Most Popular
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[Weekender] Geeks have never been so chic in Korea
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N. Korea says it test-fired tactical ballistic missile with new guidance technology
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NewJeans members submit petitions over court injunction in Hybe-Ador conflict
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[News Focus] Mystery deepens after hundreds of cat deaths in S. Korea
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S. Korea's exports of instant noodles surpass $100m for 1st time in April: data
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[Herald Interview] Byun Yo-han's 'unlikable' character is result of calculated acting
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US military commander in S. Korea during Gwangju uprising dies
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US expert says N. Korea might ignore Trump if he returns to White House
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[Photo News] Seoul seeks 'best sleeper'
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Yoon vows to advance freedom, welfare to uphold spirit of 1980 pro-democracy uprising
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Hillary Clinton’s ‘Hard Choices’ makes for compelling reading
She hasn’t decided yet.Or if she has, she’s not telling.But if Hillary Rodham Clinton does run for president in 2016, her new book “Hard Choices,” a chronicle of her four years as secretary of State, leaves no room for doubt about how she might conduct foreign policy (pragmatically), how she will defend herself against charges that she mishandled the attack on the American compound in Benghazi, Libya (robustly) and about how much she regrets giving President George W. Bush carte blanche to wage
June 12, 2014
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‘Harry Quebert Affair’: Better in French?
“The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair” By Marion Winik (Newsday)I just finished “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair,” by 28-year-old Swiss writer Joel Dicker, and all I can say is, God save Europe.According to the jacket copy, this book sold a million copies in France, won three literary prizes there and was a finalist for the Prix Goncourt, while knocking Dan Brown from No. 1 spots in Italy and Spain. I am not a Brown fan, but this book makes him look like Marcel Proust.Let’s assume t
June 12, 2014
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Kidnappers turn War on Terror on head
“The Abduction”By Tish Wells(McClatchy Washington Bureau)In Jonathan Holt’s first book, he introduced readers to Capt. Kat Tapo of the Venice Carabinieri (police). She and 2nd Lieutenant Holly Boland make two interesting sleuths, along with the reclusive Daniele Barbo, creator of Carnivia, an elaborate online world that reflects Venice itself.His newest novel, “The Abduction” deals with the kidnapping of an American girl, interrogation techniques used by the United States in the War on Terror, d
June 12, 2014
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Kim Ae-ran receives French literary award
Korean author Kim Ae-ran’s short story “I Go to the Convenience Store” received this year’s French literary award “Prix de Linapercu.” (Literature Translation Institute of Korea)Korean novelist Kim Ae-ran has received a French literary award, the Prix de Linapercu, for her short story “I Go to the Convenience Store,” the Literature Translation Institute of Korea said Monday. The Prix de Linapercu, meaning “Prize for the Unnoticed,” is presented for work that received less attention than it deser
June 11, 2014
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Shin Kyung-sook’s second book published in English
Best-selling novelist Shin Kyung-sook’s latest work, “I’ll Be Right There,” was published in English in the United States last week. It is her second book to be translated into English, after her critically acclaimed 2009 novel “Please Look After Mom” was translated and published in English in 2011, selling over 2 million copies worldwide.“I’ll Be Right There” begins with protagonist Jung-yoon receiving a call from her ex-boyfriend of eight years that their beloved literature professor, who insp
June 9, 2014
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‘The Farm’ cultivates little suspense for a thriller
Tom Rob Smith’s fourth novel, “The Farm,” opens with a vivid conflict: A Londoner named Daniel receives a phone call from his father with troubling news. “Your mum’s in hospital,” the older man says. “She’s been committed.” Then the phone rings again and it’s his mother, who offers a conflicting tale. “I’m on a payphone and I don’t have much credit,” she announces. “I’m sure your father has spoken to you. Everything that man has told you is a lie.”This, of course, is the very definition of high
June 5, 2014
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How a quiet father of 6 became one of America’s most important spies
I never met CIA officer Robert Ames, though our paths overlapped in the Middle East, particularly in Beirut during some of the worst months of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. The ruins of the U.S. Embassy building where Ames met his demise in April 1983 was just down the street from my first residence when I moved to Beirut four months later.His favorite restaurants became mine. We had talked to a lot of the same figures whose names, at the time, were synonymous with Middle East danger and intrigue
June 5, 2014
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‘The Vacationers’ takes readers on an affecting, funny ride
The VacationersBy Hannah Sampson (The Miami Herald)Readers meet a kindred spirit on the opening page of Emma Straub’s winsome new novel when Jim Post worries about the contents of his suitcase: “Had he packed enough books?”Yes, this is the sort of person you ― or at least I ― wouldn’t mind passing a fictional vacation with. The fact that he is disgraced when the novel opens, forced to retire from his job as a men’s magazine editor after an affair with a 23-year-old editorial assistant, dampens t
June 5, 2014
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Nobody is innocent in compelling story of murder, race in the South
Natchez BurningBy Cindy Bagwell (The Dallas Morning News)It doesn’t pay to be one of the good guys in Greg Iles’ world.Villainous or heroic, you’re equally likely to meet a painful ― and painfully described ― end.“Natchez Burning,” the first of a trilogy and the fourth outing for Iles’ protagonist Penn Cage, begins with a warning against deifying mere mortals. Even gods have feet of clay, and in Iles’ South, they’re likely to have blood on their hands, too.Cage’s father, Tom, is suspected of kil
