A bleak, heartbreaking collection of Korean historical fiction about poverty, survival, and the brutal divide between those with money and those without. These stories don’t soften anything, especially the final one, “The Underground Village,” which is hard to forget.

A quiet, thoughtful YA novel about a soul given a second chance inside the body of a boy who has died by suicide. Gentle, but not shallow, and surprisingly good at reminding you how much you don’t see in other people, or in yourself.

I went into Hunger expecting horror. I didn’t expect to finish it in tears. This is an intense, intimate love story told through grief, desperation, and a choice that refuses to let death be final.

My first time reading Ichiyo Higuchi, and I didn’t expect to love it this much. Five Meiji-era stories set in working-class Tokyo, full of sharp observation and women who feel real on the page. “Troubled Waters” and “Growing Pains” were standouts, and the new translation reads beautifully.

A Magical Girl Retires looks light at first, but it doesn’t take long to see how much it’s holding. What begins as a playful premise quietly takes on debt, burnout, climate anxiety, and the cost of trying to do good in a world that feels close to breaking.

A woman claims she’s pregnant to stop being taken advantage of at work. The lie works immediately, and that’s where the book gets interesting. Diary of a Void is funny in a quiet way, sharp without shouting, and honest about how conditional basic respect can be.

A gentle Japanese healing novel set in an in-between café, where a messenger cat delivers “souls” between the living and the dead. Familiar in structure, but sincere, with one chapter that hit me more personally than I expected.

At Dusk follows one man’s life while moving quietly through modern Korean history. As Park Minwoo reflects on his past, the novel traces postwar development, political change, and economic growth without ever turning them into spectacle.

This is a layered, carefully constructed book that trusts the reader. History remains in the background, shaping the characters without overt explanation. It’s a novel that asks for patience and rewards close attention.

If I Had Your Face follows four young women living in Seoul, each navigating life under the weight of Korea’s beauty standards, economic pressure, and limited choices. Their paths are different, but they intersect through shared spaces and shared constraints.

This is not a light read. The book looks closely at how beauty functions as a kind of currency and how survival sometimes requires choices that feel impossible from the outside. It’s raw in places and often bleak, but it remains true to its characters. For me, it was worth sitting with.

This book introduces the life and work of Chiyo-ni (1703–1775), one of Japan’s most celebrated haiku poets and a woman who built a literary life in a world that rarely made space for women. Poet, artist, and later a Buddhist nun, Chiyo-ni lived a life shaped by both discipline and quiet observation.

The book moves from her life and historical context into her poetry, presenting the haiku in multiple forms alongside artwork, calligraphy, and helpful explanations. It’s not a book to rush through. It asks you to slow down, read carefully, and return to certain pages more than once. Some poems need guidance to fully open up. Others arrive whole.

A sad but gentle healing novel that knows exactly what it’s doing. The Calico Cat at the Chibineko Kitchen follows people carrying deep grief as they share meals that allow them one brief moment with someone they’ve lost.

A strange and unsettling collection of Korean speculative stories that resist explanation. With the Heart of a Ghost sits with grief, loneliness, and transformation, letting meaning hover just out of reach rather than spelling it out.

A practical, emotionally grounded memoir about two women who choose to build a life together as chosen family. Two Women Living Together looks honestly at compromise, independence, and what it means to create a good life on your own terms.

A strange, playful book that keeps shifting its tone and direction. When the Museum Is Closed leans into oddness, quiet humor, and moments of connection that don’t follow logic so much as feeling. What stayed with me wasn’t the premise itself, but the way the book pays attention to who gets to move freely, who is observed, and how women carve out space for one another.

A quiet, observational book that pays close attention to how people think, move, and exist inside time. The End of the Moment We Had isn’t driven by plot so much as by interior life, small interactions, and emotional distance. What stayed with me most wasn’t the larger structure of the book, but a moment of stillness and recognition in its second piece, where nothing dramatic happens and yet everything feels familiar.

Three unsettling novellas about obsession, cruelty, and the danger hiding inside ordinary life. Ogawa’s writing is beautiful, which somehow makes the stories even more disturbing.

Cover of A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang, a cozy Korean magical realism novel about a midnight bakery for spirits seeking closure.