The stories behind their books

“I cried a lot, especially at the parts about parents”

““I also read a book called ‘Moss Forest.’””

“I did my reading with those.”

“I’m Going to Be Lovely Next Year Too”

““A book Choi Ja recommended to me; it was written based on research on aging.””

“I should read books diligently and live diligently!!”

“Maybe because I read it when I was young, something about it has stuck in my memory.”

“While working on this essay, I had the chance to look back on my life from childhood through my twenties and return to my original intentions. It also helped me make plans for the future, not only for the rest of my playing career but also for after retirement.”

“After that, I started seeking out and reading Murakami's major works, such as Dance Dance Dance and Kafka on the Shore.”

“A book that spoon-feeds you.”

““One Piece””

“Seongju speaks English so naturally. It’s not as if he learned it; it’s more like he’s always been good at it. And the fact that he kindly shares all his secrets like this—there’s no reason not to try following his example!”

“Ah, is that it?”

“A few days ago, I took that book out and read it again. It’s still on my desk.”

“I started reading *Darkness at Noon* the day before yesterday.”

“Thank you, poet #NaTaejoo”

“A writer who portrays a natural attitude toward life with purity and precision. The moment I read her writing, I already belong to happiness. It is a clear and sturdy world that only those who live as themselves can enter.”

“I wrote the book thinking that I hoped it might give someone strength.”

“I decided to publish a book to share the happiness of cooking for myself.”

“A little arboretum breathing in the palm of my hand”

“Something you absolutely must not miss”

“As I was writing this book...”

“I’ve been reading a lot of books lately. I read Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, and I also read One Night When Little Things Became Big Things.”

“And this book—I'm reading it now.”

“As a member of the K-pop group tripleS, being able to witness the CEO’s concerns and decisions up close was an experience that taught me a great deal. At every moment of choice, I could feel the CEO’s sincerity and determination to do more than simply establish a company—to usher in a new era of K-pop. That journey is captured in its entirety in this book. I also found it deeply meaningful that I had become part of the CEO’s journey. I think fans will discover the passion and sincerity behind the scenes, while people in the industry will find new inspiration. I hope this book gives you the strength to set out on a new path, too.”

“This is exactly where my heart is.”

“The first flapping of wings toward freedom”

“I’ll definitely finish reading Eragon!!”

“This is also a book read by Heath Ledger, an actor I like. It's Gustave Flaubert's novel Sentimental Education. After seeing the book appear in the documentary film I Am Heath Ledger, I became curious about what he was thinking when he read it.”

“And this is a line from the novel Dallergut Dream Department Store.”

“I went to a bookstore, bought the book, and read it. It was written by an 89-year-old, and says not to put too much emphasis on whether someone is old or young.”

“Wouldn’t it be good to do something like “So What”? With something like this, it doesn’t have to be about this subject; it could be about something else too.”

“After reading this book, I thought I wanted everyone to find their own happiness and live at their own pace. We can run, but we can also walk or crawl. Everyone has a different way of living, so this book made me realize that we should respect and be considerate of one another. It's a science fiction novel, but its warm, sensitive expressions touch your heart, so anyone should be able to read it without difficulty.”

““When I first read Blindness, I had a primal feeling.””

“This book is so good ❤️❤️”

“I hope that those who long to take some time for themselves and find themselves will be sure to read this book.”

“Poet Park Jun’s distinctive witty style was moving and touching.”

“The Little Prince is such a famous work, you know. I first encountered it as an animated film, and later read it as a book. I want to express the feelings I experienced through contemporary dance.”

“This is a silent human drama. It’s such a joy to see a friend you care about succeed. It brings back all those ambitions we had back then: we especially loved the weird and wanted to be even weirder, in some way. Thanks to this book, I feel as though a passion that will never rot, like Kim’s fruit, and the spirited Moonchi I was back then have come back to me. Thank you so much! And there’s nothing about me in it, huh?”

