This feel-good novel caught my eye with a blurb that described it as “A slice-of-life novel about finding acceptance and comfort in your life—with a good dose of the healing power of books.” Yes, please! A Korean bestseller, this is the first novel from Hwang, and has been called a readalike to Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. I couldn’t pre-order this title quickly enough. The English language edition translated by Shanna Tan comes out in the U.S. in February 2024.

I welcomed this into my reading life because I'd heard good things, because I needed a change of pace, because I love books about books. In 53 short essays (one for each week of a year, plus a bonus), international bestselling author Bo-Reum (author of the hit Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop) explores a broad variety of approaches and experiments to take in your reading life. I was tickled by the way many of these ideas directly conflicted with each other: read short, read long. Read old, read new. Read at whim, plan your reading. I was charmed—and look forward to discussing this book and its discussion-generators with my reading pals. Translated from the Korean by Shanna Tan. (This is the December 2026 pick for Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club. )