Here is some of the fiction we’ve read over the years, together with a highly subjective rating. The ratings system is explained here. Some of the titles below don’t have links to reviews. Those are the ones where we liked or disliked a book but have not yet found words to describe why. (Keep visiting this page – there’s a backlog of earlier reviews that I haven’t yet had a chance to include in this list)
F = a more or less Full length review
S = a Short, mini-review – a one or two-liner
| Author | Title | Original title / year | F/S | Rating |
| Korean literature in translation | ||||
| Ahn Do-hyun | The Salmon Who Dared to Leap Higher | 연어, 1996 | F |   |
| Ahn Junghyo | White Badge | 하얀전쟁, 1983 | F |  |
| Ahn Junghyo | Silver Stallion | 1986 | F | |
| Bae Myung-hoon | Tower | 타워, 2009 | F | |
| Bae Suah | A Higway with Green Apples | 푸른 사과가 있는 국도, 1995 | – | |
| Bae Suah | Nowhere to be Found | 철수, 1998 | – | |
| Bae Suah | A Greater Music | 에세이스트의 책상, 2003 | S | * |
| Bae Suah | Untold Night and Day | 알려지지 않은 밤과 하루, 2013 | F | |
| Bandi | The Accusation | 고발, 2014 | F | |
| Chae Man-sik | Peace under Heaven | 태평천하, 1938 | S | |
| Cheon Myeong-kwan | Modern Family | 고령화 가족, 2010 | F | |
| Cheon Un-yeong | The Catcher in the Loft | 생강, 2010 | F | |
| Cho Chongnae | How in Heaven’s Name | 오 하느님 / 사람의 탈 | F | |
| Cho Nam-joo | Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 | 82년생 김지영, 2016 | F | |
| Choe Yun | There a Petal Silently Falls | 저기 소리 없이 한 점 꽃잎이 지고, 1992 | F | |
| Gong Ji-young | Our Happy Time | 우리들의 행복한 시간, 2005 | F | |
| Ha Seong-nan | Flowers of Mold | 곰팡이꽃, 1999 | S | |
| Haïlji | The Republic of Užupis | 우주피스 공화국, 2009 | F | |
| Han Kang | The Vegetarian | 채식주의자, 2007 | F | |
| Han Kang | Human Acts | 소년이 온다, 2014 | F | |
| Han Kang | The White Book | 흰, 2016 | S | * |
| Han Yujoo | The Impossible Fairy Tale | 불가능한 동화 , 2013 | F | |
| Hwang Jungeun | I’ll Go On | 계속해보겠습니다, 2014 | F | |
| Hwang Jungeun | One Hundred Shadows | 百의 그림자, 2010 | F | |
| Hwang Sok-yong | Shadow of Arms | 무기의 그늘, 1985 | – | |
| Hwang Sok-yong | The Old Garden | 오래된 정원, 2000 | F | |
| Hwang Sok-yong | The Guest | 손님, 2001 | S | |
| Hwang Sok-yong | Princess Bari | 바리데기, 2007 | F | |
| Hwang Sok-yong | Familiar Things | 낯익은 세상, 2011 | – | |
| Hwang Sok-yong | At Dusk | 해질 무렵, 2015 | F | |
| Hwang Sun-mi | The Hen who Dreamed she could Fly | 마당을 나온 암탉, 2000 | F | |
| Hwang Sun-won | The Descendants of Cain | 카인의 후예, 1954 | F | |
| Hwang Sun-won | Trees on a Slope | 나무들 비탈에 서다, 1960 | F | |
| Hwang Sun-won | Lost Souls | 1940 – 1957 | F | |
| Hyun Ki-young | Sun-i Samch’on | 순이삼촌, 1978 | F | |
| Hyun Kil-un | Dead Silence and other stories of the Jeju Massacre | 1980s | F | |
| Jang Eun-jin | No One Writes Back | 아무도 편지하지 않다, 2009 | F | |
