Just some things we’ve come across:
1) Over at Philip Gowman’s excellent London Korean Links is another chapter in his recent exploits in Korea. Interesting in this case, for a discussion of The House of Choi Champan (and general discussion of ‘authenticity’), where Toji (토지, The Land, written by Park Kyung-ni) was filmed. At the end, Gowman discusses the importance of The Land to Korea and its literature.
It’s worth a look and the entire road-trip series is generally pretty interesting.
2) Over at the ROK Drop a review of a book written in English but sited in Korea. Yin Yang Tattoo is by Ron McMillan and the Drop summarizes:
Here are some things about the book that I liked:
* As mentioned the setting in South Korea, rare for a English language novel.
* Being in the military it was interesting to read about the business expat perspective on Korea that I know little about.
* The book I thought flowed well and was a quick read.Here are somethings I didn’t like:
* McMillan does add some tidbits about Korean customs and culture in the book, but I would liked to have seen more historical tidbits about Korean locales and buildings.
* The main character in the book I didn’t really care for…..
3) An interesting blog/thingie over in Gwangju. The Gwangju Blog covers a variety of things including Korean Literature. Here is a review of Photo Shop Murder and Whatever Happened to the Guy in the Elevator? (ALAS, this link has rotted) I am pleased to say the reviewer shows excellent taste, and likes both of them. 😉 He has also written reviews of some of the other Portable Library books, which I will link as I go along.