Sci-fi book club

Korean Reading
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Hi! I pitched this idea on Discord and got some interest, so I’m opening a second book club!

The book will be 김초엽’s 양면의 조개껍데기. It’s a 384-page sci-fi short story collection. I bought a physical copy in Korea, plan to read it at some point, and thought I could force some others to read with me :slight_smile: also, a short story collection is perfect for a book club imo.

김초엽 is my favorite Korean author and I’ve read 3 of her books - 2 short story collections and one full-length book. I expect this book to be around 25,000 complexity score on kimchi reader. It could also be lower. Her books are easier than 정보라’s.

Someone on Discord offered to buy the book on Ridi, so if they do buy it, the rest of us can reap the benefits.

I was thinking we could read 1 short story a week, or 1 every two weeks. I will make a poll when I get home. I will also make a poll to express interest. Idk how to add polls on mobile.

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  • I will be participating
0 voters
  • 1 short story per week
  • 1 short story per 2 weeks
0 voters

Edit: I have the epub (DM me if needed) and can tell you that there are 6 stories, most of which are 40-60 pages in length (with one 20 page story and one 70 page story).

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Love the idea! I won’t be participating right now as I already have too many ongoing books for my taste (too many for me means 2 haha), but I hope to join one of the next reads!

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Right now I’m not sure if there will be any more. I can certainly recommend short story collections like 우리가 빛의 속도로 갈 수 없다면, 방금 떠나온 세계 (my favorite book), 너의 유토피아, and 저주 토끼 (actually I don’t recommend this lmao) but there isn’t really anything else I want to read.
Although… now that I think about it, I could definitely see myself wanting to read 얼마나 닮았는가 (a physical book I bought 3 years ago and still haven’t read), 토막 난 우주를 안고서, 다시 몸으로.

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Also, it looks like no one really cares about 1 week or 2 weeks, so I am going to make the executive decision to do 10 days per story. I know this is a little unorthodox, but it means we can all definitely finish the book this year if we read on pace (it could be iffy if we do 1 short story every 2 weeks).

I suggest a start date of 10/15, just because it’s the middle of the month. Feel free to leave any alternative opinions as a comment.

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It would be fun to have a second book club going for Korean long term. That way not only do we have options, it also means we get to join multiple bookclubs at the same time, which is always fun.

Sci-fi can also be a bit daunting to get into, as there’s a lot of topic specific vocab, and a book club would be encouraging! It doesn’t feel so hard when you’re reading along with people, because not only do you get to ask about anything you had trouble understanding, there’s an additional reward after reading every part, that is, discussing what you’ve just read

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10 days/story and October 15th start works for me! Also agree that as long as the people organizing them don’t mind, more bookclubs is never a bad thing.

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:kr: Index List of Book Clubs
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Adding this here so that in the future it can be easily found

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I started reading the first story and it’s easier than many books I’ve tried so far, but I still only have a vague idea of what’s going on. I might have to re-read it.

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Welcome and thank you for being here!

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I have finished 양면의 조개껍데기 about a week late – not sure about the rest of you, but I’m ready to start planning another book club.

The starting date can be negotiated. The time allotted for each story will be 2 weeks.

Here are the options:

  • 얼마나 닮았는가 - 김보영
  • 타워 - 배명훈
  • 토막 난 우주를 안고서 - 김초엽 외
  • 기이현상청 사건일지 - 이산화
  • 한밤의 시간표 - 정보라
0 voters

To be frank, I’m running this book club selfishly and it is to read books that I have already bought, 3+ years ago in some cases. So we will not be reading any books I have already read, at least not for now. That rules out all other 김초엽 books and the main 정보라 books.

Pitch for the books in the poll:

얼마나 닮았는가 - 김보영: 김보영 is another prolific female sci-fi author. I have read and enjoyed the Stellar Odyssey trilogy from her and am curious to see how she does short stories. Owned in paperback.

타워 - 배명훈. This is one of the only Korean short story collections you would see recommended in English, at least a few years ago. I remember hearing that there are a bunch of really funky stories that all take place in the same tower, and at least one features cats. Could be misremembering. Owned in paperback.

토막 난 우주를 안고서 - 김초엽 외. This is a sci-fi anthology with stories from many prominent young authors, and a good chance to discover some new authors, although there will certainly be some dud stories as well. The last story of 양면의 조개껍데기, which I liked, was first published in this anthology, and there are 4 other stories by 4 other authors, including 천선란 (천 개의 파랑). Do not own.

기이현상청 사건일지 - 이산화. I read 오류가 발생했습니다 by 이산화 and immediately purchased 3 other books by him. This book is a 연작소설, a collection of short stories with the same characters or world, like 대도시의 사랑법 or 불편한 편의점. It’s about a government bureau that expels ghosts. I own an epub.

한밤의 시간표 - 정보라. I really liked 너의 유토피아, hated 저주 토끼, so let’s have another try. This book is also a 연작소설 centering on a suspicious laboratory full of mysterious items and employees who work the night shift there. I expect it to be creepy and spooky. Actually, this is tagged as mystery for some reason, but the stories I’ve read from 정보라 so far were all either sci-fi or fantasy. Anyway, I’ll allow voters to decide. I plan to buy this book in epub.

If one of the first 3 books wins, it would be nice if a kind person could contribute the epub like last time :face_holding_back_tears:

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Ultimately fine with any of them, voted for the only one I’ve heard of before.

If we need to end up buying the epub I don’t mind being the sacrificial lamb.

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Fine with any of the suggestions. I still haven’t got past the first story of the previous sci-fi book club, but I do plan to finish the book in the coming days and hopefully join this new book club somewhat timely. The past 2 months or so haven’t really gone as expected and my Korean reading kinda came to a halt. Didn’t even buy any physical KR books during my short stay in Paris as I was planning to, as I am finding myself having to spend a few thousand euros in unexpected medical fees…. Hopefully 2026 starts better than 2025 ended lol.

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@monace would you be interested in participating in this one? I know last time you said it was too much doing two book clubs at once, but since that’s not the case right now… :eyes:

Do vote if you’re interested!

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I have decided we will read 한밤의 시간표 by 정보라 because that would have been my other pick anyway. I bought the book and added it to a folder I posted in Refold.

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I appreciate the invitation!! The levels of these books are still way up in the clouds for me though, I am still dangling from the higher 20s :sob:
I’ve just read my first sci-fi book in Korean, so I’ll keep climbing up to join you all eventually!

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It took me a while, but I finally found my way here. What’s the schedule for this one? I’ve still got half of the last book to read… Also, what’s refold?

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There is no schedule yet. Most people don’t seem to have finished the last book. Refold is a discord server where many of the most prolific natively Korean readers chat and share resources… if you know what I mean

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