Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books

From the author of the international bestseller Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, a heartfelt invitation to reflect on your relationship with reading and celebrate the joys of books.

Why do we read? What is it that we hope to take away from the intimate, personal experience of reading for pleasure?

How often do we ask these profound, expansive questions of ourselves and of our relationship to the joy of reading? In each of the essays in Every Day I Read, Hwang Bo-reum contemplates what living a life immersed in reading means. She goes beyond the usual questions of what to read and how often, exploring the relationship between reading and writing, when to turn to a bestseller vs. browse the corners of a bookstore, the value of reading outside of your favorite genre, falling in love with book characters, and more.

Every Day I Read provides many quiet moments for introspection and reflection, encouraging book-lovers to explore what reading means to each of us. While this is a book about books, at its heart is an attitude to life, one outside capitalism and climbing the corporate ladder. Lifelong and new readers will take inspiration from it, including a treasure trove of book recommendations blended seamlessly within.

Hwang Bo-reum is the author of the international bestseller Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop and the essay collections Every Day I Read, Trying Kickboxing for the First Time, The Perfect Distance, and Simple Living. She lives in Seoul, Korea.

Shanna Tan is a Singaporean translator working from Korean, Chinese, and Japanese into English. Her translations include international bestseller Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop, Marigold Mind Laundry, and Yeonnam-dong’s Smiley Laundromat, among others. She lives in Singapore.