VOL.81/2025.04

 

“Book of the Year” Suggests the “Direction” of the Era

2024 Books of the Year in Korea

 

2025.02.17

 

2024 Books of the Year selected by different media outlets

 

The act of recommending a book to another person may seem like a simple and easy thing to do, but it can also be a very complex and thought-provoking act, depending on how you think about it. A straightforward question, “Why this book to me?” is all it takes to understand this: sometimes a book given to a lover can be a declaration of love, a confession of one’s whole soul, or, a book given by a parent to a child who is moving out on his or her own as an adult is meant to be taken to heart as a life lesson. The act of recommending a book can also convey disdain or mockery. A person might suggest a childish or poorly written book to convey the message, “I consider you to be of this intellectual level,” or they might mock an expert by suggesting something like a basic introduction to their field. While some leaders have used their own reading lists to guide the direction of their countries, others have revealed their philosophy of governance by declaring that they don’t read or have a disdain for reading. So, recommending a book can be as simple as suggesting a book you enjoyed to a friend, but it can also be a high-level political act. At the end of every year, major media outlets and bookstores select and announce the “book of the year.”
During a single year, well over 70,000 new titles are published in Korea. This list, the best of the many, is compelling for those who want to read and understand the times in depth. However, it’s just too many. There are about 80 titles on the “Book of the Year” lists of more than a dozen major media outlets and bookstores. When there are too many words, the message is often diluted or lost. In such cases, focusing on repeated words is a good idea. Similarly, when there are too many greats, it’s a good idea to pick the “best of the best” again. So, now, let’s take a look at the “books of the year” selected by major media outlets and bookstores.

 

 

The best of the best: “Book of the Year” among the “Books of the Year”

 

Multiple overlaps were noticeable when looking at the “Book of the Year” lists of 8 news outlets and 3 bookstores. For example, 10 titles - Charles T. Munger’s Poor Charlie’s Almanack, Rhyu Si-Min’s A Very Personal Thought About His Fate (Think Road Publisher), Matthias Nöllke’s Understatement, Kim Ho-Yeon’s My Don Quixote (Namu Bench), Chizuko Ueno’s The Sociology of Care, Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, Tyranny of the Minority by Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Kim Won-Young’s Fully Equal and Strictly Discriminatory (Munhakdongne Publishing), Yang Seung-Hoon’s The Ulsan Dystopia: The Unsettling Future of the Manufacturing Powerhouse (Bookie), Benjamin Balint’s Kafka’s Last Trial, and Cho Hyung-Geun’s Once Upon a Bridge on the Kwai River, There Were Koreans (Hankyoreh Publishing Company) – were selected as the “Book of the Year” in 2 platforms. And, Morgan Housel’s Same as Ever was selected in 3 places.
There were 4 titles that were selected in 5 of the 11 places - Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These, Patrick Bringley’s All the Beauty in the World, and Kim Ae-Ran’s One of Them is a Lie (Munhakdongne Publishing) and Kim Ki-Tae’s The International for Two (Munhakdongne Publishing). All 4 of these books were truly worthy to be called the “Book of the Year” among “Books of the Year.”

 

* K-Book Trends Vol. 74 – Go to the interview with writer Kim Ki-Tae

 

 

Books that make readers reflect on their lives

 

While Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These was also selected by both Dong-A Ilbo and Hankyoreh, it was the most-voted book on bookstores and e-book platforms, including YES24, Aladin, and Millie, where readers took part in the voting. Following the book’s publication in 2021, Irish author Claire Keegan won the Orwell Award the following year and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It is said to be the shortest novel ever shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It has also been made into a movie, which has been garnering attention from audiences and critics around the world. According to the 2023 National Reading Survey in Korea, the “reading rate,” which is the percentage of people who read at least one paper, e-book, or listened to an audiobook in a year, was 74.5% among the 20s and 68% among the 30s, higher than the middle-aged, who remained in the 10-40% range. As the 2030s continue to move toward e-book platforms, new forms of reading, such as audiobooks, have also become popular in Korea. For example, Small Things Like These on Millie was a big hit in Korea in 2024, earning acclaim for its immersive content with realistic voice acting.
Patrick Bringley’s All the Beauty in the World has been chosen as the Book of the Year on 5 different platforms, including newspapers Dong-A Ilbo and Chosun Ilbo, online bookstores Aladin and YES24, and e-book platform Millie. The book is an autobiographical essay by Patrick Bringley. It is a detailed and engaging account of the author’s real-life experiences and reflections. Yang Eun-Kyung, editor of Korea University Press, selected the book as Dong-A Ilbo’s Book of the Year, saying, “There are stories in the world that are destined to be bestsellers. It’s a story about facing the greatest loss, escaping to the most beautiful place in the world, and discovering true elegance.”

 

Books that brilliantly capture our time

 

Kim Ae-Ran’s One of Them is a Lie was chosen as the Book of the Year by Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, Korea Economic Daily, Aladin, and YES24. Kim’s first full-length novel in 13 years, One of Them is a Lie tells the story of three high school sophomores, Ji-Woo, So-Ri, and Chae-Woon, who become aware of each other through a coincidental event, gradually grow closer, and go through unforgettable times. The title of the novel, “One of Them is a Lie,” is the name of a “self-introduction game” made by their homeroom teacher. It is a game in which students introduce themselves at the beginning of a new semester by describing themselves in five sentences, but one of them must contain a lie, so that the other students can guess what is real and what is not. The three protagonists develop a strong attraction to each other after discovering each other’s secrets, while at the same time being suspicious of each other, which in turn unfolds an exciting story.
Jeong Eun-Sook, CEO of Maumsanchaek Publisher, who participated in the selection of Dong-A Ilbo’s Book of the Year, commented on One of Them is a Lie, saying, “It is a story about secrets, absence, and sadness in the world of three high school students. (...) Their coming of age, developing their identity, through a loose but tight friendship is painfully poignant.” The book was also voted No. 1 in Kyobo Book Center’s “Novel of the Year Selected by 50 Novelists.”
The year 2024 was also a good year for author Kim Ki-Tae. His short story collection, The International for Two, was selected as the “2024 Book of the Year” by 5 different outlets: Kyunghyang Shinmun, Dong-A Ilbo, Munhwa Ilbo, Hankyoreh, and Korea Economic Daily. Every work Kim has published since his debut has been a viral sensation on Social Media, and in 2024, he even won two of Korea’s most prestigious literary awards, the Shin Dong-Yup Literature Award and the Dong-In Literary Award. While The International for Two is Kim Ki-Tae’s first novel, it is said to be the first time (since the reorganization of the Dong-In Literary Award in 2000) that an author’s first short story collection has won the Dong-In Literary Award. The International for Two was also voted second in the “Novel of the Year Selected by 50 Novelists” by Kyobo Book Centre. It was described by fellow writers as “a novel that exceptionally portrays the current era based on meticulous research, while at the same time demonstrating the will and optimism to solve real-life problems, thus making it a pleasure to read.”

 

 

“Book of the Year” is a message to society as it is

 

The “bestsellers,” or the list of the most purchased books, symbolize the “deficiencies” of the time. On the other hand, the “Book of the Year,” which is selected by opinion leaders such as scholars and journalists, as well as by the active reading public, often suggests a solution to the identified social deficiency, or the “direction” for the era. In this respect, the “Book of the Year” is a powerful social message and agenda in itself. The various parties that select and announce books of the year every year are well aware of this, so they delicately and intelligently implant their intentions in the lists. Therefore, if you want to be a wise and discerning reader of the times, you should not simply consume the lists of books of the year that are meticulously selected and published by various media outlets with great confidence. We need to aggregate and analyze the various lists and try to read the agenda of the times behind them.

 

 

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Written by Kim Sheen (Publishing critic)