Here are some books about some aspect of Korea that I enjoyed and can recommend to those interested.

Minhwa: Tales of Korean folk paintings

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is the least bit interested in Korean folk art because the book covers a broad spectrum of art styles, is beautifully illustrated, and written in clear, easy to understand English.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handbook of Korean Art : Folk Painting

Packed full of great photos and simple explanations, this little book is a warehouse or Korean art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Korea through Western Eyes

This is a book about the lives of some of the first foreigners to live in Korea. It’s highly entertaining.  I think I read this book faster than any other book I’ve ever read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BROTHER ONE CELL

This is a great book about an American who spent 3.5 years in Korean prisons for smuggling hash.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

재미있는 우리 사찰의 벽화 이야기

This book, in English, would be called something like “Our Temple’s Interesting Wall Painting Stories”.  It’s completely written in Korean, and so you’ll need to have at least an intermediate level of Korean reading skills to enjoy it.  It contains a number of short stories that explain what is going on in the paintings you often encounter at Korean temples.  I’ve begun translating the stories and putting them in the Buddhism category for this blog.  It’s books like this one, that really speak to my interests, that make studying Korean so worthwhile.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spirit Of The Mountains

This is the most comprehensive book about Korea’s mountain spirit tradition I have seen.  It’s a big coffee table style book packed full of clear photographs of actual mountain spirit paintings from across Korea taken by David A Mason over his many years on the peninsula.  The book is excellently organized and very readable overall as Mr. Mason explains quite well the many details that such paintings contain.  If you are like me and are interested in the religious iconography of Korea, you will really enjoy this book.