Korea and Kops

(More background music while reading)

Walking through the newly planted garden at 2A High Street, Bonny, Tilly and Moggy respectively barked, yapped and said 'Hello' to six sensational bookclubbers on Wednesday 13 May 2026 - but not to our three casualties 

Megan - all wishing her well and hoping to see her back soon when ready

2-caps - socialising elsewhere with a torn shoulder tendon and Nobby 

Margy - nursing a not so funny hairline fracture of her humerus

So joining Mog was the sensational six including Julie, Kathy, McLassie, Cherilyn, Sue and Cherrie - although the discovery of Cherrie's bum hamstring during the evening suggested she wasn't so sensational after all.  

After an intense inspection and interrogation of Mog's knitted vest (garter stitch; circular needles; knitted in one piece; hard wool; older, simple but now lost pattern), Mog took us to her book selection 'Murder on North Terrace' by Laini Anderson.  Starting life as a journalist, Laini completed her PhD on Kate Cocks, SA's first policewoman, at UniSA in 2024.   Now holding a number of positions within the history fraternity of SA, Laini lives in the Adelaide Hills and will probably write more of her 'petticoat police mysteries'.  Suggested by McLassie to Mog as an uncomplicated and interesting read during moving time, we embarked upon an historical tour of Adelaide in 1917.   We were jumping in and out of hansom cabs with Miss Cocks and her jujitsu practising offsider, Ethel Bromley, visiting AGSA where the body of the AGSA Board governor was found beneath the controversial new acquisition 'Sowing new seed', and moving across the inner suburbs returning by tram to home base (Landrowna Tce which was actually in now Victoria Square).  

1922 photo of Landrowna Tce
(from State Library)

Most readers agreed Ethel was the star of the show, with Kate Cocks' dour Methodist morality a little wearing as she chased down different avenues with her big stick - yet it created an entree for the author to offer us an insight into Adelaidean hypocrisy of the time.   The scales of justice were clearly tilted in favour of wealth and gender, as the attention given to socialites was contrasted with working class victims, and female detective work contrasted with 'real' blokey policing.  

All agreed it was thoroughly researched and brought the atmosphere of an earlier Adelaide to life on its pages, making it an interesting, easy and enjoyable read.  Great selection Mog and suggestion McLassie.  (The Death of Dora Black, the first mystery book is doing the rounds for those interested - with similar themes percolating through).  

Mog's Oracle ponders the frisson ?

We somehow morphed seamlessly from WW1 Adelaide to present day Seoul and Cherrie's selection, 'Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop' by Korean author, Hwang Boreum.  (ed note:  collecting Cherrie's 3 pages of research summarising the book was a big miss by your interlocutor, so if they arrive in my inbox I'll link them in to this blog).  It was the story of the bookshop and bookshop owner you want to have in your neighbourhood - GOAT coffee, book suggestions tailored to each reader (a novelty as Cherrie remarked), growing book clubs and hosting book talks by authors, and more.  We learnt Yeongju, the owner, quit her high pressure job, divorced her equally high pressure husband, and made a leap of faith to realise her dream of opening the bookshop.  Cherrie took us from her lonely starting place in the early days of the bookshop, through her journey to find peace and happiness. Interestingly, it required her amazing busy-ness in managing the bookshop (although less stressful than working for the company), along with likeminded characters (including readers' favourite Minjun {barista extraordinaire}, Jimi the coffee roaster, knitter Jungsuh, Mincheol, the young student looking for a mentor {enter Yeongju}, and Seeungwoo, the kind hearted grammatical pedant). The big question for discussion was whether there was 'frisson' between Yeongju and Seeungwoo by the books end.  And the answer ? - the jury is still out.  

There were some little pearls of wisdom dropped throughout the book - such as 'characters in novels are imperfect and that's how they lend their voice to the average person' (p 80); 'have we become the person we wanted to be?' followed by 'each day is a successful day surrounded by good people' (p 242, 254).  And then there was the clincher about reading: it teaches you to 'reflect on yourself - and so hope to become a better person one day' (p 68).  Fabulous!!!  In the end the folksy but gentle and gracious message was that by self reflection, you will find yourself, and when you have found yourself, you will find your people.   Yeongsu found her people.  Everyone enjoyed the book and the characters, finding it a cheerful read (despite the Korean names that were hard to keep track of, and the fast Korean lifestyle).  

Cherrie's fabulous quince cake came out as we reflected on the two uplifting books and how positive it was to read them in these difficult times.  Post book chat avoided glum global politics turning to films - 'The Sheep Detective' could be a new adventure for Hugh Jackman after 'Song Sung Blue'.  Cherrie suggested reading 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' by Muriel Barbery, and we talked about our next scheduled meeting in July.  Possible switches were discussed, then Kathy suggested we stay with the date at her place, and leave it open for Megan.  One book to discuss, we decided, would be perfectly fine.

As we started to drift off, and Moggy gave everyone a farewell plant, we all reflected on the last story of the night: and decided that if we're walking in Victoria Park's dog park (dogs on lead area), we will keep our eyes open for an aggressive man with a small dog on a lead - and if spotted run up and knee him in the balls compliments of Julie.  

Next meeting: Wednesday 8 July at Kathy's place. 

Kathy's choice: 'Remarkably Bright Creatures' by Shelby Van Pelt.  (Netflix has just released a telemovie of the same name starring Sally Field). 

Post-script: Megan's choice 'The Names' by Florence Knapp