Recommendations based on Almondby Won-pyung Sohn

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Pachinko

    by Lee Min-jin
    A saga spanning four generations of a Korean family living in Japan, struggling to survive and thrive amidst prejudice and poverty.

    The novel takes place over the course of three books: Book I Gohyang/Hometown, Book II Motherland, and Book III Pachinko. In 1883, in the little island fishing village of Yeongdo , which is a ferry ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Convenience Store Woman

    by Sayaka Murata
    A darkly comic story of a woman's search for acceptance and belonging in a society that doesn't fit her.

    Keiko Furukura is a 36-year old woman who has been working part-time at a convenience store , or konbini , for the last 18 years. She has known since childhood that she is "different" and that ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Heartstopper: Volume One

    by Alice Oseman
    A charming graphic novel about two boys falling in love and navigating their feelings in a homophobic world.

    Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. This edition features beautiful two-color artwork., Shy ... (Barnes & Noble)

  4. If Cats Disappeared from the World

    by Genki Kawamura
    A man is diagnosed with a terminal illness and makes a deal with the devil to extend his life by erasing one thing from the world each day.

    An unnamed young man, living alone and working as a postman, is given a terminal diagnosis of brain cancer. As he despairs and wonders who will miss him when he dies, he returns home to find a ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café

    by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
    In a Tokyo café, customers travel back in time to revisit moments they regret. But there are rules to time travel, and consequences to breaking them.

    *OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD*,*NOW AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER*,, If you could go back, who would you want to meet?, In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully ... (Barnes & Noble)

  6. The Devotion of Suspect X

    by Keigo Higashino
    A genius physicist helps his neighbor cover up a murder, while a relentless detective investigates the crime.

    Yasuko lives a quiet life, working in a Tokyo bento shop, a good mother to her only child. But when her ex-husband appears at her door without warning one day, her comfortable world is shattered. ... (Goodreads)

  7. Kafka on the Shore

    by Haruki Murakami
    A surreal journey of self-discovery, exploring the boundaries between the real and surreal.

    Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters. The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old ... (Wikipedia)

  8. The White Book

    by Han Kang
    A poetic exploration of grief, loss, and the color white. A meditation on the fragility of life and the power of memory.

    Shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize , From Booker Prize-winner and literary phenomenon Han Kang, a lyrical and disquieting exploration of personal grief, written through the prism ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Tell-Tale Heart

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A man's obsession with the eye of an old man leads him to commit murder and ultimately, his own downfall.

    "The Tell-Tale Heart" is a first-person narrative told by an unnamed narrator. Insisting that they are sane, the narrator suffers from a disease (nervousness) which causes " over-acuteness of the ... (Wikipedia)

  10. One Piece, Volume 3: Don't Get Fooled Again

    by Eiichiro Oda
    Monkey D. Luffy and his crew continue their search for the ultimate treasure, encountering new allies and enemies along the way.

    Sure, lots of people say they want to be the King of the Pirates, but how many have the guts to do what it takes? When Monkey D. Luffy first set out to sea in a leaky rowboat, he had no idea what ... (Goodreads)

  11. No Longer Human

    by Osamu Dazai
    A young man's struggles with emotional turmoil and suicidal ideation.

    Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human , this leading postwar Japanese writer's second novel, tells the poignant and fascinating story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a ... (Goodreads)

  12. One Piece, Volume 2: Buggy the Clown

    by Eiichiro Oda
    Monkey D. Luffy and his crew continue their search for the ultimate treasure, encountering the dangerous Buggy the Clown along the way.

    As a kid, Monkey D. Luffy vowed to become King of the Pirates and find the legendary treasure called the "One Piece." The enchanted Gum-Gum Fruit has given Luffy the power to stretch like rubber–and ... (Goodreads)

  13. One Piece, Volume 5: For Whom the Bell Tolls

    by Eiichiro Oda
    Monkey D. Luffy and his crew face off against the tyrannical Captain Kuro and his band of pirates.

    Once upon a time, Usopp was just a local boy with a talent for tall tales. Everyone in his little seaside village knew him as the joker who claimed to be a pirate captain and woke people up in the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  14. The Upside of Unrequited

    by Becky Albertalli
    A teenage girl learns to embrace her identity, finding strength in her vulnerability.

    Seventeen-year-old Molly Peskin-Suso knows all about unrequited love—she’s lived through it twenty-six times. She crushes hard and crushes often, but always in secret. Because no matter how many ... (Goodreads)

  15. A Map of Days

    by Ransom Riggs
    Jacob and his peculiar friends explore the American peculiar world, uncovering secrets and facing new dangers.

