SEOUL — Prominent South Korean author and political commentator Yoo Si-min has once again captivated the nation's literary landscape with his latest humanities travelogue. According to the latest weekly sales data released by Kyobo Book Centre—South Korea's largest bookstore chain—for the third week of July, Yoo’s new publication, European City Travelogue 3 (published by Saenggak-ui Gil), maintained its position at the top of the overall bestseller list for a second consecutive week.
In the previous installments of the popular travelogue series, Yoo explored iconic cultural and historical capitals across Europe, including Athens, Rome, Paris, Vienna, and Budapest. In this third volume, released earlier this month, the author directs his narrative lens toward the westernmost edges of the Iberian Peninsula. The book delves into four prominent southwestern European destinations—Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, along with Lisbon and Porto in Portugal. Interweaving personal reflections with rich architectural history, local art, and philosophical musings, Yoo examines how these historic maritime empires transformed through centuries of upheaval. Readers have praised the book for offering an insightful narrative that connects urban geography with the broader trajectory of human history.
Simultaneously, management thinker Jim Collins made a strong entry into the non-fiction chart with his new release What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fire, and the Self-Knowledge Imperative (published locally in Korean as How to Live by Film Publishing). Known globally for business administration classics such as Good to Great, Collins shifts his focus in this work from corporate strategy to individual existence. Drawing on decade-long comparative life-span studies, the book addresses personal renewal, identity, and resilience through pivotal life turning points. The Korean translation debuted at 10th place on the overall bestseller list, garnering its strongest readership among adults in their 40s, who accounted for 36.8% of total purchases.
Meanwhile, fiction titles demonstrated sustained momentum across major retail channels. Nobel laureate Hermann Hesse’s classic Siddhartha (Minumsa Edition) held firm at No. 3, while Yu Rae-hyuk’s contemporary novel Aquarium (Poster Shop) ranked No. 4. Yang Gwi-ja’s enduring 1998 novel Contradiction (Ssuda Publishing) also maintained its presence in the top tier, taking 9th place and demonstrating the ongoing appetite among Korean readers for deeply reflective literary fiction.
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