Author Kim Ho-yeon's 'The Uncomfortable Convenience Store'... No.1 Book Loaned by Gyeonggi Province Residents

Last year, the book most borrowed by Gyeonggi Province residents from public libraries was “The Uncomfortable Convenience Store” by author Kim Ho-yeon (Namu Chair Publishing).

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 27th the results of analyzing about 41 million public library loan records from 2023 through the Library Information Naru (library big data system).

The second most borrowed book was “Father’s Liberation Diary” by author Jeong Ji-a (Changbi), followed by “Dollar Gut Dream Department Store” by author Lee Mi-ye (Factory Nine) in third place.

Additionally, the books ranked 4th to 10th were ▲ Almond (Son Won-pyeong, Changbi) ▲ Bright Night (Choi Eun-young, Munhakdongne) ▲ Welcome to Hyunam-dong Bookstore (Hwang Bo-reum, Clayhouse) ▲ Farewell (Kim Young-ha, Bokbokseoga) ▲ Cat Troubleshooter Kkamnyang (Hong Min-jung, Changbi) ▲ Common Siblings (Heunhan Siblings, MiraeN) ▲ Greenhouse at the End of the Earth (Kim Cho-yeop, Giant Books), respectively.

2023 Gyeonggi-do Public Library Best Seller Status

Looking at last year’s most borrowed data, all top 10 books were Korean literature. Compared to 2022, when the top 10 borrowed books were evenly split between Korean and foreign literature, the advancement of domestic authors was more pronounced.

By age group, in their 20s, books by Kim Cho-yeop and Jeong Se-rang each had two titles in the top 10, showing a preference for young female authors. Notably, “Fish Don’t Exist” by Lulu Miller, classified as a natural science book, ranked second.

In their 30s, there was a strong preference for children’s books such as “Watermelon Swimming Pool” (5th) and “Carrot Kindergarten” (7th) by Annyeongdal. Parenting books like Oh Eun-young’s “How Should I Talk to You?” (6th) were also popular.

The 40s age group appeared to have a significant influence on the overall loan rankings. They accounted for about 39% of the loan counts for the top 5 books. The loan preferences of people in their 40s tended to determine the most borrowed books across all age groups.

In the 50s age group, business books were strong, with “The Regressor” by Jae-chang (7th) and “The Nature of Money” by Kim Seung-ho (9th) ranking high. For those aged 60 and above, “The Wall at 80” by Wada Hideki (5th), focusing on health, and “Thankful for Life” by Kim Hye-ja (8th), focusing on ethics, were among the top ranks.

Gender-based loan data showed clear preferences between adult women and men. Among women, 9 of the top 10 borrowed books were novels, and 1 was in natural science. Among men, the top books included novels as well as business, philosophy, and history genres.

Monthly book loans were highest in August at 9.4%, followed by January (9.2%) and July (9%). By day of the week, Sunday had the highest loan rate at 18.5%, followed by Saturday (18.1%) and Wednesday (16.4%).

Kim Dong-joo, head of the Gyeonggi Province Library Policy Division, stated, “Based on this data, we will provide high-quality, customized services to enhance the reading culture of Gyeonggi residents.”

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