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The Resolve to Be a “Reader”: Q3 2025 Bestsellers scrap download

‘읽는 사람’이 되겠다는 다짐 : 2025년 3분기 한국문학 베스트셀러

「KLWAVE brings a diverse range of Korean literature to readers worldwide. Our “Best Sellers” section features quarterly roundups of the best-selling Korean literary works. The selections were carefully chosen based on a comprehensive review of the top-selling books from three major Korean bookstore chains—Kyobo Book Centre, Aladin, and Yes24—covering the period from July to September 2025.」 

“Text Hip,” which had appeared out of nowhere and was expected to fade sooner or later, has endured, evolving into new forms. Some people share books with one another, leaving behind sticky notes, as if revisiting their childhood days when they kept a shared diary with their best friend. Others gather in the afternoon or evening for heartfelt discussions about what they have read. Yet the question lingers: why do we read? In a world overflowing with things to do, is the act of “reading” something we must continue?

When we are bound by the tragedy of living as one person for a lifetime, a book offers us a glimpse into a whole different life. Literature has the power to show us worlds we have never seen and hear voices we have never heard. It allows us to connect with and support one another, with the belief that all that was immoveable will, slowly but surely, change little by little. Perhaps the true value of reading lies in the effort it inspires—to become a better version of ourselves. 

And this is why we should never give up being “readers” even if we struggle with sentences that just don’t flow or if we put our book down to nod off to sleep. With more than half the year behind us, we highly recommend that you join the “Text Hip” trend with the third-quarter bestsellers.

The fast pace and explosive energy of Seong Haena’s short story collection, Honmono, has shown an unstoppable streak, underscored by the short yet powerful words of recommendation from Park Jeong-min, actor and CEO of Muze publishing company: “Why watch Netflix when you can read Seong Haena’s book?” If her first collection offered a gentle greeting to comfort wounded hearts, Honmono approaches in silence, pressing forward with the clear, sharp tip of her pen. Recognized as one of the most distinctive voices of her time, Seong has climbed to the top of the list, signaling the arrival of a new literary realism. Ae-ran Kim, whose short story collection I Said “Annyeong,” sits at second place, extends her blessing to readers driven by the desire to live well and take hold of their own lives—a message conveyed through her calm, composed voice. Ranked third is Yang Gui-ja’s Contradiction, a novel that reaches out to readers, encouraging them to embrace the contradictions of life amid chaos and to look deep within themselves. 

A year after the exciting news from Sweden, Han Kang’s Human Acts, a novel that emanates her distinctive emotional resonance, remains at fourth place, while The Vegetarian, the novel that shocked the world with its heavy, horrifying impact, has risen to seventh, once again stirring familiar emotions in contemporary readers’ hearts.

In response to the question, “Can literature become a compass amid a sea of aimless wandering?” readers’ choices speak for themselves. When it feels like we are the only ones lost, when everything becomes a blur and nothing is visible, and our sense of self seems to shrink by the minute, readers reach for a book. Taking tentative steps toward renewed resilience, Taesu’s An Adult’s Happiness Is Quiet claims fifth place. Kim Young-ha’s Only One Life, advising readers to take a moment and stay calm even if lost, holds sixth on the list. Ryo’s Being Yourself, Not Being Someone, composed of personal experiences that encourage readers to preserve “the real me”, has taken eighth place, leaving three works of prose to secure the upper ranks.

Meanwhile, the attempts to place inexperienced and incomplete—and therefore heartrending—lives at the heart of the narrative stand out. At ninth place is Kim Keum Hee’s First Summer, Wanju, which instantly evokes the days of childhood summers. The best-selling Torrent by Jung Dae-gun takes tenth place, capturing youth’s struggles as they are endlessly swept away in a maelstrom. Han Roro, a singer-songwriter who confidently sings of our generation’s pain, explores the reasons to live in her first short story The Grapefruit Apricot Club, earning eleventh place and empathy from many readers. There is strength within all that is weak, and these are the books that make us believe it.

Throughout times of crisis, Moon Hyung-bae, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of Korea, stood firmly for justice. He collected the moments of “kindness” he experienced from people and life, transforming them into a book. The fact that his essay collection, On Kindness, is ranked twelfth suggests that readers have been waiting to hear the confessions of those who have had to fight to uphold their lives. In the same context, Kim Choyeop’s Two Sides of a Clamshell, in which she transforms her view of glimmering fragments along the margin into a sensual experience, is ranked thirteenth. Close behind, at fourteenth, is Lee Hae-in’s essay, Kind People Triumph, which persuades us that we can become more kind through effort; and at fifteenth is Ha Tae-wan’s essay, Meet at Our Paradise, promising to walk alongside us with understanding and empathy. 

If the tightly knit mystery that grips readers is Jung Haeyeon’s tool in The Place of Flamingo, Cho Yeeun, in her story collection, A Story of Cheese, weaves fantastical yet brutal twists that are remarkably unique. Choi Jin-young’s Gu’s Proof, a novel that withstands the test of time with its dreadfully realistic brutality, also made onto the best-seller list.

Another notable aspect of this quarter is the boldness of writers who have chosen not to remain silent, but to take a step forward and contribute to making a change in the world. In Yang Gui-ja’s I Desire What is Forbidden to Me, the protagonist, Kang Min-ju, is depicted as a strong figure who resists all forms of violence. The novelist Hwang Jungeun chronicles the moments she passed through the dark tunnel following the martial law of December 2024 in her prose collection, A Little Diary. Unlike its title, within all these traces—far from small—we discover a love for the world quietly beginning to bud behind the shadows of sorrow and rage.

Listed below are the top 20 bestselling Korean literary works for Q3 2025.

1. Seong Haena, Honmono, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
2. Ae-ran Kim, I Said “Annyeong,” Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.
3. Yang Gui-ja, Contradiction, Write Publishing Co.
4. Han Kang, Human Acts, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
5. Taesu, An Adult’s Happiness Is Quiet, Page2books
6. Kim Young-ha, Only One Life, Bokbokseoga Publishing Co.
7. Han Kang, The Vegetarian, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
8. Ryo, Being Yourself, Not Being Someone, Yolimwon Publishing Co.
9. Kim Keum Hee, First Summer, Wanju, Muze
10. Jung Dae-gun, The Torrent, MINUMSA Publishing Group
11. Han Roro, The Grapefruit Apricot Club, Authentic
12. Moon Hyung-bae, On Kindness, Gimm-Young Publishers, Inc.
13. Kim Choyeop, Two Sides of a Clamshell, Rabbit Hole
14. Lee Hae-in, Kind People Triumph, Feelmbook
15. Ha Tae-wan, Meet at Our Paradise, Book Romance
16. Jung Haeyeon, The Place of Flamingo, Elixir
17. Yang Gui-ja, I Desire What is Forbidden to Me, Write Publishing Co.
18. Cho Yeeun, A Story of Cheese, Munhakdongne Publishing Corp.
19. Hwang Jungeun, A Little Diary, Changbi Publishers, Inc.
20. Choi Jin-young, Gu’s Proof, EunHaeng NaMu Publishing Co., Ltd



Written by Eugene Ra (Korean Literature Outreach Team)

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