I’ve just finished reading Jang Jin-sung’s memoir, Dear Leader. It’s a real page-turner that will appeal to many types of readers, including people who like a good adventure story (the passages describing Jang’s evasion of Chinese and North Korean security forces once he has fled from the North Korean capital are genuinely exciting) and of … [Read More]
Category: Non-fiction (page 5)
Paul French discusses North Korea: State of Paranoia
A talk at the Fulham branch of the wonderful Daunt Books. I’m assuming this is a second edition of his Paranoid Peninsula. Paul French in conversation with Harriet Evans on North Korea: State of Paranoia Thursday 29th May, 7pm at Daunt Books Fulham Road North Korea continues to make headlines, arousing curiosity and fear in … [Read More]
Ha-joon Chang on anchovies and economics
Cambridge economist Ha-joon Chang’s next book, Economics: The User’s Guide will be available on 1 May. It is the first of a batch of new publications in Penguin’s Pelican imprint, which has been dormant for thirty years. He talks about his book in a diary article in this weekend’s FT: In saying that there is … [Read More]
Book review: Jungu Yoon — Spirituality in Contemporary Art
For a westerner struggling to understand some of the spiritual or mystical elements in both traditional and contemporary Asian art there is a huge barrier in that Taoism and other Eastern philosophies are not something that we have lived with since our childhood. The concepts of the void and non-existence, and the idea that blank … [Read More]
Book review: Mark James Russell — K-POP Now!
If the only thing you know about K-pop is Gangnam Style, this book is for you. And even for someone who knows a bit about the subject, this is a handy book to browse. For me, as an occasional lurker and puzzled observer in K-pop fan forums, there were several moments of minor revelation. Ah, … [Read More]
Book review: The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure
Si King and Dave Myers: The Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure BBC / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2014, 319 pp There are plenty of Asian cookery books out there, but I can’t think of a western recipe book that focuses on Korean cuisine. The Korean cookery books that are in my own library are written by Koreans. … [Read More]
K-Pop Now! by Mark James Russell – coming soon from Tuttle Publishing
At LKL, we loved Mark James Russell’s first book on the Korean entertainment industry, Pop Goes Korea. So we’re looking forward to his follow-up, focusing more narrowly on K-pop, which is due to be launched in April from Tuttle Publishing. It’s already available for preorder on Amazon.co.uk. Below is the official press release, or you … [Read More]
Twinsters featured in Metro
The heartwarming story of two identical twins from Busan being adopted and brought up in separate continents made it into London freesheet the Metro yesterday. Samantha and Anais, having successfully raised $30,000 for phase 1 of an autobiographical documentary project on Kickstarter, are now looking to raise $80,000 for post-production. They are over a quarter … [Read More]
In a bookshop yesterday…
No, this is not *my* bookshelf (it’s part of the Korean section at the university bookshop yesterday), though I do have a couple of these. I don’t have the yellow one, and don’t propose buying it. But I really recommend Sonia Ryang’s Reading North Korea – a look at how North Korea’s relationship with the … [Read More]
Book review: Martin Limón — The Joy Brigade
Martin Limón’s eighth novel in the Ernie Bascom and George Sueño series covers new ground in many respects. It is the first novel in which we see Sueño on his own, not accompanied by his buddy Bascom. And it is the first time that Limon has ventured to locate the plot in North Korea. This … [Read More]
Twinsters book deal announced
That sure is fast work: Twinsters Sam Futurman and Anais Bordier have signed a deal for the book of the film – and the film isn’t even made yet. According to AP, Penguin’s US affiliate G.P Putnam’s Sons will be publishing the memoir, which will be coming out in late 2014 – in time for … [Read More]
Eerie Tales from Old Korea – republished 100 years on
100 years ago, Homer B Hulbert and James Scarth Gale translated and published “Eerie Tales from Old Korea”, a collection of Korean ghost stories. Now Brother Anthony of Taize has handpicked some of those tales, and Seoul Selection has republished them to celebrate the 150th birthdays of Gale and Hulbert. It’s definitely going on to … [Read More]
Orphan Master wins Pulitzer
At LKL we were lukewarm, but we don’t mind being in the minority. So congratulations to Adam Johnson for winning the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, “for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life,” with The Orphan Master’s Son. Source: www.pulitzer.org [Read More]
Chung Hye-seung’s monograph on Kim Ki-duk is a must-read, and readable, study of Korea’s maverick director
Chung Hye-seung: Kim Ki-duk (Contemporary Film Directors series) University of Illinois Press, 2012, 161pp When is the right time to publish a monograph on a living film director? With the KOFIC collection of books, the schedule appears more driven by wanting to get a complete set of directors covered as soon as possible. For a … [Read More]
Royal Ancestors makes it onto Amazon.com
I was taken a bit by surprise when I was introduced at the KCCUK’s fifth birthday dinner as “Author of Royal Ancestors and Ancient Remedies.” I had almost forgotten. But coincidentally, a correspondent has just told me that it’s now available on Amazon.com. Some enterprising organisation has picked up a free copy or two from … [Read More]
You followed the blog, now buy the book
You’ll probably have visited Kim Jong Il Looking at Things once in a while for some gentle entertainment at the expense of the late Dear Leader and his propaganda unit. The blog closed in December 2012, a year after his death, but now you can buy the book, from Jean Boîte Éditions, price EUR24 plus … [Read More]