Most Popular
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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‘Blue Avenue’ channels classic noir
Blue AvenueBy Michael Wiley (Severn House)Jacksonville, Florida, author Michael Wiley takes a measured walk on the dark side in his intriguing thriller “Blue Avenue” that channels classic noir author James M. Cain and the Coen Brothers’ debut film, “Blood Simple.”While Wiley’s fourth novel launches his new series about Jacksonville police detective Daniel Turner, “Blue Avenue” belongs to shady businessman William “BB” Byrd, whose obsessions drive the plot. Turner’s role as more of an observer al
Nov. 27, 2014
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‘Family Furnishings’ deep, surprising
The most astonishing aspect of Alice Munro’s “Family Furnishings: Selected Stories, 1995-2014” may be its chronology. The two dozen efforts here come from late in her career, after she had established herself as (perhaps) the preeminent short-fiction writer of her time.Munro’s first book came out in 1968; she had already received pretty much every award possible before winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 2013. Yet rather than fall into any sort of expected pattern, she has, as Jane Smiley n
Nov. 27, 2014
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‘See You in Paradise’ plays with genre
See You in ParadiseBy J. Robert Lennon (Graywolf Press)“Most contemporary literary fiction is terrible: mannered, conservative and obvious,” J. Robert Lennon stated on Salon, responding to another acclaimed writer urging students to read any new fiction they can in the major literary magazines and anthologies.This might be surprising or even hypocritical from Lennon, who is published in elite magazines like Granta and The New Yorker.But Lennon urges his students to read whatever they are natural
Nov. 27, 2014
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‘Revival’ asks if there is life after death
RevivalBy Stephen King (Scribner)A page-turning tug-of-war between reformed rocker Jamie Morton and man of faith Charles Jacobs, “Revival” (King’s second novel this year after spring’s “Mr. Mercedes”) fuses human drama with supernatural horror. As has become King’s wont over the past decade, much of the tale wrestles with the idea of mortality.The 67-year-old author has found the sweetness in aging, although his reflections upon growing older are always tinged with a little sadness and fear.Mort
Nov. 27, 2014
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Rare first Shakespeare edition found in French library
LILLE, France (AFP) ― A copy of William Shakespeare’s First Folio, the first-ever compilation of the Bard’s plays published in 1623, has been discovered in the library of an ancient port town in northern France.One of the world’s most valuable and coveted books, the First Folio was uncovered when librarian Remy Cordonnier dusted off a copy of Shakespeare’s works dating to the 18th century for an exhibition on English literature in the town of Saint-Omer near Calais.“It occurred to me that it cou
Nov. 26, 2014
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Author recounts friendship with late President Roh
Not many people can say that they were close with the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, even though he was known for his folksy disposition and down-to-earth upbringing. Kim Soo-kyung, a 65-year-old woman of many titles including poet, businesswoman and book editor, however, confidently refers to Roh (1946-2009) as one of her friends. They first met at a Korean barbecue restaurant in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, in 1989. They ate together, went to a noraebang (karaoke) with other friends and talked
Nov. 20, 2014
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Phil Klay wins U.S. book award for fiction
NEW YORK (AP) ― Phil Klay’s “Redeployment,” a debut collection of satiric and often agonized stories by an Iraq war veteran, has won the National Book Award for fiction.Klay was chosen Wednesday night over such high-profile finalists as Marilynne Robinson’s “Lila” and Emily St. John Mandel’s “Station Eleven.” His book was the first debut release to win in fiction since Julia Glass’ “The Three Junes” in 2002, the first story collection to win since Andrea Barrett’s “Ship Fever” in 1996 and the fi
Nov. 20, 2014
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Shields writes of life with mother
There was a Little Girl: The Real Story of My Mother and MeBy Brooke Shields (Dutton)Brooke Shields, the iconic model-actress-Princeton grad, entered the literary scene in 2005 with her memoir about postpartum depression. This time, she sheds light on the relationship she shared with her mother, and it’s a well-crafted and insightful read from beginning to end. It would be a shame to dismiss “There Was a Little Girl” as a celebrity tell-all. Instead, it’s a thoughtful, poignant and provoking sto
Nov. 20, 2014
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‘Woman with a Gun’ feels like movie
Woman with a GunBy Phillip Margolin (Harper)Phillip Margolin takes a lighter approach with “Woman with a Gun,” an entertaining novel that, however, lacks the tight plotting and insight into the law of his legal thrillers.Instead, “Woman with a Gun” is more like a Lifetime movie with pedantic dialogue, a few improbable twists, romance and revenge. Still, some of us like Lifetime movies and, despite its flaws, “Woman with a Gun” makes one want to know what’s behind the photograph of a woman at the
Nov. 20, 2014
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‘Rain Reign’ shows love for ‘special’ kids
Rain ReignBy Ann M. Martin (Feiwel & Friends)If Rose Howard’s family was well off, she’d be a “special” girl who was considered smart and quirky by the teachers at her private school for children who have Asperger’s syndrome.But Rose, the main character and the narrator of “Rain Reign” by Ann Martin, has a dad with a sometimes job in a garage and a career drinking in the nearby bar, so instead Rose is a bit of trouble. She disrupts her fifth-grade class, gets kicked off the school bus and bugs m
Nov. 20, 2014