    Jacob Portman is shocked at his friends' presence in modern day. With Miss Peregrine's support, he tells his parents everything. His father recounts a peculiar-related memory and says he wants to ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Radio Silence

    by Alice Oseman
    A teenage girl's quest to find her true identity, while navigating the pressures of school, family, and social media.

    From critically acclaimed author Alice Oseman comes a smartly crafted contemporary YA novel, perfect for readers who love Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl . This is an utterly captivating and authentic teen ... (Barnes & Noble)

  17. The Miracles of the Namiya General Store

    by Keigo Higashino
    Three delinquent boys seek refuge in an abandoned store and receive life-changing advice from letters written 30 years ago.

    In 1980, the Namiya General Store becomes popular with citizens after its owner, Yūji Namiya, accepts peoples' advice letters to seek advice for anything troubling them, similar to an agony aunt . ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly

    by Sun-mi Hwang
    A hen's quest to break free of her mundane life and fulfill her dream of flying.

    A Korean, Charlotte's Web,More than 2 million copies sold, This is the story of a hen named Sprout. No longer content to lay eggs on command, only to have them carted off to the market, she glimpses ... (Goodreads)

  19. A Little Life

    by Hanya Yanagihara
    A powerful tale of four friends navigating life's hardships and the devastating effects of trauma.

    The novel follows the lives of four friends in New York City from college through to middle-age. It focuses particularly on Jude, a lawyer with a mysterious past, ambiguous ethnicity, and unexplained ... (Wikipedia)

  20. Strange Weather in Tokyo

    by Hiromi Kawakami
    A tale of love and friendship between two lonely people in Tokyo.

    Tsukiko is drinking alone in her local sake bar when by chance she meets one of her old high school teachers and, unable to remember his name, she falls back into her old habit of calling him ... (Goodreads)

  21. Human Acts

    by Han Kang
    An exploration of the devastating effects of political violence, told through the lens of one family's tragedy.

    Human Acts deals with the May 1980 Gwangju uprising and the death of the young boy Kang Dong-ho. The novel is composed of seven chapters including the final epilogue, with each chapter tracing the ... (Wikipedia)

  22. They Both Die at the End

    by Adam Silvera
    Two strangers, united by fate, explore life and death while forming a unique bond.

    Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Travelling Cat Chronicles

    by Hiro Arikawa
    A cat's journey of self-discovery, discovering the true meaning of home.

    Sometimes you have to leave behind everything you know to find the place you truly belong..., Nana the cat is on a road trip. He is not sure where he's going or why, but it means that he gets to sit ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Poppy War

    by R.F. Kuang
    Orphan girl Rin surprises everyone by acing the Keju, gaining entry to the prestigious Sinegard academy, and discovering her shamanic powers.

    The novel centers on a poor orphan, Rin, who trains in secret to test into the elite Sinegard Academy. , Kuang said Rin's life is meant to parallel the trajectory of Mao Zedong . , Grounded in the ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse

    by Charlie Mackesy
    A heartwarming tale of four unlikely friends on a journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance.

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER · USA TODAY BESTSELLER “,The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, is not only a thought-provoking, discussion-worthy story, the book ... (Barnes & Noble)

  26. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

    by Ocean Vuong
    A letter from a son to his illiterate mother, exploring their family's history and his own coming-of-age as a gay Vietnamese-American.

    On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began ... (Goodreads)

  27. Fathers and Sons

    by Ivan Turgenev
    A story of generational divide, exploring the differences between fathers and sons.

    Arkady Kirsanov has just graduated from the University of Petersburg . He returns with a friend, Bazarov, to his father's modest estate in an outlying province of Russia. His father, Nikolay, gladly ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Dirty Pleasures

    by Meghan March
    A billionaire alpha male and a strong-willed woman engage in a steamy, forbidden romance filled with secrets and danger.

    I did it. I married a billionaire. My reasons are my own, but the last thing I expected was to feel owned. I may have taken vows, but I'm still determined to be me. Now his rules are taking over my ... (Goodreads)

  29. Silk

    by Alessandro Baricco
    Adventure of a 19th century French trader who travels to Japan to find rare silkworm eggs.

    The novel tells the story of a French silkworm merchant-turned-smuggler named Hervé Joncour in 19th century France who travels to Japan for his town's supply of silkworms after a disease wipes out ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Call It What You Want

    by Brigid Kemmerer
    Two teens, each with their own secrets, find solace in each other's company and learn to confront their pasts.

    New York Times, bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer pens a new emotionally compelling story about two teens struggling in the space between right and wrong. When his dad is caught embezzling funds ... (Barnes & Noble)