““I’m really often hurt by words, and when that reached its peak, I needed kind words. When I thought I should soothe my heart with a book, I came across a book called The Temperature of Language. The title felt warm from the start, so I was drawn to it. Since then, I keep reading it whenever I have time. It gives me a sense of calm whenever I’m tired. I often feel the depth of words and the power of words with a ‘warm temperature.’””

“I went to Canada to study abroad when I was 12. I compiled the diary I wrote at the time and published it as a book.”

“Since I like mystery novels, even just the cover and title made this feel so exciting. If you’re a mystery novel fanatic, this is exactly the kind of thing you’d love.”

“I recommend it to you all too❤”

“I have it open to a page.”

“I read books whenever I have a moment to gain indirect experiences.”

“I was interested in negotiation studies. I thought it would be good to apply them to everyday life.”

“The 8 Rules of Love, by Jay Shetty.”

“Then I remembered that I had read Musso’s earlier book, Call from an Angel, some time ago…”

“I think at least The Attributes of Money / Rich Dad Poor Dad are books really worth reading two or three times.”

“Then, when the members made their remarks, I was really moved. “Ah… this is crazy, like a movie. Right, this is what I had been missing.””

“I first read it in middle school at a church student council book club, and when I picked it up again recently, I ended up sobbing all over again.”

“The book I recently enjoyed reading was Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.”

““The part I like best is when the man, who had kept his heart closed off, opens up to the woman and says, ‘Stay with me tonight, Clara.’ Even in the film based on the novel, that scene is the best.””

““I also read the slice-of-life novel The Uncanny Convenience Store,””

“That book, Na Tae-joo’s *Wildflower Life Lessons by Na Tae-joo*—my dad went to a bookstore, bought it, and got me a copy to read on the way.”

“I’m studying Japanese on my own using Japanese books. I work hard at it whenever I have free time between schedules.”

“The way it unfolds is so unique and captivating that I read the whole thing in one sitting. I had been caught up in a hectic routine amid my busy schedule, but throughout the book, its gripping storytelling gave me a very new feeling.”

“I want to return to my childhood and reread Jules Verne’s classic science-fiction novels, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Around the World in Eighty Days, which I read a long time ago. These days, getting in touch with my inner child helps me relax.”

“Reading this script while imagining the drama can be helpful and fun. Everyone, try reading it this way sometime.”

“I really recommend 0 to people like that.”

“"The Little Prince feels different every time I read it—now, five years from now, or ten years from now."”

“To recommend books I enjoyed reading, first, “Ordinary Words (Kim Eana).” Even though I’d only read it, I thought, “The author’s thoughts are so healthy and profound,” and the author felt like a “senior in life” to me. And then, “On My 29th Birthday, I Decided to Die a Year Later (Amari Hayama).””

“Writing a book had been one of my New Year’s plans since I was young. In 2014, I felt I had to do it.”

““I mainly like poetry collections. Poetry seems like the genre that best reveals a poet’s temperament and sensibility. Poets look at things we often see in everyday life from a different perspective and express them in a few words. I think those words often resonate deeply. In this collection, I like the poem ‘Knot.’ In particular, when I read the passage, ‘Do not call it a knot. The hardest part—once, this too was so tender and fragile. It was only that passion went too far, and after a single wound, it could never bloom again,’ I thought that a poet could see a tree’s ‘knot’ in this way, too, and something about it really struck me.””

“When I went to the bookstore, there was even a book titled *I Almost Lived Diligently*. Everyone's worn out, I guess.”

“What I would recommend to you is The Catcher in the Rye.”

“I read Gu Byeong-mo's book *Gills* three times.”

“It felt new to imagine the personalities and ways of speaking of the characters in the book.”

“It contains ways for creators to express how they communicate with the public and inspire empathy, as well as methods for finding inspiration.”

“I always carried two copies of Park Wan-suh’s <i>His Lonely and Lonesome Night</i> with me on location and read them.”

“There are so many slim people in the broadcasting industry. It seems that being skinny has become a measure of popularity. Being surrounded by so many thin people, I find myself worrying about my weight every day.”

“If I were good at English too, I would have read it that way.”

