--- description: Find out why "Crying in H Mart" by Michelle Zauner is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'Crying in H Mart' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 29, 2021 # Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Korean American author and musician Michelle Zauner, perhaps best known for her indie-rock band Japanese Breakfast, captivated readers with[ her 2018 _New Yorker_ essay](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/crying-in-h-mart "undefined") about mourning her mother’s death through Korean food. Her memoir of the same name expands her exploration of grief, memory, the mother-daughter relationship and her connection to her Korean identity with emotional precision and depth, sharing stories of growing up in the very white city of Eugene, Ore., traveling to Seoul, and coming to terms with her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis. **Buy Now:** _Crying in H Mart_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780525657743 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/30BGHGH "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120642/crying-in-h-mart/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120642/crying-in-h-mart/"},"headline":"Crying in H Mart","datePublished":"2021-11-29T13:16:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:59:10.481Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120642/crying-in-h-mart/","keywords":["Books","list","best books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf80a50f1a988cbe7/6998cd3be1ba008edc98e4bd/time-hi-res.webp?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-must-read-books-2021/6120642/crying-in-h-mart/","name":"Crying in H Mart"}}]}] ```