[Chungmuro Book Cafe] Famous in Public... Curious About Their True Selves

Famous Figures' Books Sweep the Market
Former Minister of Justice's Memoir Tops Bookstores
Over 200,000 Copies Sold in 2 Weeks
Folk Queen Yang Hee-eun's Essay
Warm Empathy Like Listening to an Old Friend's Story
Investment Strategy Books Popular Amid Financial Boom

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Books by celebrities with high public recognition across various fields are sweeping major bookstores. As demand for long-term bestsellers declines, books leveraging the popularity of celebrities have jumped to the top ranks immediately upon release.

Asia Economy selected bestsellers based on book sales from the 9th to the 15th of this month. The comprehensive ranking was compiled by referencing sales rankings from major online and offline bookstores such as Kyobo Bookstore, Interpark, and Yes24, combined with ratings from Asia Economy reporters.

The top spot was taken by former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk’s memoir, Cho Kuk’s Time. Cho Kuk’s Time dominated first place at all three major domestic bookstores. After its official release on the 31st of last month, it sold 100,000 copies in just one day and surpassed 200,000 copies within two weeks. Its popularity is truly explosive. Currently, it holds the number one bestseller position for two consecutive weeks at all three major bookstores.

Cho Kuk’s Time also caused a significant stir in the political arena. Given that the so-called “Cho Kuk incident” was pointed out to have considerably influenced the defeat in the April 7 by-elections, the ruling party’s stance on the book’s release became a hot topic. Ultimately, on the 2nd, Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, officially apologized for the Cho Kuk incident. However, some ruling party figures, including former party leader Lee Nak-yeon and former Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, expressed support for former Minister Cho on social media, saying things like “It’s heartbreaking and I’m sorry” and “I hope the truth will be revealed.”

The second place went to Complete Happiness, a new full-length novel by Korea’s representative thriller writer Jeong You-jeong. Complete Happiness tells the story of a mother who makes duck feed from meat, her two daughters, and a man. It deals with the everyday evil that emerges when a narcissistic person starts manipulating others’ lives just to be happy themselves. This work opens Jeong You-jeong’s “Desire Trilogy.” Her characteristic fast-paced writing style adds to the reading pleasure.

Jeong You-jeong became a star author overnight by attracting 550,000 readers with the release of Seven Years of Night in 2011. Seven Years of Night, 28, and The Origin of Species are known as Jeong You-jeong’s “Trilogy of Evil.” In these works, she portrayed psychopaths from both third-person and first-person perspectives, revealing the depths of human nature. Recently, she appeared on a broadcast program and revealed, “For two years, I lived as a psychopath for the sake of my work,” adding, “My husband was scared of me, so we even slept in separate rooms for two years.”

Korea’s folk music matriarch Yang Hee-eun’s new book Just Let It Be took third place. Just Let It Be is an essay recording the life, songs, and precious everyday moments of Yang Hee-eun, a singer celebrating her 51st year since debut. It reads warmly and intimately, like listening to an old friend’s story. “In my fifties, I gained the leisure to accept different perspectives or standards with a ‘just let it be’ or ‘that can happen’ attitude. I realized I couldn’t say something was ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ just because I didn’t like it. Even if someone does something strange, I thought, ‘That can happen.’ Just as audience reviews differ for the same song, there is no absolute answer. So, I decided to live following the flow of my own heart without worrying about others.” (From Just Let It Be)

The genre with the largest share among the top 10 in this comprehensive ranking is novels. Along with Complete Happiness, The Midnight Library (5th place) and The Dollar Gut Dream Department Store (9th place) made the list. The Midnight Library is a fantasy novel by Matt Haig, a popular British novelist and children’s author. It tells the story of a protagonist who, having decided on death, visits a library that opens only at midnight. Since its release in August last year, it has sold over 700,000 copies in the UK alone and topped the overall bestseller list on Amazon UK. It also remained a bestseller for a long time in the US.

In the steadily popular economic and business category, fueled by the investment craze, The Scenario of Wealth and The Art of Trading ranked 4th and 7th respectively. The Scenario of Wealth is a new book by Oh Geon-young, deputy head of Shinhan Bank’s IPS division and a famous YouTuber. It deals with investment strategies in the post-COVID era. He particularly focuses on high growth/low growth and high inflation/low inflation as key variables and suggests how asset allocations such as stocks, bonds, and commodities should be structured according to each scenario.

The Art of Trading is a book showing the practical investment experience of trader Park Byung-chang, who has worked in securities for 25 years. This book especially focuses on “timing.” It organizes what to pay attention to and when to buy or sell in 16 different situations with high potential for profit through trading.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.