'Memoir of Murderer' most saught-after book of this fall
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"Memoir of a Murderer" by Kim Young-ha / Courtesy of Munhak Dongne
By Kim Jae-heun
Fall is often seen as the best season for reading books and many people search the best-seller list for something to enjoy.
According to the artificial intelligence-based big-data analyst Daumsoft, Monday, reading was the second-most-popular activity to enjoy in the fall, after traveling.
The word “travel” was mentioned 22,160 times on blogs, Twitter and online news between Sept. 1 and Oct. 12, followed by “reading,” which was mentioned 3,136 times. “Camping,” “hiking” and “fishing” followed.
Daumsoft said travelling surpassed reading overwhelmingly this month as Korea enjoyed the 10-day Chuseok holiday in the first week of October.
Popular Korean writer Kim Young-ha’s best-seller, “Memoir of a Murderer,” became the most-mentioned novel during Daumsoft’s research period. It was mentioned 1,724 times.
The book, which was published in 2013, received attention after a movie based on it with same name was released on Sept. 6.
Kim’s novel rose to the top-selling list in the second and third weeks of September at the Kyobo Book Center, Korea’s largest bookstore chain.
An essay, “Temperature of Language,” by Lee Ki-ju, was the second-most-mentioned book with 874. “The Miracles of the Namiya General Store,” by Japanese writer Higashino Keigo, “The Vegetarian,” by Korea’s Han Kang, and “No Longer Human,” by Japanese author Dazai Osamu, followed.
Lee’s essay is one of the best-selling books in the first half of this year.
Daumsoft said fiction was the most-read genre with 71 percent. Essays took 21 percent and self-improvement books 8 percent.
Nobel Prize Winner ‘The Remains of the Day’ joins top 3
The Nobel Prize-winning “The Remains of the Day,” by Japanese writer Kazuo Ishiguro, instantly rose to No. 3 on the bestseller list Friday, according to the Kyobo Book Center.
The Japanese essay was ranked 70th until last week, combining on and offline sales.
Readers in their 50s were the biggest customers of the book, with 16.6 percent, followed by 60-something readers. The data showed older age groups were the biggest fans of the life-philosophy book.
Ishiguro’s other book, “Never Let Me Go,” rose to 16th from 43rd on the best-selling list within a week.
“Nudge,” by Nobel Economics Prize winner Richard Thaler, was ranked 20th.