| Jang Jung-il | When Adam Opens His Eyes | 아담이 눈뜰 때, 1990 | F | |
| Jeon Sungtae | Wolves | 늑대, 2009 | F | |
| Jeong You-jeong | Seven Years of Darkness | 7년의 밤, 2011 | F | |
| Jeong You-jeong | The Good Son | 종의 기원, 2016 | F | |
| Jo Kyung-ran | Tongue | 혀, 2007 | S | |
| Jung Young-moon | A Chain of Dark Tales | 검은 이야기 사슬, 1998 | F | |
| Kang Kyong-ae | From Wonso Pond | 인간문제, 1934 | F | |
| Kang Sok-kyong | The Valley Nearby | 가까운 골짜기, 1989 | F | |
| Kim Bo-young | Kim Bo-young – I’m Waiting for You, and other stories (audiobook) | 당신을 기다리고 있어, 2015 | F | |
| Kim In-suk | The Long Road | 먼 길, 1995 | F | |
| Kim Joo-young | Stingray | 홍어, 1998 | F | |
| Kim Namcheon | Scenes from the Enlightenment | 대하, 1939 | F | * |
| Kim Sagwa | Mina | 미나, 2008 | F | |
| Kim Sagwa | b, Book, and Me | 나b책, 2011 | F | |
| Kim Soom | One Left | 한 명, 2016 | F | |
| Kim Sung-dong | Mandala | 만다라, 1978 | F | |
| Kim Un-su | The Plotters | 설계자들, 2010 | F | |
| Kim Young-ha | I have the right to destroy myself | 나는 나를 파괴할 권리가 있다, 1996 | S | |
| Kim Young-ha | Black Flower | 검은 꽃, 2003 | F | |
| Kim Young-ha | Your Republic is Calling You | 빛의 제국, 2006 | F | |
| Kim Young-ha | I hear your voice | 너의 목소리가 들려, 2012 | – | |
| Kim Young-ha | Diary of a Murderer | 살인자의 기억법, 2013 | F | |
| Kwon Yeo-sun | Lemon | 레몬, 2019 | F | |
| Lee Ji-min | Marilyn and Me | 나와마릴린, 2009 | F | |
| Lee Jung-myung | The Investigation | F | |
|
| Lee Jung-myung | The Boy who Escaped Paradise | 천국의 소년, 2013 | F | |
| Lee Ki-ho | At Least we can Apologize | 사과는 잘해요, 2009 | F | |
| Lee Seung-u | The Reverse Side of Life | 생의 이면, 1992 | S | |
| Oh Jung-hee | The Bird | 새, 2003 | S | |
| Paek Nam Nyong | Friend | 1988 | F | |
| Park Kyung-ni | Curse of Kim’s Daughters | 김약국의 딸들, 1962 | S | * |
| Park Kyung-ni | Land | 토지, 1969 – 1994 | S | * |
| Park Min-gyu | Pavane for a Dead Princess | 죽은 왕녀를 위한 파반느, 2009 | F | |
| Park Wan-suh | Who Ate Up All The Shinga? | 그 많던 싱아는 누가 다 먹었을까?, 1992 | F | |
| Park Wan-suh | Lonesome You | 너무도 쓸쓸한 당신, 1998 | F | |
| Pyun Hye-young | Evening Proposal | 저녁의 구애, 2011 | F | |
| Pyun Hye-young | The Hole | 홀, 2016 | F | |
| Pyun Hye-young | City of Ash and Red | 재와 빨강, 2010 | F | |
| Pyun Hye-young | Law of Lines | 선의 법칙, 2015 | F | |
| Shin Kyung-sook | The Girl who Wrote Loneliness | 외딴방, 1995 | F | |
| Shin Kyung-sook | Please Look After Mother | 엄마를 부탁해, 2008 | F | |
| Shin Kyung-sook | I’ll be right there | 어디선가 나를 찾는 전화벨이 울리고, 2010 | F | |
| Song Sokze | The Amusing Life | 재미나는 인생, 1997 | F | |
| Yi Chong-jun | Your Paradise | 당신들의 천국, 1976 | S | |
| Yi Chong-jun | The Abject | The Wounded | 벌레 이야기, 1985 | 병신과 머저리, 1966 | – | |
| Yi Chong-jun | Seopyeonje, the Southerners’ Songs | 1976 | – | |
