Seong Haena's "Honmono" Ranks No. 1 at Kyobo Bookstore and Yes24
Kim Aeran's "Annyeongira Geuraesseo" Takes Second Place at Kyobo
Novel Popularity Remains Strong
In the third week of July, Kyobo Bookstore's bestseller rankings saw "Honmono" by Seong Haena maintain its position at number one for the fourth consecutive week. "Annyeongira Geuraesseo" by Kim Aeran climbed two spots to take second place overall. "First Summer, Wanju" by Kim Geumhee rose to fourth place, while "Mossun" by Yang Gwija and "Rapid Current" by Jeong Daegun also moved up in the rankings. In addition to Korean novels, the summer peak season for literature led to noticeable increases in rankings across the literary field.
Newly released foreign novels also attracted attention, including "Rose and Knife" by Higashino Keigo, "Orbit" by Samantha Harvey, and "Too Late an Hour" by Claire Keegan. Interest in young adult novels was also notable: "Yunseul's Sea" by Baek Eunbyeol jumped 20 spots to rank 39th overall, while "After Taking a Bite of Summer" by Lee Kkotnim climbed 24 spots to reach 59th place overall.
Books featuring "summer" as a keyword stood out in various bestseller categories, such as "Summer Peach Sparkling" (3rd in poetry), "Summer Dictionary" (7th in essays), "Anyway, Summer" (10th in essays), and "Summer Is Just a Season" (13th in Korean novels). Readers appear to be seeking cool places to read as a way to beat the heat and monsoon rains. With the vacation season and children's summer break, the literature category is expected to attract even more attention.
After a first half of the year filled with political issues, the politics and society category, which had previously slowed, saw the new release "A Country Protected by Its People" gain popularity, jumping 18 spots to enter the top ranks at 9th place overall. Looking at the purchasing demographics, male and female readers showed similar buying patterns. Female readers in their 50s accounted for the highest proportion at 23.1%.
In Yes24's overall bestseller rankings for the third week of July, "Honmono" by Seong Haena also took the top spot, marking its third consecutive week at number one. "Ryu Sooyoung's Lifetime Recipes," a simple and delicious home-cooking book by "Eonam Teacher" Ryu Sooyoung, and "Mossun," a steady seller by Yang Gwija published in 2013, maintained second and third place, respectively. "Park Gomhee's Pension Wealth Class," a new release from Park Gomhee, a finance YouTuber with 820,000 subscribers, jumped from ninth place last week to fourth this week. "Reading of Youth" by author Yoo Sihmin followed in fifth place.
With the start of summer vacation, books in the exam preparation and certification category received particular attention. "2025 Big Star Teacher Choi Taeseong's Star Korean History: Korean History Proficiency Test Advanced (Levels 1, 2, 3)" volumes 1 and 2 ranked seventh and eighth, respectively. "ETS TOEIC Official Test Question Book 1000 Vol. 4 RC" and "ETS TOEIC Official Test Question Book 1000 Vol. 4 LC" took 12th and 13th places. Additionally, there were seven study guides within the top 20, including "2026 Sunny Administrative Law General Principles Basic Book," "2025 Big Star Teacher Choi Taeseong's Star Korean History 500 Questions: Korean History Proficiency Test Advanced (Levels 1, 2, 3)," and "2026 Yoo Hwiun Administrative Law General Principles Summary Notes + Practice Questions (Yo.Ple.)."
Korean novels continued to enjoy steady popularity. In addition to "Honmono" and "Mossun" in first and third place, "Annyeongira Geuraesseo," Kim Aeran's first new novel in eight years, ranked sixth. "The Boy Is Coming" by Han Kang and "First Summer, Wanju" by Kim Geumhee drew attention by ranking tenth and eleventh, respectively.
"Even If I Engrave Just One Line in My Heart," a new release by Professor Na Minae?daughter of "Wildflower Poet" Na Taejoo and a longtime poetry curator?ranked 22nd overall and third in the humanities category. Since its publication in early June, sales increased by 54.4% this week compared to the previous week (July 3?9). In particular, it received strong support from women in their 40s and 50s (63.1%), who had been anticipating a new release since her appearance on last year's popular variety show "You Quiz on the Block."
"Even If I Engrave Just One Line in My Heart" is an "inspirational poetry transcription note" that adds insightful commentary to 77 poems that are good to keep close by, and is expected to continue the poetry transcription trend that swept the past year.
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