Welcome to Litsy!

#firstlinefridays

This was a solid debut. I love June Hur's writing. I felt the historical K-drama vibes on every page, and had a really great time reading this. Sometimes I just wasn't sure where the main character's head was at, but that's my only issue here. I'm looking forward to reading more of June's books.

⭐: 4.75

(Photo in the background belongs to jet dela cruz)

Ebook on sale today. Long on my tbr so I bought it. It‘s a murder mystery set in 1800 Korea

The interesting thing is, knowing a spoiler from the end of the book, trying to figure out how to put that together with what's happening! This is kind of why I don't mind spoilers: half the time it doesn't actually “spoil“ things because instead I get a different sort of puzzle about how things fit.

(Also I love rereading, so clearly knowing the plot is no problem. When you know how things turn out, you look out for different things.)

I've started reading this for the book club I run on Habitica, and I'm intrigued but still feeling my way into the historical context, of which I know nothing (in the 1800s in Korea). I've accidentally spoilered myself now, which is a little bit irritating, but also predictable. Anyway, I'm curious how it will unfold.

I am posting one book per day from my to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new - don‘t judge me I have a lot of books.
Join the fun if you want. This is day 291.
#bookstoread
#tbrpile
#bookstagram

This book was just not for me. I am sure others love it, I am just not one of them.
#Scarathlon2021 #TeamSlaughter #Readlikehellathon #wickedathon #Spookoween @Clwojick
*pic of my daughter who loves to play with makeup and #Eyrethecalico

A thriller set in 1800s Joseon Korea following Seol, an indentured servant at the police bureau, increasingly in over her head in the newest case, that of a murdered young noblewoman. Everyone is a suspect, including the inspector who might have a shocking connection to her family's past.

TW: violence, murder, and religious persecution

All I need in the evenings: a good book and my pup

All set for a two hour flight with a great book and some mini stroopwafels

Finished a deadline so followed that up with a little backyard reading

1. The Silence of Bones, Count Your Lucky Stars, and There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

2. Chai latte with espresso

3. My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

#WeekendReads

Can you guess what new genre of newsletter I've started writing for Book Riot?

Sign up here: https://bookriot.com/newsletter/past-tense/

HF set in 1800‘s. It‘s about Seol‘s life, a demo girl working in Bureau of police. She would be involved in a murder investigation. Triggers are related on how women were treated in this time. Seol sometimes is an annoying character. I don‘t know how real/accurate is Seol duties/involvement with the police in this time. I liked cultural information and how murder was investigated. Slow pace reading.3.5⭐️Like it but not love it

Love the historical detail of this #ya #mystery, which follows the life of a girl indentured by the police force in Korea in 1800. There‘s a lot of fascinating stuff about gender, family, class, and religion, but the unrelenting brutality of the book made it hard to truly fall into. I skimmed a large chunk of the middle because I wanted to see what happened, but couldn‘t handle the violence at that slow pace. I would try this author again, though.

I finished listening to this two months ago, but a strong impression lingers. The setting—1800s Korea, at the time when Christianity was making inroads—makes this an unusual police procedural novel. Add to that a central character who‘s a 16-year-old orphan girl sleuth, employed by police for social proprieties when dealing with women, alive or dead. June Hur makes good use of her striking premise. #audiobook read by Greta Jung. #canlit

I should not be allowed near online book sales...

The subversive nature of traditional Korean puppet shows has come up in two books in a row: The Banned Books Club by Kim Hyun Sook (image source), and now the tagged novel. Serendipity! 🇰🇷

I missed the Corn Moon 🌽🌝
I think of “back to school” 🏫
I‘m reading the tagged book and it‘s pretty interesting so far 📖
#thoughtfulthursday

Set in 1800 Joseon (Korea) this follows 16-year-old Seol, who is indentured to the police to assist in whatever is needed. This is not a setting that is found in historical fiction, much less YA. The story & mystery are twisty-turny and you're never quite sure who's on which side until the very end. I hope that Seol makes a second appearance at some point.

Seol is an insatiably curious indentured servant serving in the police bureau. She respects the gifted inspector attempting to solve the murder of a noblewoman. As she investigates Seol learns that the victim and others are Catholic converts. With this dangerous knowledge Seol herself becomes a suspect and to prove her innocence she has to solve the murders. The audiobook is beautifully narrated.

“Evil comes from the unfulfilled need for significance.”
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This YA mystery centers around the persecution of Catholics in Korea in the late 18th century, about which I had zero prior knowledge. Fortunately I read the author‘s note at the end before starting the book to give some context. Unfortunately the storytelling was uneven, some plot details just *happened* to come together, & the ending wasn‘t satisfying.
#ya #bookclub #teachersoflitsy

This debut novel by June Hur is a YA mystery that is set in 1800s Joseon (Korea). Seol is a curious sixteen-year-old indentured servant of the police bureau, who has been tasked to help the investigator solve the murder of a noblewoman. This book was full of twists and turns. Some of the character details were a bit hard for me to follow. But, I loved the MC and her insatiable curiosity. And most of all, I really loved the history in this book.

Excellent!
#GoodReads2020Challenge

I knew we would get a murder mystery set in Korea but what I did not expect was the persecution of Catholics and other Western ideologies to be such a main issue. The characters' lives are so messy and entangled to an extent many of them don't even know. There was no way for me to easily guess who the murderer was when there was so many other things happening.

Rep: Canadian-Korean author with book set in Korea with Korean characters

Time for a break from MG with a YA murder mystery from a Korean-Canadian debut author