“Reading this book helped spur me on in that mindset.”

“The Devotion of Suspect X.”

“I’ve been very interested in composing lately, and the book contains a lot of things that people like me, who want to compose popular music, would want to know for themselves. People tend to think composing is difficult, but it explains very clearly and simply what composing is and how to do it. One of our songs is included in the book, too, so I thought, “That’s how this song was made,” and it brought back a lot of memories of recording and singing it at the time. It also helped me with composing.”

“These days, I think I’ve come to prefer books and works with this kind of humanism.”

“I usually don’t like rereading books because I want to hold on to my initial impression of them. I happened to find this book while tidying my room and read it again, and it was fun because it felt different from when I first read it.”

“All I could bring was a book and two pairs of AirPods.”

“A considerate gene.”

“I hope you’ll love it. You won’t regret it.”

““The heart that finally wells up with tears” reads to me as “a heart that I could not bring myself to let pass by.””

“I heard it was interesting.”

““After reading The Power of Positive Thinking and The Secret, I changed even more.””

“Show proof of Homo Deus first, you long-tailed tit.”

““I read it when I was young, too, but it seems to mean something different each time I read it. As I get older, and at each stage of my life, my interpretation changes. There are lots of plays on words in the book, and it’s a world of make-believe, isn’t it? They stimulate my imagination, and it’s fun to picture a Wonderland in my mind. And above all, I think the book’s strength is that it doesn’t force a lesson on you.””

“For me, who has been running nonstop since my debut, books give me a little breathing room and help me gain insight.”

“After reading the book, I also gained the courage to take on a field I want to study, using my spare time even when I’m busy with group activities.”

““Watching people from all walks of life take on challenges with courage filled me with a sense of adventure!””

“The book is called "Verbal Abuse of Comfort."”

“It's a poetry book by Doyoon Na.”

“This book is summarized in one sentence on the cover.”

“Although it's a poetry book, it's like... realistic, and it describes negative and sad emotions so well.”

“You might wonder, "Huh? How's reading that book gonna help you get comforted?" but...”

“Just like the title of this book "Verbal Abuse of Comfort,"”

“So here's a poem. Let me read it to you.”

“So there are lots of poems with this kind of a vibe.”

“I think the overflowing comfort from these poems really will comfort you.”

“So I recommend you read this poetry book when you're exhausted and going through a hard time.”

“Thanks to this book, I learned a lot about what I hadn’t known about everything that goes into an artist coming into being. I felt grateful to everyone who was with me, and is still with me, on the journey to becoming the ‘Baek A-yeon’ I am today. If you’re curious about the idol industry, this book will be a great help.”

““Don’t compare yourself to anyone else; compare yourself only to who you were yesterday. When someone else is speaking, think of them as someone who may tell you something you need to know. Speak clearly and precisely. Keep company only with people who expect the best of you. Choose the meaningful path, not the easy one. Through these and all twelve rules, I hope you can end a meaningless life and wisely ‘navigate’ the sea of life.””

“A book I want to take out and read whenever I think of my beloved pet who went to Dog Star. I related to Jiyul’s feelings and was deeply moved by Byeol’s love!”

“Actually, while creating the music for this show, I think I drew a lot of inspiration from books and videos I liked when I was young. For example, I worked with books like Peter Pan and Snow White, and videos of myself playing outdoors as a child playing in the background.”

“After reading this book, I learned that it was a blessing just to have witnessed something invisible.”

“Paulo Coelho once said, “Travel alone or with your wife.” To me, it sounded like, “Travel alone.””

“Wow ㅠㅠ Make sure you read it all!!”

“I’d like to recommend it.”

“That’s why the book is titled *Sometimes I Think About What Happiness Is*.”

“I didn’t study music theory separately, and there’s a book called Popular Music Theory. It’s a thick book that teaches you things like the basics of arranging and how chord progressions work. That’s how I learned.”

“I was surprised by the content, which seemed to look into the joys and sorrows I experienced while promoting as a member of H.O.T.”

