Review of Every Day I Read by Hwang Bo-reum

*Every Day I Read: 53 Ways to Get Closer to Books* by Hwang Bo-reum, translated by Shanna Tan (2025). Published by Bloomsbury Publishing.

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

This blog post is interesting to me because lately, I’ve been struggling to get in my reading time. I was working for the longest time as a freelancer and contractor, but recently pivoted to an 8-5 job where I’m in an office. It’s not hybrid, so I’m always at home trying to put the puzzle pieces together of how I’ll get my reading done. I also continue working on this blog when I’m not at work, so the Instagram reels I’m fed about a 5-9 feel too real right now.

Anyways, I am trying to find that time to read here and there. Somehow I’m still on track for my Goodreads goal, even though I’ve been slowly giving up on the notion of reading goals in life. I think they can be a little too much pressure and takes the fun off of reading at the end of the day, and I want to read because I want to stay in touch with literature while also pursuing my side career as a writer.

That’s where Every Day I Read Comes in. I kind of always know when new Korean literature in translation is hitting the shelves, as this is my main subject area. I did my master’s thesis on Korean women’s literature, and I ended up winning a Fulbright after graduate school to go to Korea for underrepresented voices in Korea.

I knew about this book and ended up requesting it when it first appeared on my library portal. It came at the right time, as I was struggling with my own reading habits and feeling guilt about how little I was reading.

Let’s get into the review!

A series of essays on the acting of reading and how it shapes our lives.

Unlike Hwang’s other major book translated into English, this is a nonfiction book and a series of essay. Each individual essay is pretty short, and I found the book pretty easy to get through because of that. I finished the entire book in a little over an hour and a half, and that’s when I was taking my time.

The premise of this book is Hwang meditating on the significance of reading. There are some essays specifically dwelling on what it means to be a writer and a reader, which I enjoyed as someone who’s taught writing and works as a writer. Being a writer and a reader are two completely different skillsets at the end of the day.

There are other contemplations that range from the feelings that come from being in a bookstore and choosing a book, or how to engage with book reviews—whether you’re a critic or just a casual reader trying to find something new to read.

A lot of quotable moments throughout this book though. I quite liked the translation and thought that it was very fluid.

I would say that this book overall is targeted towards those who want to feel seen with their own reading and book buying tendencies, as Hwang is really tapping into those nostalgic feelings. It reminded me a lot of the rhetoric and language I see around online book communities, even though I was nodding along at certain points.

All of this is to say that Hwang is creating that feeling where if you know, you know. I would categorize this book as being with in the self-help healing category, which is all the rage in the Korean and Japanese fiction world. When it comes to this kind of fiction, I don’t really care for it, but it worked with this book.

Overall Thoughts

The main premise of this book is on reading, as we’ve been discussing, but for me I kind of wanted this to go deeper. I think it’s because I started (and didn’t end up finishing because my loan lapsed) Bibliophobia, which was a more academic take on reading and that author’s mental breakdown.

I think I want books that go deeper than tapping into the emotional aspects of doing something. While effectively going after that nostalgia can be great, I wanted more from this book and how literature does really change people’s lives.

And this can be a case study on that—I just wanted it to go another level. I think many book levels would love and appreciate this book on the end, which is why I would recommend it overall.

Pick it up if you get the chance! It might be worth giving a read at least once.

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