Play Book Tag discussion

The culture theme for March is...

South Korea, nominated by Joi, Charlotte, and Susie!

This thread will be used for a couple of purposes:
• Announcing the culture (done!)
• Planning and discussing what books you would like to read (let the planning commence!)
• Reviewing your books starting March 1 . Books read and reviewed before that will not count.

Finally, if you want to read a book for the culture challenge in March, but it does NOT fit South Korea, that is totally fine too! You can still review it here for one participation point. Books that do fit the Portugal culture will receive two participation points.

Will everyone please put at the top of their review the culture they are reading for, whether it is South Korea or another culture just to help me with scoring and to serve as a guide for others who are reading your review. Thanks!

Clarification of Reporting Guidelines

The goal of the Expanding Your PBT Horizons Challenge is to read 12 books from other cultures throughout the year, which means you can read one a month or all 12 in January or any conceivable combination between the two. However, there are monthly culture themes added to the mix which makes for some unique reporting conflicts that the admins did not think of when posting the challenge. Thank you to Nancy for pointing it out!

The admins spoke and we tried to make this as fair and as simple as possible, so here are the three easy points to follow:

1) Each month there is a culture theme. If you choose to read for the theme—which is not mandatory—then you must read your book that fits that theme and post the review within the assigned month. You will receive 2 participation points per review and you can read more than 1 book, but each book counts toward your ultimate cap of 12 books for the year. *you can read more than 12 books if you like, but you only get points for this challenge for up to 12*

2) For books you read for the Culture Challenge that do not fit the monthly culture theme, you can do one of two things:

2a) You can post the books each month as you read them and simply label them as not fitting the monthly culture theme and stating what culture they fit. However, there are no "take backs" and once you report a book this way for 1 participation point, it counts to your total of 12 books.

2b) Alternatively, if you want to try to maximize your reads for the monthly culture theme, you can read other cultures throughout the year and wait to report them until late in December for 1 participation point each. An important point to this though is that even if you read a book in March and have been holding off on reporting it until the end of the year and then it happens to fit the December culture, you still only get 1 participation point for it because you did not read it in December.

Also, this only applies for the Culture Challenge. You should still write a review and post it in the monthly tag or nonmonthly tag folder in the month that you read it for regular PBT participation points.

Hmmm - will need to see what I have on my endless TBR (as this is year of dedicated trimming of it!) -- otherwise I will just have to read something else. I think Pachinko predates the splitting of Korea into North and South, so won't qualify.

Theresa wrote: "I think Pachinko predates the splitting of Korea into North and South, so won't qualify."

This is a personal judgment call and the admins will not be policing it. Just in case anyone else is considering this book!

For me personally, I would potentially consider it if takes place in present day South Korea as it would still speak to that geographic area but from a more historical viewpoint. However—again for me personally—if it clearly took place in a location that is in current-day North Korea, then I would probably not count it.

Also, if I found the right book that talked about current North Korea/South Korean relations (oooo, or maybe about the Korean War) or a nonfiction book that talked about the political lead-up to the North/South split, then I personally would also consider those

Again, it is up to each of the individual people reading for the challenge, but my examples highlight alternative ways of thinking of it. Just food for thought!

Nicole R wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I think Pachinko predates the splitting of Korea into North and South, so won't qualify."

This is a personal judgment call and the admins will not be policing it. Just in case anyo..."

Pachinko is historical fiction set in early 1900s and mostly documenting the emigration of a Korean family from Korea to Japan and their experiences of racism and difficulties assimilating in Japan. Although they leave from an island near Busan which is in South Korea. Still, I don't think I would shoehorn it in. But will check other work by the author because I do think if a historical novel is set in the area now identified as South Korea, even one set just before the Korean War, it would fit as providing perspective.

Nicole R wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I think Pachinko predates the splitting of Korea into North and South, so won't qualify."

This is a personal judgment call and the admins will not be policing it. Just in case anyo..."

Ok-Theresa -you just got me to add a book.......I have to stop!!

