Most Popular
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Qoo10 liquidity crisis sparks massive complaints, fears of wider damage
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Yoon urges municipalities to embrace foreigners
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What is happening at Hybe?
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S. Korea to consent to Japan's Sado mines gaining World Heritage status: official
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Korea unveils tax reform bill to spur economy
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Actor’s excessive airport security sparks probe into human rights violations
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Actor Yoo Ah-in accused of sexual attack
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Man who let his father die due to financial difficulties to be released on parole
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S. Korea, China shifting from tensions to cooperation: Seoul
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LG Electronics achieves record earnings in Q2
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In digital age, coffee-table books still catch eye
When architect and design firm owner Steve Kadlec was asked recently whether bookshelves were becoming obsolete in the iPad age, he wisecracked: “Who reads books? We buy them for pretty!”He was only half-joking. With digital competition, hardcover books are being judged by their covers more than ever before, some earning their keep in the home and heart by doubling as objets d’art.“It’s sort of a trite phrase, but when you have people over, you don’t show off your iPad library,” said Josh Baker,
Dec. 23, 2011
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A quest to make new friends
MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend, By Rachel Bertsche (Ballantine Books)Making friends shouldn’t be complicated. We’ve been doing it since we were kids, right?But for many of us, as a new book points out, “friend-making is not the natural process it used to be.” Chicago transplant and journalist Rachel Bertsche discovers this the hard way when she finds herself without close friends to speak of, two years after moving. She comes up with a game plan to change her situation
Dec. 23, 2011
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New Books
A quest to make new friendsMWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best FriendBy Rachel Bertsche(Ballantine Books)Making friends shouldn‘t be complicated. We’ve been doing it since we were kids, right?But for many of us, as a new book points out, “friend-making is not the natural process it used to be.” Chicago transplant and journalist Rachel Bertsche discovers this the hard way when she finds herself without close friends to speak of, two years after moving. She comes up with a game plan
Dec. 23, 2011
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Chamber publishes book on French eateries
The French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched the First Guidebook on French Restaurants in Korea this week, the first publication of its kind. “The 72 restaurants and bistros in this Guidebook will surprise you by their succulent dishes, their decoration mixing French and Korean styles, and their variety; you will find the right place to go out with friends, for a business lunch or dinner, or with your family,” said FKCCI President David-Pierre Jalicon.To reach a wider base, 24 res
Dec. 22, 2011
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Rare documents burned in Egypt clash
CAIRO (AP) ― Volunteers in white lab coats, surgical gloves and masks stood on the back of a pickup truck Monday along the banks of the Nile River in Cairo, rummaging through stacks of rare 200-year-old manuscripts that were little more than charcoal debris.The volunteers, ranging from academic experts to appalled citizens, have spent the past two days trying to salvage what’s left of some 192,000 books, journals and writings, casualties of Egypt’s latest bout of violence.Institute d’Egypte, a r
Dec. 20, 2011
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Hwang Sok-yong’s novel published in Sweden
Author Hwang Sok-yong’s novel “The Ancient Garden” was published in Sweden last month, according to the Korea Literature Translation Institute.The novel, which Hwang published in Korea in 2000 after many years in political exile and five years in prison, was translated into Swedish by translators Anders Karlsson and Park Ok-Kyoung. The duo previously translated Hwang’s 1998 novel, “The Chronicle of a Man Named Han,” in 2007 and the edition was published in Sweden that same year. Both of the nove
Dec. 20, 2011
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Charlotte Bronte manuscript sets record at auction
LONDON (AP) ― An unpublished Charlotte Bronte manuscript has sold for a record 690,850 pounds ($1.1 million) at auction, more than double the expected price, Sotheby’s auction house said Thursday.The Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2, was written in 1830 ― when the author was 14, 17 years before she wrote “Jane Eyre.’’ It is set in Glass Town, the earliest fictional world created by the Bronte siblings.Sotheby’s had predicted the manuscript would sell for between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds, but sai
Dec. 18, 2011
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British writer Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The renowned British writer and polemicist Christopher Hitchens, whose targets ranged from God and Mother Teresa to Henry Kissinger, has died after an 18-month battle against cancer. He was 62.Hitchens began his career in London but he moved to the United States in 1981 and enjoyed great success both as a writer and speaker, with his outspoken views and swaggering demeanour attracting much controversy over four decades.Vanity Fair, for whom Hitchens worked for the past 19 year
Dec. 18, 2011
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Dec. 18, 2011
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NEW BOOKS
