أخبار الأدب / November 24, 2020

PEN / February 05, 2021

【Penが選んだ、今月の読むべき1冊】 無類の酒飲みで韓国の蒸溜酒ソジュを好み、自分の味覚はソジュとともに育ったという韓国人作家による食エッセイ。季節ごとに愛する肴について思い入れたっぷりに綴る。春の朝いちばんにつくる3種類の海苔巻き、舌が痺れるほど辛い夏のビビン麺、秋に木枯らしが吹き始めたら真っ先に食べたい鍋焼きうどん、大きなお玉ですくって飲みたくなる冬のカムジャタン……。忙しくても懐に余裕がなくても、おいしいものを求める気持ちさえあれば、いくらでも楽しめるのだと教えてくれる。

聯合新聞網 / June 27, 2021

文學獎制度是由多種制度相互交織而成的韓國文學場主要組成部分。目前在韓國實施的文學獎數量超過一百多種，其獎項性質也相當多樣。這些眾多文學獎分別由不同規模的出版社、言論媒體、文學團體或文藝雜誌、企業財團、地方政府、大學，以及個別作家紀念會等具文化屬性的機構所設置。其中，有些是以出版社和地方政府合辦方式管理，有些是由言論媒體和文學團體共同主辦，因此很難明確指出其所屬主管單位。此外，考慮到詩、小說、散文、童話、戲劇、文學批評等各文學領域都分別設有各自的文學獎項，因此以何種標準同時又如何對其分類，其實並非易事。不過，整體來看仍可以大分為以作家命名的文學獎以及其他二類，在此姑且依此分類略作介紹。

Publishers Weekly / June 18, 2021

Big-name writers consider new and familiar terrain, and an interest in the power of the written word runs through the season’s notable fiction titles. Top 10 Beautiful World, Where Are You Sally Rooney. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Sept. 7 ($28, ISBN 978-0-374-60260-4) Irish wunderkind Rooney’s latest revolves around a group of young people navigating sex, relationships, and careers as they face down their 20s and come to grips with adulthood. The Book of Form and Emptiness Ruth Ozeki. Viking, Sept. 21 ($30, ISBN 978-0-399-56364-5) Fourteen-year-old Benny avoids his mother’s house and hangs out at the library after he begins hearing voices from various household objects in this fantastical work from Booker finalist Ozeki. Cloud Cuckoo Land Anthony Doerr. Scribner, Sept. 28 ($30, ISBN 978-1-9821-6843-8) Pulitzer-winner Doerr returns with the story of a long-lost book from ancient Greece and its effect on a series of characters at different points in history. PW gave it a starred review.

The New York Times / September 21, 2021

New novels from Jonathan Franzen and Anthony Doerr, a political thriller by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, a Korean murder mystery — and more.

Cultured Vultures / October 06, 2021

Lemon is author Kwon Yeo-sun’s English language debut novella, a book described in the marketing as a literary thriller, and categorised as such in most of the places it can be pre-ordered from. But in her native South Korea, Yeo-sun has a reputation for writing unconventional stories, playing with form and, therefore, being known as an author who is sometimes difficult to read.

The Guardian / September 26, 2021

Kwon Yeo-Sun brings eerie beauty to crime fiction, Amitav Ghosh traces the climate crisis to colonialism and Bill Buford goes to the heart of French cuisine Lemon Kwon Yeo-Sun (translated by Janet Hong) Apollo, £12.99, pp192 Seoul 2002 and a city that’s been gripped by World Cup fever is about to be consumed by an infinitely darker news story: the murder of 18-year-old Kim Hae-on, whose ethereal good looks lead to the case being dubbed “the high school beauty murder”. Nobody is ever charged and 17 years on it still consumes her younger sister, Da-on, whose entire self – dumpy and plain but whip-smart and brimming with life – has altered in response. Though the narrative takes the form of a detective novel, it becomes a meditation on envy, grief and, this being South Korea, plastic surgery. Understated yet lingeringly eerie.

POPSUGAR / October 01, 2021

There's a fresh batch of mysteries and thrillers books coming your way this month, and trust us, the chill factor is high with these must reads. Among the most exciting thrillers hitting shelves in October are new titles from fan-favorite writers like Louise Penny, C.J. Cooke, and Lisa Unger. But prepare to discover a few new authors to add to your favorites list as well. From a riveting novel that tackles the horror of complicity to the story of a young cop's dangerous journey into the dark heart of Los Angeles, October's best thriller and mystery books will keep you up reading way past your bedtime.

Daily Mail Online / October 07, 2021

BURNTCOAT by Sarah Hall (Faber £12.99, 240 pp) Sarah Hall has described the compulsion she felt to write at the start of the pandemic, and the pain of 2020 is wrought into this novel’s fabric. It’s also made manifest in the form of artist Edith and her monumental sculptures, which involve wood that has, paradoxically and suggestively, first been burnt. Edith is now in her 50s, and about to deliver her last commission — we know that she is entering her final days. But as the novel slides fluidly between timeframes, we also learn how, some decades before, Edith’s relationship with a chef, Halit, was forged in a period of lockdown, when the country was swept by a devastating disease.

Daily Press / October 08, 2021

Summer reading may snag all the headlines, but fall is a wonderful time to be a reader. We have rounded up 57 books to watch for, from novels and story collections to books on the most pressing issues of our time. Biographies of Oscar Wilde, Pablo Picasso and Stephen Crane elucidate some of our greatest artists and thinkers, and memoirs from Stanley Tucci, Katie Couric and others offer a look behind their public personas. No matter what you are searching for this fall, you can find it in the pages of a book. (Titles without a publication date noted are on sale now.) — JOUMANA KHATIB