Ooh, interesting choice!
I'm going for The Birth of Korean Cool because it looks like a fun light read that will hopefully also shed a bit of light on the history & culture of South Korea. (Also because an old friend from school has become a total K-pop fan after being introduced to it by her daughter, and this might give me some idea what she's going on about...)
For anyone looking for ideas, I found this one on this list: https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

I have The Plotters on my TBR and Theresa's recommendation Pachinko looks good-BUT GUESS WHAT AMY-both are checked out at my library...
I am next in line for both, but we know how my luck runs..

Joanne wrote: "Nicole R wrote: "Theresa wrote: "I think Pachinko predates the splitting of Korea into North and South, so won't qualify."

This is a personal judgment call and the admins will not be policing it. ..

Ok-Theresa -you just got me to add a book.......I have to stop!!."

*grins evilly* - at least it is already on MY TBR!

HOORAY! The culture I was most hoping would get chosen!

I can help be anyone SK "ambassador". Haha. Let's break down some recommendations into "categories"
Please note although I've read the majority of these, I haven't read ALL of them (yet), and these are just suggestions without doing research.

Popular Fiction set in SK
Pachinko
The Calligrapher's Daughter- which I would be reading if it weren't on my Trim the TBR list
If You Leave Me
White Chrysanthemum
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See which comes out March 5th

May Be Depressing Books about SK (but worth it!)
Comfort Woman
Still Life With Rice: A Young American Woman Discovers the Life and Legacy of Her Korean Grandmother

Popular Korean books that became translated then popular here:
Please Look After Mom- warning- has 2nd person narrative
The Vegetarian-
I'll Be Right There

SK True Crime
Court TV Presents: Murder in Room 103

SK Characters in Popular Fiction (may or may not fit Horizons as these are set in the US)
Eleanor & Park
A Visit from the Goon Squad
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
Free Food for Millionaires: A Novel
My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store


I plan on reading Nicole Chung's All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir about being a SK adoptee. Just got off a bad adoption book, and this has gotten rave review by my adoptee friends.

Also, if I can I want to read one from the above "Popular Fiction set in SK" list. Probably The Island of Sea Women , If You Leave Me, or White Chrysanthemum

#end novel

Pachinko is historical fiction set in early 1900s and mostly documenting the emigration of a Korean family from Korea to Japan and their experiences of racism and difficulties assimilating in Japan."

I think Pachinko would definitely count for this challenge. Despite the fact that the majority of the book is not physically set in SK, the bulk of the book is dealing with the characters identity of being Korean, and how this is effected by being exiled to Japan.

I need to do some research before I add my thoughts in. The Calligrapher’s Daughter was great - Joanne, Rachel, Barbara, (anyone) I highly recommend it... Thanks for your list, Joi. I am pretty sure If You Leave Me is on my TBR! I of course need to closely search my TBR for suggestions.

I have The Island of Sea Women preordered so I'll go with that. I read White Chrysanthemum in December and thought it was really good. I also have The Calligrapher's Daughter and might try to fit that in too.

Joi, thank you so much for the insight! I am currently perusing PBT while waiting at the grocery store deli counter but I want to look over that much more closely when I get home!!

Ladies, (and Gentlemen), I have absolutely Fantastic News! It took me about 1/2 an hour to peruse my TBR closely, and I can report that I have like ten books on Iran. So I hope that gets picked sometime. Possibly 12. But, the only South Korea book is If You Leave Me - which friends.... Da Da Da Da.... Is actually also a Debut! No kidding! And that is wonderful, because my Trim is not!

Yay!!! I'm so excited!! I have a friend getting ready to move there and another really close friend that is from there. It's at the top of my list of places that I haven't visited but I'm dying to because my list of friend living or have lived there just keeps growing!!!

Thank you Joi for providing the list of possibilities!! I can't wait!!

Would you believe, I have nothing on my TBR?

Here are some that caught my interest:
Still Life With Rice: A Young American Woman Discovers the Life and Legacy of Her Korean Grandmother, Thanks Joi.
The Island of Sea Women: A Novel
The Kinship of Secrets
The Good Son
The Plotters

Joi wrote: "HOORAY! The culture I was most hoping would get chosen!