June 5, 2014
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Publishers, public meet at BookExpo America
NEW YORK (AP) ― Publishers and the public met last weekend at BookExpo America, the annual industry convention, and seemed to speak in different languages. If you were part of the book business, “Amazon” was a dirty word and “Hachette” an applause line as editors, booksellers, writers and agents pondered, fretted and largely refused to discuss the well-publicized and sharply-worded standoff in negotiations between the online retailer and Hachette Book Group. With terms for e-books sales reported
June 2, 2014
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‘Age of Ambition’ observes China’s split personality
For more than a year, a portion of my apartment complex in Beijing has been a construction zone; squat, old buildings have been razed, and new towers are sprouting in their stead. The area is blocked off by walls covered with large, professionally printed green banners that stretch perhaps 15 feet high. A slogan on one reads: “The China Dream, My Dream.”Such posters ― inspired by President Xi Jinping himself ― can be found all over the country, and in six brief Chinese characters, the motto unwi
May 15, 2014
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Larry McMurtry talks about his new novel
Not quite five years ago, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry greeted the arrival of his novel “Rhino Ranch” by saying it would be his last, his fiction-writing finale. But on May 7, McMurtry released his 46th book. It, too, is a novel, titled “The Last Kind Words Saloon.”So what changed?“Oh, I don’t know,” the 77-year-old icon said by phone from his bookstore in his native Archer City, Texas. “You never know about these things.”“The title is ripped off from a very legendary blues calle
May 15, 2014
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An atheist ‘Living With a Wild God’
Living With A Wild God: A Nonbeliever’s Search for the Truth About Everything By Barbara Ehrenreich (Twelve Books)“I was born to atheism and raised in it, by people who had derived their own atheism from a proud tradition of working-class rejection of authority in all its forms, whether vested in bosses or priests, gods or demons.” That sounds like the Barbara Ehrenreich we know ― the political activist and author of “Nickel and Dimed,” the feisty champion of the working poor, the professional c
May 15, 2014
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Legal thriller set in Zambia
The Garden of Burning SandBy Corban Addison(Quercus)From the opening scene of a young girl in peril to the rich conclusion of whether justice is served, “The Garden of Burning Sand” gives readers a glimpse inside the government and criminal system of Zambia ― and it may make us appreciate the American system a bit more.After authorities in the city of Lusaka are told that a girl with Down syndrome has been sexually assaulted and seems unable to speak, in comes Zoe Fleming, an American lawyer wor
May 15, 2014
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[Eye on English]The art of translating Korean texts into English
Freelance translator Yi Jin spent some 18 years translating English literature into Korean, but she is now learning to do it the other way around.“Most English novels that are translated into Korean get that opportunity because they are good,” Yi told The Korea Herald. “So it’s been very rewarding and fun to introduce them to the Korean reading public. But after many years of doing that, I thought, ‘How come Korean novels don’t get to be translated into English?’ Whenever I read good Korean nove
May 14, 2014
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How Mormonism affected 2 U.S. towns
American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon ChurchBy Alex Beam (PublicAffairs)It didn’t last long, but for a short time in the 1840s the Mississippi River town of Nauvoo was the largest city in Illinois. While most municipalities thrived on trade, Nauvoo’s propelling force was something much less tangible: faith. And that would also be the city’s downfall.Before the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ― the Mormons ― made Salt Lake City the cente
May 8, 2014
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A campaign biography with a twist
Elizabeth Warren’s ninth book is a campaign biography with a twist.Warren, who emerged as a national figure during the early days of the financial crisis, rapidly became a star of the Democratic Party’s liberal-populist wing. Her 2012 Senate campaign in Massachusetts attracted so much money and attention that admirers began talking her up as a presidential candidate even before she won.“A Fighting Chance” could easily fit as the next step toward that goal. It weaves her life story and political
May 8, 2014
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You say you want a revolution?
Russian Roulette: How British Spies Thwarted Lenin’s Plot for Global RevolutionBy Giles Milton (Bloomsbury Press, N.Y.)If you want some wonderful spy stories, and a lesson in 20th century revolution, try “Russian Roulette” by Giles Milton.Just under a century ago, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ― better known today as Lenin ― returned to Russia and swept away the old Czarist regime. His first speech to his followers was at a train station on April 16, 1917, and was monitored by three British spies.Only
May 8, 2014
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Shirley Temple and the Great Depression
If ever a performer came along at just the right time, it was Shirley Temple. The cherubic face and unbreakable spirit she displayed in her cinematic confections of the 1930s were the perfect spoonfuls of sugar to help the bitter medicine of the Depression go down easier for millions of Americans.The timing also couldn’t be better for John F. Kasson’s “The Little Girl Who Fought the Great Depression,” which arrives just two months after Temple’s death at age 85. The book is a wonderful epilogue
May 8, 2014
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Romance novel touts bliss of financial independence
Personal-finance tomes aren’t usually bodice rippers with breathless sentences like: “She wanted him and couldn’t wait to have him, was totally addicted to his touch and couldn’t resist him.”But Boca Raton, Florida, financial planner Kathleen Grace, 46, wanted to explore women’s emotions about money and love ― and how those feelings can interfere with managing money.So Grace, who co-founded Excelsior Capital Advisors, hired a romance writer to help her create a modern fairy tale of Cinderella ―
May 1, 2014