“I read it during a time in high school when I was very lonely, and it comforted me. I’ve read it several times since, and each time I find new comfort in it.”

“There are times when we can’t open up to anyone about anything, shut ourselves away, and feel empty. When our hearts are lonely like that, I think the most important—and truly necessary—thing is for someone to reach out first. The author describes that hand as “connection.” Just as I hope my music can reach someone like a hand reaching out, I hope this book will be like that hand, too. Hoping that love and peace will spread through the world instead of isolation, I recommend this book.”

“I immediately bought and read the translated original novel.”

“A friend from my hometown whom I met then gave me a book by writer Yeonjeong called *The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow, but What About Tonight?* Rather than explaining how to overcome hardship, it simply presents difficult and happy moments as short episodes. It also has lots of beautiful words and comforting phrases. I was happy because, as I read it on the rooftop, I realized for the first time that I was enjoying that moment.”

“I didn't really like it before, but after reading The Analects, so much of it resonated with me, and I enjoyed learning from it.”

“I read it straight through for eight hours on the 15th, which was a weekend, and my mother, whom I had buried deep in my heart and forgotten about in my everyday life, came to mind, and I sobbed uncontrollably.”

“It’ll be a happy ending anyway”

“If I were to become a singer, perhaps I should be the kind of singer who passes on only white music, even if nodules form on my vocal cords.”

“The Recovering Mind is a book revised and supplemented from columns originally serialized in a newspaper.”

“Finding this book was a great stroke of luck. It helped me understand fans a little better and made me want to become a better version of myself. I too want to hold on to the precious feeling of admiring someone.”

“Ah, I changed it to recommend Paulo Coelho’s book *The Alchemist*.”

“The Little Prince!”

“I was able to continue the lingering feeling I had experienced in this novel through that poetry collection as well.”

“This dog-food book is, of course, also a book I wrote to repay dogs for the happiness I’ve received as a dog owner. I think it’s especially a book for people who have lots of dogs, but actually, I wrote it in a fairly conventional format.”

“It’s a book written for artists, and I felt like it really opened up my perspective.”

“I didn't start writing because of any particular occasion. I gathered the things I had jotted down—fleeting thoughts, like entries in a diary—and they came to be a book.”

“Joan Didion’s *Blue Nights*.”

“Sometimes my self-esteem hits rock bottom and I feel my sense of self wavering. People around me say you need a hobby to relieve stress, but I still haven’t found one. So whenever I’m having a hard time, I read books like “Look at This Poem” and “Even So, I Love You.” I’m not very good at reading long texts, so I mainly read books with lots of pictures and the words I want to hear.”

“I first read this book in high school. As a trainee, I felt slightly off the usual path, while my friends seemed to be studying hard, going to university, and following a smooth course. I felt anxious because I didn’t know when I would debut as an idol singer. What God says to Knulp felt as though it was being said to me, and it brought me great comfort.”

“I’m going to read my first book (manga) today!”

““When I first read *You Said It Was Goodbye*, I found the content a little difficult.””

“Because I never even imagined that I would publish a book, I feel more fulfilled than I did when releasing an album.”

“One thing that really stuck with me from it was the line, “It was possible because I didn’t know it might be impossible.” I tend to think positively, so I always read it believing that anything was possible.”

“A perfect novel in every respect—the readability of the prose, the characterization, the trick, and the structure! It was what got me hooked on Keigo Higashino’s works and on mysteries.”

“I think I've read these three books several times: The Lighthouse Keeper, You Too Are a Sky Lily, and Yeontan-gil.”

““I’ve always liked author Kim Yeon-su. Many people may sometimes feel as though they’re losing, even when they try to find strength in their own circumstances. I feel that way, too. At times like that, a warm book that says nothing can become a very good friend. The author says he came to a realization while considering the various meanings of ‘the words that we don’t lose’ and discovering concrete examples of them: ‘To reach hope, one must inevitably accept despair.’ We’ve come to live through a difficult time, with many unavoidable realities, when everyone is having a really hard time. Even so, I recommend this book, hoping that each of us will find a way to make things better in our own way.””

