The Book That Started It All

On a cold day in January 2000, I was in the Kyobo Book Centre in downtown Seoul when I came across a book that would change my life forever.

I was just browsing the racks when I happened to come across Retrieving Bones.

I took the book off the shelf, stared at the cover, and looked inside.

Hmm...stories and poems of the Korean War. I put it back and then took it off the shelf again.

Maybe I could read it and write a book review. After all, this year will be the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.

For two years, I had been submitting essays to the Korea Times, which were published in a section called "Thoughts of the Times." I wrote about my life in Korea and what it meant living and working in Korea. Pretty usual stuff for expats who had been in Korea and wanted to write about their experiences.

But as I held that book in my hand that fateful day, something inside clicked.