Yeongju is burned out. She did everything she was supposed to: go to school, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. In a leap of faith, Yeongju abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career, and follows her dream. She opens a bookshop. In a quaint neighborhood in Seoul, surrounded by books, Yeongju and her customers take refuge. From the lonely barista to the unhappily married coffee roaster-and the writer who sees something special in Yeongju-they all have disappointments in their past. The Hyunam-dong Bookshop becomes the place where they all learn how to truly live.
Thoughts
- I really liked how the book handled the depiction of books and offered multiple angles of approaching them, including from
- Readers — where it talked about how books and taste all depend on the reader individually; that everyone each has different tastes, and they change with time; and that reading is a time-based activity where different tastes will find you at different times
- Authors — where it delved about the many different personalities of authors, and how that has influenced the way they write and approach reading
- Recommendations, and the power they can have in influencing what and how one sources the books that reach out to them
Quotes
In the past, [Yeongju] used to live by mantras like passion and willpower, as if by imprinting the words on her mind, they would somehow breathe meaning into her life. Then one day she realised it felt like she was driving herself into a corner, and she resolved never to let those words dictate her life again.
Despite falling short of expectations, could a book, if enjoyed, be considered a good read? Is a good book always a good read?
He wasn’t sure if the man would find happiness or suffering at his destination, but he was sure that life was going to change completely for him. Wasn’t this sufficient? To live a life completely different from the present. For those who dream of a brand-new tomorrow, the man’s future is a dream come true.
Books are not meant to remain in your mind, but in your heart. Maybe they exist in your mind too, but as something more than memories. At a crossroads in life, a forgotten sentence or story from years ago can come back to offer an invisible hand and guide you to a decision.