I would like to say there is a system.

Something orderly. A method that keeps everything in place — what I am reading, what comes next, what I will eventually get to.

There is not.

I read on instinct. I pick up what pulls me in, read a few pages, and decide whether to stay. Some books wait. Some disappear into the background. Others arrive at exactly the right moment.

And lately, there are more and more of them.

I am very aware that this is, in many ways, a good problem to have. The work of publishers, editors, and both established and emerging translators has made Korean literature in translation far more visible and available than it once was.

But it does raise questions.

Is this a sustained shift, or a moment of momentum?
Are we seeing a genuine expansion of readership, or a response to a growing trend?
And as more titles appear, how do readers begin to navigate questions of quality, attention, and time?

There was a point where keeping up felt possible. Now it does not.

Contrary to what the cartoon suggests, there is no system holding it all together. Just curiosity, impulse, and the quiet hope that I will find my way through, one book at a time.

I am curious—do you read with a system, or do you follow instinct?