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Baldacci’s novel tugs at heart strings
The EscapeBy David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)One of the most compelling characters in David Baldacci’s thrillers is John Puller, a crackerjack investigator of military crimes. In “The Forgotten” and “Zero Day,” readers learned that Puller has an older brother, Robert, who is serving a life sentence for treason. In “The Escape,” Baldacci reveals the reason for Robert’s imprisonment. The story begins on a stormy night in Kansas. There’s a major power failure at Robert’s maximum security p
Nov. 20, 2014
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‘Gutenberg’s Apprentice’ tells story of how printed Bible came to be
The world is about to change.Europe in 1450 is a godly place, and books are sacred and scarce. Each is hand-lettered by a scribe, directed by the hand of the Almighty.In Alix Christie’s telling of how Johann Gutenberg’s revolutionary printed Bible took form, overcoming the idea of a mechanically produced holy book is a serious concern. Peter Schoeffer, a young scribe who is the apprentice of the book’s title, views the idea as the work of the devil.Schoeffer, an actual historical figure who was
Nov. 20, 2014
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Herbie Hancock’s memoir recalls a creative life and all that jazz
Herbie Hancock has had the kind of career that’s unlikely to ever be duplicated. Appearing on landmark recordings with Miles Davis as well as his own band in the 1960s, Hancock memorably scaled to even greater fame while fusing jazz and funk with the Headhunters in the ’70s and becoming the first crossover hip-hop artist in the early ’80s with the Grammy-winning “Rockit.”It’s a life marked by sonic evolution and a restless, even relentless drive toward creative expression that remains undiminish
Nov. 20, 2014
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Yi Yook-sa’s poems published in English
During his short life, Yi Yook-sa (1904-44), a Korean poet and independence activist, composed only about 40 poems. Yet his compelling poems, written during the darkest period of modern Korean history, captured the heroic spirit of the Korean people’s resistance and the nationalist movement against Japanese colonial rule. “The Vertex” is an anthology of 36 of Yi’s poems, in both Korean and English, compiled and translated by Lee Sung-il, a professor emeritus of English literature at Yonsei Unive
Nov. 19, 2014
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Translation award honors Suh Ji-moon
When emeritus professor Suh Ji-moon first began translating Korean literature into English in the 1970s, she used to write by hand or use a typewriter, which required writing and retyping over and over again before submission. Though times have changed, the prominent Korean scholar with a 40-year career in teaching, research and literary translation still admits that translating is difficult, often accompanied by frustration and distress. Yet, it is a fulfilling experience, just like a time-cons
Nov. 18, 2014
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Final volume of Hockney biography
David Hockney: The Biography, 1975-2012By Christopher Simon Sykes (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday) More than halfway through the second volume of his vivid, intimate biography of British artist David Hockney, Christopher Simon Sykes describes the moment in the 1980s when Hockney discovers the creative possibilities of the photocopy machine. A natural talent who drew from the moment he could pick up a pencil, Hockney falls deeply in love with the density of copier inks ― “the most beautiful black I had
Nov. 13, 2014
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New thriller from Preston & Child
Blue LabyrinthBy Douglas Preston and/Lincoln Child (Grand Central Pulishing)A family secret over 100 years old comes back to haunt FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s latest thriller, “Blue Labyrinth.” A knock on Pendergast’s door propels the story when it’s opened to reveal a tied-up corpse. The deceased is his estranged son. What’s found on the body leads Pendergast to an abandoned mine, and as he discovers deception and treachery, he also learns uncomf
Nov. 13, 2014
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Denis Johnson explores dark side of Africa
The Laughing MonstersBy Denis Johnson (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)Denis Johnson, winner of the National Book Award for his Vietnam-era opus “Tree of Smoke,” has jumped genres again in “The Laughing Monsters,” a new thriller set in Africa. Johnson has done chameleon-like genre switches before, producing the noirish “Nobody Move” that evokes Elmore Leonard’s style and a Western of sorts, “Train Dreams,” that has a dash of Cormac McCarthy. Both books are solid works in their own right. “The Laughing M
Nov. 13, 2014
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‘Some Luck’ takes on an epic scope
Sometimes, the characters in Jane Smiley’s latest novel resemble the Osage-orange hedge that separates the field from the back acreage of Walter Langdon’s Iowa farm: “horse-high, bull-strong, and hog-tight.” Meaning they’re tough. Meaning they take what life throws at them ― drought, freezes, economic catastrophe, death, war, progress ― and carry on. Meaning any sense of optimism is hard won and that good fortune is never taken for granted: “That was a piece of luck, Walter. But what would we do
Nov. 13, 2014
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Michael Connelly’s Bosch back with a new partner, old political battles
The Burning RoomBy Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)Politics often seeps into police investigations, especially when a high-profile case has officials from the city to the state level jockeying for a piece of the action.LAPD detective Harry Bosch has seen enough of politics interfering with his investigations through the years. Now, as he supposedly enters the last year of his career, Harry is even more tired of this intrusion that erupts constantly in “The Burning Room,” the excellent 19th novel
Nov. 13, 2014