What Did People in Seoul Read This Spring and Summer?

 What people read can say a surprising amount about what is happening around them.

In Seoul, the bestseller lists of 2026 tell a particularly interesting story. The most popular books have not simply been new releases. Some were rediscovered because of movies, some because of television or social media, and others because readers started recommending them to one another.

So what changed between spring and summer?

Spring: A Season of Fiction

Spring began with fiction firmly in the spotlight.

Andy Weir's Project Hail Mary was one of the biggest stories of the season. The novel spent weeks at the top of Kyobo Book Centre's bestseller list, helped by the popularity of its film adaptation. By late April, it had remained at No. 1 for five consecutive weeks.

Other novels were also prominent. Kim Ae-ran's I Said Goodbye climbed rapidly after the author appeared on a television interview program. By late April, the book had risen 29 places in one week to reach the overall top 10.

By May, fiction was still dominating. In the second week of May, seven of the top ten books were novels, with Project Hail Mary returning to No. 1. Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha was also climbing, while Chekhov's Selected Stories saw its sales surge after a publisher's editor appeared on a popular television program.

There was a pattern here.

People were reading novels, but many of these books were becoming popular because something outside the book was bringing them to readers' attention.

A movie.
A television appearance.
A recommendation.

Then Summer Arrived

Summer did not completely replace the books that had been popular in spring.

Instead, something more interesting happened: older books began finding new readers.

One of the clearest examples was Hesse's Siddhartha. After gradually moving up the charts during June, it reached No. 1 for the first time in late June.

It was not a brand-new book. It was a classic first published more than a century ago.

Its renewed popularity was connected to recommendations and social media, showing how a familiar book can suddenly feel new to a different generation of readers.

Then came Aquarium by Yoo Rae-hyuk.

Originally published in 2024, the novel gradually gained attention during the summer. Its summery cover and social-media word of mouth helped it climb the charts, and by the fourth week of July it reached No. 1 for the first time. The book was particularly popular among younger readers.

This is one of the most interesting differences between spring and summer.

Spring had a major movie-driven bestseller.

Summer began to feel more like a season of rediscovery.

The Summer List Keeps Changing

By August, the bestseller list was becoming even more varied.

As of the third week of August, Seneca's Seneca: To You Who Are Having Your Today Stolen had held the No. 1 position for two consecutive weeks.

Aquarium, Keigo Higashino's The Transparent Spiral, Siddhartha, and other novels remained near the top.

Then another familiar pattern appeared.

The film The Odyssey helped bring Homer's Odyssey back into the spotlight. In the third week of August, a Korean translation of The Odyssey rose to No. 5 on Kyobo's overall bestseller list, while another edition jumped 51 places to No. 15. Interest also spread to books about Greek and Roman mythology.

Once again, a movie was sending readers toward an older book.

And that may be the most interesting thing about the 2026 bestseller lists.

It Is Not Just What People Read. It Is How They Find It.

Looking at the spring and summer lists together, a pattern begins to emerge.

In spring, Project Hail Mary found a huge audience alongside its movie adaptation. Kim Ae-ran's work gained attention after television exposure. Chekhov received a boost after a television appearance by a publishing editor.

In summer, Siddhartha and Aquarium showed how recommendations and social media could bring books back into the spotlight. And in August, The Odyssey demonstrated once again how a successful movie can send readers looking for the original story.

The books changed.

But perhaps more importantly, the paths to those books changed.

A reader might see a movie trailer, hear an author on television, come across a recommendation on social media, or notice a book someone else is talking about — and suddenly decide to read it.

What Does This Say About Reading in Seoul?

It would be easy to look at a bestseller list and think that it simply tells us which books are popular.

But the 2026 lists suggest something more interesting.

Readers in Seoul are not necessarily waiting for the newest book to arrive.

They are willing to return to an old classic. They discover books through movies and television. They follow recommendations from other readers. And sometimes, a book published a few years ago can suddenly become the book everyone is talking about.

That makes the bestseller list feel less like a static ranking and more like a snapshot of conversations happening around the city.

And the summer is not over yet.

As of August 24, the final summer bestseller picture has not been decided. But so far, one thing is already clear:

In Seoul, a book can become popular long after it was first published — if something gives people a reason to discover it now.