A Book Street in Busan

This is like “heaven on earth”, an alley lined with crammed bookshops of all kinds.

During the Korean War, when Busan became the provisional capital, refugees sold and bought books to make a living. This place became a go-to place to buy and sell used books before the publishing industry was fully established and people had higher standards of living.

Now, Bosu-dong Book Street is a famous book street wherein you can buy used and rare books. Prices of books are scaled according to the conditions of the book or bargaining. There are English titles but you need to be a little patient scavenging them from these heaps. I was happy to get two books before I headed back to Jeonju, Gabriel García Márquez ’s Love in the Time of Cholera and Shin Kyung-sook’s Please Look After Mom (in Hangul).