Frogs in a Well: Literary Life in North Korea ( from Publishing Perspective)

Kind of interesting. Publishing Perspective takes a look at two recent books on North Korea and tries to answer the question. “What kind of literary life is there in North Korea? ”  The arrive at:

The answer — according to two new books about the country, Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick (Spiegel & Grau) and The Cleanest Race by B.R. Myers (Melville House) — is nothing short of surprising and alarming.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in the article (besides a link to an excerpt from Demick’s book) is Demick’s claim that:

“Apparently,” she adds, “there is a list of one hundred approved books — ‘The 100 Books’ — that the elite are allowed to read.”