“Great for killing time~ (Spoiler alert) I expected the 1984 killer, but I never saw the Shiraishi killer coming (›´-`‹)”

“So we bought it together.”

“If there were no music in our lives, it seems the whole world would look black and white. Even after 23 years as a musician, classical music had always felt unfamiliar to me, but I was able to feel close to it through this book. The lively chronicles of the great classical music masters of the world, so vivid they felt like watching a drama, were truly captivating. If you’re looking for the easiest and most enjoyable book about classical music, I recommend this one without hesitation. Discover the birth of world-famous masterpieces in an enjoyable, accessible way.”

“I highly recommend all of Matsumoto Taiyo’s works. For example, Ping Pong and Monster.”

“The book I read recently is *I Almost Lived Diligently*. Because I almost did, too.”

“These two passages describe my life.”

“It’s something like a debate among philosophers about love, and, well, it lets us seriously think once again about how love is being consumed in modern society, and about our attitudes toward dating and things like that.”

“I would rather say that I listened to this book than read it. In this book, I listened to the author’s lecture, and I heard God’s heart. I feel God’s heart, which longs to bring young mothers and babies aboard the ark of salvation—the salvation we so earnestly desire. It is God’s heart speaking of wanting to save these children born to young mothers who have been coldly marginalized.”

“It’s a book called Do It for Myself.”

““I recommend ‘Laugh Like Haha’s Mom.’””

““I’ve been living in Korea for four years and have read many Korean literary works in English. Each time, I felt, ‘Ah, this is a translation.’ But I was surprised by how excellent the English was in these two works published this time. I think it’s at a higher level than the English I use. (Laughs.)””

“I wanted to express the thoughts I usually have not only through music but also in other ways.”

“My all-time favorite comic book from my school days was Comic MapleStory. I don’t know if you know it, but it was really fun. I think people from the first generation will relate.”

“I wanted to build my own stage with “Ruby.””

“It feels like only yesterday that I started yoga, and I’m truly happy to have earned my instructor certification and even published a book like this.”

“A time when I looked back on my own capacity for empathy, wondering whether I had been viewing socially disadvantaged people through a biased lens all this time.”

““The label ‘chick lit,’ applied to novels read by young women, contains sexual denigration and contempt.””

“Lily's book rec for today: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie.”

“Facts are sacred. Facta sacra sunt”

“Next, this book. That book too, now, Mr. Na Tae-jun...”

“I wondered how a lie could be elegant, and I was interested because it was by the author of Wandeuk.”

“These days, I’m reading a book called “Why Do Smart People Believe Nonsense?””

“Another one is a book called *All the Time in the World*. These days, everything moves so fast, and it’s hard to imagine life without videos like Shorts, right? This book is about a life of slow accumulation, in connection with quantum mechanics, and offers various perspectives on letting time rest, bending it, and stretching it. It’s a good read for people who want to create some breathing room in their lives.”

“I’ve read it all once, but it made such an impression on me that I wanted to read it again, so I brought it: Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight.”

“A Thousand Years of Love, Father.”

“As I read this book and worked through the problems, I don’t think “really good” is enough to describe it.”

“Yoon Ji-un’s <Pahanjip>. I started reading it a few years ago, and I pick it up once in a while when I’m bored.”

“I also bought a book called *People Born in the ’90s Are Coming*. Try challenging yourself [to read] this book too 😄”

““I’m proud of my mentor.””

“After Blonote, I think this book is going to become my all-time favorite.”

“It really deserves it. It’s entertaining, and I imagine a lot as I read.”

“The book I’m reading is There Is No Such Thing as Nothing Now. I get a lot of comfort from it, and I’m learning how to think differently.”

“It felt very fresh to learn that the sijo poems in *Cheonggu Yeongeon*, which I had encountered only in textbooks, are being newly reinterpreted as K-pop lyrics.”

“That’s why I got completely absorbed in the book.”