I can help be anyone SK "ambassador". Haha. Let's break down some recommendations into "categories"
Please note although I've read the major..."

Okay, White Chrysanthemum and The Island of Sea Women are my top contenders....

And White Chrysanthemum is a debut novel!

And it is available immediately on audio from my library!

I've added The Calligrapher's Daughter to my TBR even though I don't think I'll get to it next month - would be nice if I did though, since it's a debut! Thanks for the tips Joi :-)

Just my 2 cents on A Visit from the Goon Squad. I don't think I learned anything about Korea at all from the book, though admittedly it's been a long time and my memory is suspect.

Nicole R wrote: "Joi wrote: "HOORAY! The culture I was most hoping would get chosen!

I can help be anyone SK "ambassador". Haha. Let's break down some recommendations into "categories"
Please note although I've re..."

Woohoo! Bonus points, plus immediately available.

I'm really interested in modern books about the relationships between South Korea and other countries, especially North Korea and China.

I just read Caregivers by Samuel Park (I loved it), and I see that his debut book was set in South Korea, so I'll try this first: This Burns My Heart

Nikki, it’s really great! (calligraphers Daughter). I can easily recommend it.

That’s good to know, Nancy... I will look it up.

I've got Pachinko on audible ready to go ...

But I'm tempted to try If You Leave Me or White Chrysanthemum

Wow, I might have one on my tbr that fits this one!
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
by Sun-Mi Hwang

Awesome! I’m not sure what to read yet. Perhaps The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee, or Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro.

LibraryCin wrote: "Wow, I might have one on my tbr that fits this one!
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly
by Sun-Mi Hwang"

I loved this one!
I also really liked The Vegetarian by Han Kang, but could see it being disturbing for some.

I still have to read Comfort Woman, so I’ll try to finally finish it.

Amy wrote: "I need to do some research before I add my thoughts in. The Calligrapher’s Daughter was great - Joanne, Rachel, Barbara, (anyone) I highly recommend it... Thanks for your list, Joi. I am pretty sur..."

Thanks Amy, going to check if the library has this one-

I think I'll read The Good Son. It sounds interesting since the author is referred to as the South Korean version of Stephen King. My library has this so I should be good to go.

Charlotte wrote: "It's at the top of my list of places that I haven't visited but I'm dying to because my list of friend living or have lived there just keeps growing!!! "

South Korea is such an amazing vacation spot- super underrated. Flights may be expensive-but Seattle has direct flights to Seoul, and once you are there the hotels, food, tourist things are very inexpensive. Sounds like you have some resources, but let me know if you ever go and want hotel recommendations, or things to do- I have lists, lol.

I totally forgot about The Investigation. Haven't read it personally, but it has been on a couple PBT top 10 lists for previous years.

This month is NOT going to help me trim the TBR. I've already added books on that people are suggesting/considering here!!

So excited for the group to be reading about my FAVORITE PLACE in the world!

I've been having trouble with the Horizon books.
I keep not getting to them in time.

I have a short contemporary stories for Iraq, that I've only started, I have a really good Portuguese book that I will most likely not finish in time, and now I find it hard to chose one for S Korea

but I looked at some blogs and saw an author that sounds weird and interesting - Park Min-Gyu... (but not much translated)

more options - Human Acts sounds interesting
or maybe The Vegetarian

also - reddit has a wiki page with recommendation for world literature. Every week they add another country. For example - this coming wednesday is Kosovo.
It's worth searching their entries whenever there's a new country

www.reddit.com/r/books/wiki/literatureof

Idit, remember it is not a strict requirement that you read the Horizons monthly theme! Or even that you read a book a month. So feel free to read any other culture that strikes your fancy!

Wow, my library has most of the Korean books on my list (except Pachinko), so I'll have a much easier time with Horizons in March than in February. Many are pre-civil war, so I don't know if the settings were in the north or south. I'm not sure it matters, as it was one country at the time, and presumably one culture.

I don't plan to start the culture books until I'm done with Golem & Jinni, and Woman in the Window. I'll be reading all your reviews to help me decide which Korean book(s) to dig into first.