| Yi Chong-jun | The Prophet and other stories | 1968 – 1985 | – | |
| Yi In-hwa | Everlasting Empire | 영원한 제국, 1993 | F | |
| Yi Kwang-su | The Soil | 흙, 1932-3 | F | |
| Yi Kwang-su | The Heartless / Mujeong | 무정 / 無情, 1917- | – | |
| Yi Mun-yol | Our Twisted Hero | 우리들의 일그러진 영웅, 1987 | F | |
| Yi Mun-yol | The Poet | 시인, 1992 | S | |
| Yun Ko-eun | The Disaster Tourist | 밤의 여행자들, 2013 | F | |
| Short story anthologies | ||||
| Fulton (tr) | Waxen Wings (2011) | 1936 – 2006 | F | |
| Fulton (tr) | The Future of Silence (2016) | 1974 – 2013 | F | |
| Chung Chong-wha (ed) | Modern Korean Literature — An Anthology (1995) | 1908 – 1965 | F | |
| Pre-modern fiction | ||||
| Heo Kyun (attr) | The Story of Hong Gildong (2018) | F | |
|
| Virtuous Women – three classic Korean novels (1974) (Chunhyang, Queen Inyhon, Nine Cloud Dream) | S | |
||
| The Tale of Cho Ung | S | |
||
| Literature in English | ||||
| Bracht, Mary Lynn | White Chrysanthemum | 2018 | F | |
| Buck, Pearl | Living Reed | 1963 | F | |
| Cha, Theresa Hak Kyung | Dictée | 1982 | F | |
| Chang, Leonard | Fruit ‘n’ Food | 1996 | F | |
| Chang, Leonard | Fade to Clear | 2004 | F | |
| Church, James | Inspector O series | 2006 – 2016 | F | |
| Hong, Y Euny | Kept | 2006 | F | |
| Johnson, Adam | The Orphan Master’s Son | 2012 | F | |
| Kaiser, Robert A | Project Yellow Sky | 2006 | F | |
| Kim, Crystal Hana | If You Leave Me | 2018 | S | |
| Kim, Eugenia | Kinship of Secrets | 2018 | S | |
| Kim, Eugenia | The Calligrapher’s Daughter | 2010 | F | |
| Kim, Hyejin | Jia – a novel of North Korea | 2007 | S | |
| Kim, Richard E | The Martyred | 1964 | F | |
| Kwon, R.O. | The Incendiaries | 2018 | S | * |
| Lee, Julayne | Not My White Savior | 2018 | S | |
| Lee, Krys | Drifting House | 2012 | – | |
| Lee, Krys | How I Became a North Korean | 2016 | – | |
| Lee, Min Jin | Pachinko | 2017 | S | |
| Lee, Min Jin | Free Food for Millionaires | 2007 | F | |
| Lee, Young-im | Forgotten Reflections | 2017 | S | |
| Limón, Martin | Sergeants Sueño & Bascom series | 1992 – present | F | |
| McMillan, Ron | Yin Yang Tattoo | 2010 | F | |
| Michell, Hannah | The Defections | 2014 | F | |
| Phillips, Jayne Anne | Lark and Termite | 2009 | F | |
| Watkins, Yoko Kawashima | So Far from the Bamboo Grove | 1986 | F | |
| Literature in other languages | ||||
| Yu Miri | Tokyo Ueno Station | JR上野駅公園口, 2014 | – | |
| Kim Sok-pom | The Curious Tale of Mandogi’s Ghost | 万徳幽霊奇譚, 1970 | F | |
| Yuasa Katsuei | Two Japanese Colonial Novels | 1934-5 | F | |
| Le Clezio, JMG | Bitna | Bitna, sous le ciel de Séoul, 2017 | – | |
* Indicates that I gave up on this book. Maybe if I had got to the end I would rate it higher, but life’s too short to battle through when you’re not enjoying what you’re reading.