Reading this book, I thought that I, too, have been having a good time. As my children grew and needed less of their mother's help and life became stable, I longed for activities beyond work and home. My parents spent their lives working and didn't know how to play. After retirement they were bored, so they tried gateball and a popular-song class to find something fun, but they couldn't get into them. It must have been hard to endure the time it takes to start enjoying something. Perhaps

The author's candid confessions about her inner life make readers reflect on themselves. Her warm way of looking at the world also passes on and gives us another perspective. This book reminds us how precious the passing of time is. I look forward to the author's next work.

Some things in life remain difficult no matter how hard we try, while others come easily without much effort. This essay speaks through that kind of broadly shared emotional experience. It feels especially meaningful as a realistic self-help book for middle-aged readers and women. Mom Is Still Having Fun Today is not simply urging readers to take up leisure activities. It explains how a positive outlook can help us enjoy real life and plan and manage it for ourselves. Through her experience and

I often wonder whether I—and we—live today, lived yesterday, and can live tomorrow as our true selves. It's no exaggeration to say this is a question about how we live our lives, yet I wonder how many people can clearly say, “I am living as myself.” Perhaps most people live differently from their dreams and hopes. I say this because people around me, starting with myself and including family and friends, confess that they cannot live according to their hopes or in a way that feels true to them.

As I get older, I like books that are easy to read, and this one is exactly to my taste. Following the author, who finds meaning in life through small changes—as the prologue says, “I found myself in little things”—I found stories that are easy to put into practice and easy to relate to. They made me think, “Oh, maybe I should try that too,” without needing a major resolution or turning point. The author talks about reading, exhibitions, and movies, things anyone can enjoy, and I found myself

Kim Mi-kyung, Mom Is Still Having Fun Today. Buybooks. What makes us special? Excitement and making a fuss differ by only one letter in Korean, but their meanings are quite far apart. The dictionary defines the latter as acting hurriedly and busily, often with other people's opinions in mind. Excitement means being unable to settle down, feeling uplifted and thrilled; being willing to experience it takes a certain depth of experience. Its focus is inward, and that's where it works. With the

I was curious about life after retirement. The title says “Mom” is “having fun,” and doing so “after retirement.” Since it was described as an essay that fills middle age with life, I wanted to know what kind of life a senior who is just beginning retirement had prepared to call retirement exciting. My father retired from civil service long ago, then worked as an elementary school safety guard for ten years before truly retiring recently. Like many in his generation, he wandered, unable to

I liked how easy the book was to read. As I read, I thought of my late mother and cried. It felt less like reading a book and more like listening to a story; even afterward, I could almost hear the author's voice. Here are a few passages that especially spoke to me: 1. Be imperfect first, and imperfect again. 2. Just do things as they come. 3. You think you just grew up on your own? 4. Beautiful from behind. Confidence radiating from your silhouette is truly rare. 5. The saddest thing about

“What will you do when you retire?” When people nearing retirement are asked, most answer, “Work has been hard; I'm going to play as much as I want.” But many have little idea of how they will do that. Author Kim Mi-kyung finished figuring out how to have fun as she retired. She had already gotten started and prepared for the second act of her life. She has put that process into a book and clearly shows us, “This is how you can have fun; people have fun this way, too.” She attends book groups