A young Vietnamese girl’s migration to Alabama in the 1970sInside Out & Back Again By Thanhha Lai(HarperCollins)The United States prides itself on being a melting pot, but the many immigrant stories that make up our uniquely American stew aren‘t always known or published by the mainstream press. Take Thanhha Lai, who, in her recent National Book Award winner, “Inside Out & Back Again,” chronicles her family’s move to the U.S. from her native Vietnam in 1975.This novel in verse, based on Lai‘s ex
Dec. 16, 2011
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Book introduces Korean art galleries, museums
Museums & Galleries: Displaying Korea’s Past and Future(Seoul Selection)Art galleries and museums in Korea are relatively little known to the outside world ― at least when compared to the explosive popularity of K-pop. Yet many would be surprised to discover that the history of Korean museums dates back more than 100 years, and Korea now has 11 national museums nationwide ― unified by Seoul’s iconic National Museum of Korea completed in 2005.Korea Foundation and Seoul Selection’s newly released
Dec. 16, 2011
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A dark ‘Noel’: Batman meets Charles Dickens
Somewhere out there, there’s a version of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” where clerk Bob Cratchit takes an axe to his employer, Scrooge, steals his cashbox and escapes to the Bahamas without his family. The story has been reinterpreted time and time again in stage, screen, animation, book and probably ancient Greek.Now Batman (aka the Dark Knight) meets Charles Dickens in “Batman: Noel” a graphic novel by artist Lee Bermejo. (For those who read comics only irregularly, a graphic novel is a
Dec. 16, 2011
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An American abroad and on a mission
Few writers are known for combining dark humor and environmentalism in their fiction; in fact, Lydia Millet may be the only member of that club. For her efforts, in the short story collection “Love in Infant Monkeys,” she was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize. “Ghost Lights,” her first book since then, is the middle novel of a trilogy that began with 2008’s “How the Dead Dream.”Literary trilogies may be hard to enter midstream, but Millet has made it easy for those not familiar with t
Dec. 16, 2011
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Founder of famous Paris bookstore dies
PARIS (AP) ― George Whitman’s life was packed with the type of adventures that filled every nook and cranny of his bookshop, Paris’ iconic English-language Shakespeare and Company.A bohemian traveler, Whitman was once nursed to health by Mayans in the Yucatan during a 5000-kilometer trek across Latin America and sometimes bragged that he had lived in Greenland with a beautiful Eskimo woman.At home, Whitman was best known as a pillar of Paris’ literary scene. For more than half century, his eclec
Dec. 15, 2011
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Patients get glasses, scissors, cell phones stuck inside
An x-ray from the book "Stuck Up"This embarrassing X-ray reveals a Buzz Light-rear doll — complete with its wings deployed — lodged inside a patient, the Sun reported.The bizarre snap is one of 100 awkward ailments that feature in new book, "Stuck Up! 100 Objects Inserted and Ingested in
Dec. 14, 2011
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New Books
Portrait of a complex manVan Gogh: The LifeBy Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith(Random House)Vincent van Gogh’s autobiography is painted in luminous, powerful brushstrokes, the supreme portrait of the artist. “As my work is,” he said, “so am I.”“Van Gogh: The Life,” the intricate and panoramic biography by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, is a provocative work about the volcanic man and his art.Van Gogh’s story has been romanticized and mythologized, especially in fiction and on film.
Dec. 9, 2011
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Children’s book features Korean folk tale
The Tiger’s TaleBy Kim Myung-sooTranslated by Kim Ok-hee and Betty Chung(Appletree Tales)Among many stories available for children, Korea’s traditional folktales offer a unique reading experience for young readers. The fables, myths and anecdotes present humor and life lessons, as well as a glimpse into traditional values and culture.Local publisher Appletree Tales’ bilingual series of children’s books, titled “Monkey Mama,” carries the essence of Korea’s folk tales. The stories are new interpre
Dec. 9, 2011
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Michael Connelly’s appeal is no mystery
The metaphorical bookstore of crime fiction is crowded with best-selling titles and talented writers, few of whom can outgun Michael Connelly.The prolific Connelly, 55, covered crime for the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel in the 1980s (where he was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize), then did the same for seven years at the Los Angeles Times. The insider’s knowledge that came with the territory has served him well.“The Drop,” in bookstores this week, is the 17th title in his police-procedur
Dec. 9, 2011
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New book says King Sejong was obese, picky eater
A Joseon Dynasty king would rise about 5 a.m. each day and meet with his courtiers to study and discuss state affairs. After eating breakfast, his official schedule for the day would begin.After lunch, he would again meet with courtiers, before receiving reports from his ministers or handling civil complaints.Although his workday officially ended at 5 p.m., he was usually busy until later handling work left unfinished or meeting again with his retinue.The lifestyle resembles that of a present-d
Dec. 8, 2011
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Publisher says Poe novelist did not lift material
NEW YORK (AP) _ The publisher of a novel about Edgar Allan Poe’s child bride defended the book against allegations that its author, Lenore Hart, lifted material from another work about Poe‘s young wife.St. Martin’s Press released a brief statement Tuesday saying it had compared Hart‘s ``The Raven’s Bride‘’ to Cothburn O‘Neal’s ``The Very Young Mrs. Poe‘’ and found any similarities limited to the inevitable overlap of two novels covering the same subject: Virginia Clemm, who married Poe when she
Dec. 7, 2011