“I had never taken photos wearing lingerie before. Since this is my first time trying it, I hope everyone will pay close attention to the photos of me wearing lingerie.”

“Kim Do-hoon is truly a hit songwriter. This book does not simply focus on explaining theory; it also explains the know-how of a popular music composer, so I believe it will be a great help to aspiring composers.”

“You wrote using words and various sentences that felt not quite settled yet, but I liked it.”

“Ah, the book is too difficult.”

“I like Kafka’s The Metamorphosis.”

““Thrillers are the best airplane reads and this one is an all-time fave when I need a little escape from reality. I am personally addicted to stories about people who will go wild lengths to get what they want.””

“I enjoyed reading Han Kang’s *Love of Yeosu* and *The Vegetarian*, Yang Gui-ja’s *Contradiction*, Jeong Dae-geon’s *Torrent*, and others.”

“I started reading books because of internet novels. There’s a book by Baekmyo called *Cinderella and the Four Knights*. It’s a romance novel, and it was made into a book. I think that’s what got me started on reading physical books properly.”

“I think it's a book that even people with no interest in philosophy can approach easily, and that gives them a stepping stone toward developing a philosophy of their own.”

“Even amid those circumstances, the very act of somehow turning poignant episodes with the people I love into poetry made me feel a certain kinship with it. Maybe that’s why I like it all the more.”

“Publishing a photo book wasn’t something I had planned. Since these were photos I’d taken on my phone in my spare moments, I was hesitant to release them, but thinking of it as leaving a record of everyday life, I’ve made it this far.”

“You have to put down deep roots so that you can stand more firmly as you grow.”

“I remember being interested in this when I was really little, borrowing Lovecraft’s short story collection, and thinking, “What is this…?””

“I watched Bait, and it wasn't childish at all. I really enjoyed it.”

“and I recommend Summer Hill”

“Each chapter in this book is organically connected to an album track.”

“I guess I replied to another post... As for books, I’m trying to read The Vegetarian now...”

“This is exactly the book I want to find. It’s about the number 88 bus.”

“I recently read Almond, but I don't know what it was about. I'm the type who only reads the beginning and can't make it to the end.”

“People seem to be born as light as feathers, then gradually shoulder more weight as they live.”

“I spent a long time with him, but knew absolutely nothing about him. In fact, I never really asked. He was someone who laughed a lot, but his laughter didn’t seem particularly genuine. There was a bitter taste to his laughter and words, so I didn’t casually cross his boundaries. I wanted to help him protect himself in his own way, and that was my way of being a friend. I thought it was so like Yoon Seol-ya to put it into writing only now and tell his life story, and I was so glad there was at least this outlet for letting it all out. In a word, he’s such a romantic. I’m honored that one of the songs I wrote was included in it (I was a little surprised by the unexpected song choice)!”

“Things one might call one’s absolute favorites are few and far between. I sometimes think of life as an unfinished movie.”

““Finally😭 finished reading””

“Amid a busy schedule, I picked up a book that deeply moved me. The book I really want to recommend to others is The Five-Percent Miracle by my senior Lee Dong-woo, the comedian formerly of Tintin Five.”

“This book shakes readers and ultimately changes them.”

“So I really, really recommend reading it.”

“Actually, there were many more kinds of baby food I fed Seo-a. I recorded them in a notebook or on my phone each time. They said the book shouldn’t be too thick, so I included about 20 recipes and snacks for each stage, making a total of 131 recipes.”

“I don’t know much about painting, but I found the story of solving the riddle very interesting.”

“I like reading books.”

“It explains humanity’s past and future from multiple perspectives.”

“For anyone nurturing a dream of making music, this book lays itself bare, offering many treasures to take away.”

“This book is fun~!”

“I’m very interested in other people’s stories. How could one live without opening one’s ears to the world?”

“I've been really enjoying Alain de Botton's book The Sorrow That Brings Joy lately.”

“I’m especially enjoying the webtoon <The Return of the Mount Hua Sect>.”

“I was impressed by reading *Illionaire Life*, written by my senior, Dok2.”