas]

kim jiyoung was such a good book i think all the stats and such really helped bring things into perspective i think it was a very interesting read. so glad i picked it up!

[@cozymonica]

im so glad you liked it! 💞

[@cheybae1193]

Thank you I just came across your channel, I’ve been wanting to expand my book collection but wanted to branch of and read works from authors that are new to me. I’m going to add these to my list of books to read.

[@rhughes2962]

I've seen Pachinko a fair few places, but I think I'm now sold - adding it to my list pronto.

[@sakshigoswami758]

Hey new member of your familyyyyy! I subscribed💗💗

[@proseandcons7730]

Wicked fox!!!!! One of my all time fave books x

[@tansjord]

Added a bunch of these to my wish list & will be buying some after Christmas! :)

[@tarrencox645]

Love Korean books and series the best for sure ♥️

[@bavithra991]

can you rec me some k-books, please

[@amandaamanda7938]

I've read Pachinko and The Way You Make Me Feel. Both good books. I think I'll check out Wicked Fox.

[@deanna8672]

Almond is my all time fave book I’m thinking of reading If I had your face, seems like a good read thank you 😊

[@meowww997]

i just read almond a couple days ago and it’s definitely a new favorite !! i related to gon a lot, so it was really interesting to read. also, the relationships in this book were so lovely, like i cant even describe how much i love this book 😭

[@AnniesBookNook]

Love this video!! Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 is high on my TBR. I LOVED Pachinko, and I really loved Han Kang's books Human Acts and The White Book. Beautiful writing

[@lisamarshall4515]

thank you so much for this video i really needed the recs.

[@allisadie]

I read If I Had Your Face this year too and I absolutely loved it - definitely one of my favorites for the entire year! And every other book you talked about I've either already read or immediately added to my tbr - they all sound amazing

[@MsAwesomeSaucey]

Nice list Monica! ❤️

[@cozymonica]

thank you!

[@redheadreading]

Adore this video! I'm reading Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 at the moment and it's absolutely sweeping me away. Especially reading it after reading If I Had Your Face a few months ago - I feel like they feed into each other really well. I have Pachinko to read soon based on your rec so I'm saving that for the perfect moment!

[@cozymonica]

i totally agree! they give so much context to each other. hope you enjoy pachinko!

[@BlakeTheBookEater]

Love this video so much! Adding all of these to my TBR 😍

[@15BigDreamer]

Flowers of Mold (short stories) and my all time favorite I’ll Be right There by Kyung Sook Shin

[@AnEmbarrassmentofBooks]

The Silence of Bones was such an amazing book! One of my top 5 for 2020! I can't wait for her new book, The Forest of Stolen Girls.

[@KowaretaDolll]

definitely adding some of these to my list now :’) I loved Pachinko too. It reminded me a lot of Memoirs of a Geisha - not so much story wise but the world building was just so vivid in both books that you could totally picture the characters walking through the scenes. I’m reading The Vegetarian atm which is a really intense read but again touched on parts of feminism I hadn’t even considered. I would recommend it but it is intense. :)

[@lolaaaKa]

I loved your video 😁 great description.. I sure feel like reading a few of those... Did yo uread good son? I foubd it once at a market and took it.. It was great! Also.. You're so cute 😊

[@MsAwesomeSaucey]

I’ve heard that Grass is very good, and very intense! Hopefully you enjoy it albeit the heavy topic. It’s also on my TBR

[@truptikulkarni9503]

Thanks !..I added all the book in wish list

[@septimasnape]

Awesome recs!

[@JiixBooks]

Wonderful list! I am deffo adding a lot of them to my tbr One I'd recommend that you've probably heard a lot from from my moroccan culture is Mirage by Somaiya Daud

[@lecturaslunares926]

I recently found your channel and loved this video, im currently learning korean so i was looking for books where i can immerse myself more of the culture. For a recommendation, im mexican and a book i totally love is "the murmur of the bees" by sofia segovia Is a historical fiction that takes place in the 1920's, around the time of the mexican revolution, and we see the life of a family that finds a baby surrounded by bees (the bees doesnt do anything to him) and how their life was changed by this.

[@theaa9535]

monica where did you get that beautiful sweater??? you look beautiful and this video brought me a lot of joy

[@cozymonica]

thank you so much! 💞💞 the sweater is from sezane

[@책읽어주는클라우디아]

한국소설을 소개해 주셔서 감사해요~👍

[@LoveAlwaysAlana]

If you like the Joseon era I would definitely recommend Promise Season by Lee Evie!

[@cozymonica]

thank you! i just added it to my to read list! 💛💛💛

[@victoriouswreath494]

I know it seems like a silly question, but how heavy are the earrings? I have been looking for environmentally friendly jewelry for a while but my ears were pierced with a gun as a child and unfortunately are very delicate and tear/bleed when I wear heavy earrings and it's at the point I can only hear studs that are light-light. Love your channel and sorry the comment is about jewelry! (Though I've added plenty of books to my TBR.)

[@cozymonica]

no worries!💞 i have sensitive ears too and cannot handle heavy earrings at all! id say for their size, they’re v light, however they’re definitely heavier than studs. i actually just checked the site and these are 3g while a pair of pearl studs are .2g in weight, so they might be too heavy. they have a similar but more delicate looking pair called the frida that are only .8g though! i hope that helps - earring shopping can be a struggle 😪😪

[@talyssalockyer5656]

Completely off topic but I think you are gorgeous 🥰

[@Yourmom-jm3fu]

we have the same name *monica* wow

[@laisseus]

I've seen toooons of Ana Luisa recommendations, but it makes me a bit disappointed that they barely have any silver jewelry (they look much much better on me than golden ones), so I hope that in the future they add more pieces

[@laisseus]

Also very excited for "the way you make me feel" bc I'm Brazilian! I'm very interested to read the story bc Brazilian immigration to Korea or Korean Immigration to Brazil is almost a non existent topic in Brazil

[@Redeemed-10]

Hi. Are these books written in Korean or translated to English? Also, my Barnes and Noble doesn’t sell Korean books (sadly). What is a good plan to buy books written in Korean? Thank you.

[@Angelareadsalot]

Hi. You can find the English version of all of these books on Amazon :)

[@llavinator]

Who is the author of GRASS?

[@xfan07army56]

You are so beautiful 💜💜

[@sikshikatamang1031]

The letter inside the book is in Korean or in English Please reply

[@24.07x]

English. They’re all translated

[@sikshikatamang1031]

@@24.07x oh. Tank you so much ❤️🙏

[@tarrencox645]

Hey girl are you full Korean very interesting in all cultures to learn

[@sakshigoswami758]

Is it translated in english? I want to read all of them 😊❤💗

[@strwbrryk2185]

all of the books she recommended are in english but not all of them were originally that way.

[@sakshigoswami758]

@@strwbrryk2185 thank you 💕💕

[@MORGN5ABAAL]

what’s YA ?

[@24.07x]

Young adults

[@weirdstrangegirl]

💖

[@CA_Sharwari.]

Hlo di

[@CA_Sharwari.]

Can we forener get English notes in South Korea?