Korean Reads We Recommend
05/23/25 • 58 min
This week’s episode is all about our favourite reads by Korean and Korean-American authors, including books about sulky giant octopuses, sinkhole tourism, empathy bypasses, diasporic depression, simulated marriages, and tearful encounters with gochujang. And as always, we discuss recent reads and what’s next on our TBRs.
Recent reads
In Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (tr. Terence Kilmartin)
Sweat by Emma Healy
The Meteorites: Encounters With Outer Space And Deep Time by Helen Gordon
Korean books and authors
Crying In H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Sea Change by Gina Chung
The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun (tr. Lizze Buehler)
Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home by Eric Kim
The Hive And The Honey by Paul Yoon
The Trunk by Kim Ryeo-Ryeong (tr. The KoLab)
Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn (tr. Sandy Joosun Lee)
Black Girl From Pyongyang: In Search Of My Identity by Monica Macias
Up next
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My Friends by Frederik Backman
Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami
Endling by Maria Reva
Also mentioned
@angelazbao
Snow Piercer, Parasite by Bong Joon Ho
Libro FM
Follow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week’s episode is all about our favourite reads by Korean and Korean-American authors, including books about sulky giant octopuses, sinkhole tourism, empathy bypasses, diasporic depression, simulated marriages, and tearful encounters with gochujang. And as always, we discuss recent reads and what’s next on our TBRs.
Recent reads
In Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (tr. Terence Kilmartin)
Sweat by Emma Healy
The Meteorites: Encounters With Outer Space And Deep Time by Helen Gordon
Korean books and authors
Crying In H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Sea Change by Gina Chung
The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-Eun (tr. Lizze Buehler)
Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home by Eric Kim
The Hive And The Honey by Paul Yoon
The Trunk by Kim Ryeo-Ryeong (tr. The KoLab)
Almond by Won-Pyung Sohn (tr. Sandy Joosun Lee)
Black Girl From Pyongyang: In Search Of My Identity by Monica Macias
Up next
The Women by Kristin Hannah
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
Atmosphere: A Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My Friends by Frederik Backman
Kakigori Summer by Emily Itami
Endling by Maria Reva
Also mentioned
@angelazbao
Snow Piercer, Parasite by Bong Joon Ho
Libro FM
Follow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Previous Episode
Big Book Fear
This week’s episode is a BIG one. Or at least, one in which we talk about big things, namely big books and why – or why not – we find them intimidating. And as always, we discuss recent reads and what’s next on our TBRs.
Recent reads
On The Calculation Of Volume (Volume I) by Solvej Balle
Confessions by Catherine Airey
Big Book Fear
The Book of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
Middlemarch by George Eliot – narrated by Juliet Stevenson
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Lost Illusions and Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac
2666 by Roberto Bolaño
In Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvilli
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany
Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain In A Digital World by Maryanne Wolf
11.22.63 by Stephen King
Angle Of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Secondhand Time: The Last Of The Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Goldfinch / The Secret History / The Little Friend by Donna Tartt
Cherry by Nico Walker
The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Future Reads
Days Of Light by Megan Hunter
The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins
Wild Ground by Emily Usher
Also mentioned
The Ondaatje Prize 2025 shortlist
The Book Club Review Podcast Patreon
Follow us on Instagram @curiousreaderspodcast for more recommendations in between episodes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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