I think I'm going to read The Calligrapher's Daughter since it's been recommended by multiple people and looks really good. Plus it's a debut!

There you go Magdalena. You probably won’t be alone.

Susie wrote: "Awesome! I’m not sure what to read yet. Perhaps The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee, or Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro."

I loved The Investigation

First thought was Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. But I also have a classic manga series on my shelf that is very much about traditional Korean culture: Histoire Couleur Terre Tome 1 by Kim Dong Hwa.

From the English edition - Colour of Earth:
In the tradition of My Antonia and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, from the pen of the renowned Korean manwha creator Kim Dong Hwa, comes a trilogy about a girl coming of age, set in the vibrant, beautiful landscape of pastoral Korea.

Just added to Mt TBR:
The Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong,
The Plotters by Un-su Kim,
City of Ash and Red by Hye-Young Pyun

Amy wrote: "I need to do some research before I add my thoughts in. The Calligrapher’s Daughter was great - Joanne, Rachel, Barbara, (anyone) I highly recommend it... Thanks for your list, Joi. I am pretty sur..."

Thanks for the recommendation Amy! Just placed a hold on this book.

Idit wrote: "also - reddit has a wiki page with recommendation for world literature. Every week they add another country. For example - this coming wednesday is Kosovo.
It's worth searching their entries whene..."

Great source! Thanks for sharing, I have book marked it!

Always got your back, Rachel.

A Single Shard sounds very appealing to me because of the artistry of the pottery. It might turn out to be just for kids, but I'll see.

Sushicat wrote: "First thought was Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. But I also have a classic manga series on my shelf that is very much about traditional Korean culture...

Happy to see you mention The Color of Earth, Sushicat. It's waiting for me on my library's hold shelf right now.

I also put the audio for White Chrysanthemum on hold and it should be available in about two weeks. Thanks for the recommendation, Joi!

Why do so many of these books seem to be thrillers? I had a similar problem looking for Icelandic books for a different challenge. I just do not like thrillers, especially when they dip into gratuitous violence/gore/body horror. I also only want to read authors from the culture in question, rather than just set in that culture, which adds an extra level of difficulty in choosing a book I'll like.

My top two contenders at the moment are A Single Shard (bc I gotta keep up with my MG and YA reading even if the author is Korean-American) and The Story of Hong Gildong (bc I love classics of all stripes). I've also put Please Look After Mom on hold at the library to round out with some contemporary adult lit.

Lauren wrote: "Why do so many of these books seem to be thrillers? I had a similar problem looking for Icelandic books for a different challenge. I just do not like thrillers, especially when they dip into gratui..."

I am also looking for authors from the culture. Here are some I found. They all seemed very literary and many seem like they will be hard emotional reads.

The Color of Water (graphic novel, bonus my library has it available)
The Hole (this one is a thriller)
Human Acts
Meeting with My Brother
Our Happy Time (manga)
Recitation
One Hundred Shadows
The Guest
No One Writes Back
The Girl Who Wrote Loneliness
At Least We Can Apologize
The Island
The Dog Thief: Short Stories by Chul-Woo Lim
A Greater Music (this looks like it may actually take place in Berlin)
Your Republic Is Calling You

Cora wrote: "Lauren wrote: "Why do so many of these books seem to be thrillers? I had a similar problem looking for Icelandic books for a different challenge. I just do not like thrillers, especially when they ..."

I considered a couple of those, but my library doesn't have most of them. I'm gonna request The Color of Earth though; thanks for reminding me of that series.

Amy wrote: "Always got your back, Rachel."

I know it.:)

Idit wrote: "I've been having trouble with the Horizon books.
I keep not getting to them in time.

I have a short contemporary stories for Iraq, that I've only started, I have a really good Portuguese book th..."

I don't think it matters - the way I think of it is that each month I add at least one book from the chosen culture to my queue (not a vague TBR list, my actual short-term queue, e.g. adding myself to the hold list at the library) - so for the months that I don't get to (e.g. Portugal is looking unlikely as I requested Night Train to Lisbon but the copies currently checked out all have March due dates) I'll still be broadening my horizons by reading them over the course of the year. Hope that makes sense!