Vacation Season Sparks 'Novel' Craze in Bookstores... 'Dallergut Kkum Baekhwajeom 2' Quickly Takes 1st Place

A bookstore district located in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] As the vacation season arrives, a 'novel' craze is sweeping the bookstore market. It is interpreted as an effect of the increasing number of readers traveling to virtual worlds these days, when it is difficult to go out due to the heatwave and the implementation of social distancing level 4.

Asia Economy selected bestsellers based on book sales from the 4th to the 10th of last month. The comprehensive ranking was compiled by referring to sales rankings from major online and offline bookstores such as Kyobo Bookstore, Interpark, and Yes24, as well as adding ratings from Asia Economy reporters.

Among the top 10, novels accounted for half with five titles. In particular, the fantasy genre, which feels like looking up at the Milky Way on a summer night, is gaining attention.

The first place was taken by author Imiye’s 'Dallergut Dream Department Store 2'. 'Dallergut Dream Department Store' is a work that quickly became a bestseller at major bookstores after its publication in July last year. It consistently held the 1st or 2nd place in Asia Economy’s bestseller list until May this year. When the second volume was released on the 27th of last month, about a year after the first volume was published, it swept first place at all three major online bookstores. As the second volume gained popularity, the first volume also slightly rose in the rankings.

According to the publisher Factory Nine, about 110,000 copies of 'Dallergut Dream Department Store 2' have been sold so far. If this trend continues, it is possible that 'Dallergut Dream Department Store' will surpass the approximately 550,000 copies sold in one year. According to Kyobo Bookstore statistics, the largest proportion of readers in the first volume were in their 20s, but in the second volume, readers in their 40s accounted for the largest share at 36.7%. Additionally, the proportion of teenage readers was the highest compared to other new novels. A Kyobo Bookstore official analyzed, "It is probably because the fantasy genre is a Young Adult novel with a wide range of readers, and it coincides with summer vacation and holiday seasons."

'Dallergut Dream Department Store 2' continues the story from the point where the protagonist Penny has worked at the dream-selling department store for over a year. Penny, who has become proficient at her job, is full of confidence. She is delighted to be able to enter the 'Company Zone,' which only dream industry workers recognized can access. However, she also experiences conflict when assigned to the 'Complaint Management Bureau,' filled with people dissatisfied with their dreams. This work conveys hope and comfort to readers by depicting various episodes commonly experienced in our daily lives.

The new book 'Complete Happiness' by Jeong Yujeong, a representative author in the Korean thriller novel field, ranked 4th. This book deals with a mother who makes duck feed from meat, her two daughters, and one man. It expresses conflicts that arise when one person's pursuit of happiness, immersed in narcissism, clashes with that of others through detailed psychological changes of the characters. Jeong Yujeong recently said on a YouTube broadcast, "I wanted to deal with the danger society faces when the illusion of being special appears collectively," adding, "'Complete Happiness' is the opening work of the Desire series."

The novels 'The Midnight Library' and 'Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight' ranked 6th and 7th, respectively. 'The Midnight Library' is a fantasy novel by Matt Haig, published in August last year, which sold over 700,000 copies in the UK and topped the UK Amazon overall bestseller list. It has also been a long-term bestseller on Amazon US, The New York Times, and The Sunday Times. It tells the story of the protagonist Nora Seed, who, after deciding to die, experiences events in a mysterious space between life and death. The production company of the movie 'About Time' (2013) recently decided to adapt this novel into a film.

Ichijo Misaki’s 'Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight' is a youth novel. It is a fresh and poignant love story between Hino Maori, a girl suffering from anterograde amnesia who resets her memory every night after sleeping, and Kamiya Toru, an ordinary high school student living a dull life. It reflects the calm and poignant sensibility unique to Japanese novels.

Following novels, interest in humanities books was high. Ranked 5th, 'Socrates Express' is a philosophy essay by New York Times bestselling author Eric Weiner. It contains stories of great philosophers from Marcus Aurelius (161?180), the 16th emperor of the Roman Empire, to Montaigne (1533?1592), a French philosopher of the Renaissance period. The book’s table of contents includes unique subtitles such as 'How to Be Curious Like Socrates,' 'How to Listen Like Schopenhauer,' and 'How Not to Regret Like Nietzsche.'

Thanks to the overheating of the stock, cryptocurrency, and real estate markets, the economic and business fields, which dominated the top ranks of bestsellers from last year to the first quarter of this year, are taking a breather this time. The only new work in the top 10 was Lee Jiseong’s 'Wealth of the Future,' ranked 2nd. This book focuses on where future wealth will move amid the big waves of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and 'post-Corona.' "When you turn your gaze outside the country, sustainable wealth becomes visible," advises author Lee Jiseong.

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