The stories behind their books

“Maybe it’s also similar to the story of *Peter Pan*. So before this round of activities, I started digging into *Peter Pan* and went through various dark fairy tales. The dark fairy tales in particular felt new to me because they were different from what I knew as a child.”

“This book is so good ❤️❤️”

“I think I used to follow it a bit like a fandom thing, reading comics too, reading Lee Mun-yeol’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, and watching Chimchakman’s Three Kingdoms.”

““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.””

“That's pretty ingenious, though—but wow!! I honestly don't quite get the whole pure, devoted love vibe.”

“I think I found a lot of comfort.”

“I ended up making an effort to get away from the media world a bit.”

“I started reading so that I could live as an ordinary person. I’m reading to find out what I want to become and what I need to do from now on.”

“I was immediately drawn into that book.”

“In particular, the poetry collection *Love as if You Have Never Been Hurt* left a deep impression on me.”

“I started writing and reading books again, as I did when I was young. I recently read Life Lessons by psychiatrist and writer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, and what I’m reading now is About Her by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto.”

“Of course, you need to have practiced enough, and you also need to be fully prepared in terms of how you look onstage. But what matters most is believing in yourself and enjoying the stage.”

“Ah, is that it?”

“The book I’d like to introduce to you is this graphic novel called Asterix Polly Wi.”

“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.”

“At first, it was hard because I kept trying to write only grand, impressive words. I completed it by making a great effort to take the force out of my writing.”

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

““At the time, the bestseller was The Courage to Be Disliked. I came out with a lot of courage to be disliked.””

““Rebonds” is a particularly special project to me. I’m very proud and excited to be part of this project supporting UNICEF. This initiative shows how important it is to protect and support those in need, especially children. Every child deserves equal opportunities in life, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable receive essential support.”

“It is a quick-results diet book for getting bikini-ready for summer.”

“It feels as though the pieces of Motown I already knew are falling into place.”

“Nevertheless, it was still such a beautiful novel.”

“I’d read a book called *The Secret* before, too, and it was similar to the law of attraction described in it...”

“Actually, when I'm having a hard time, I don't seek comfort from anyone. I can't even read books like *You Did Well Today*.”

“I found some time to relax on this trip.”

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

“A novelist with a style like his own face, reflecting reality as it is without making a fuss or being timid.”

“This book shakes readers and ultimately changes them.”

“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!”

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

““Since the book came out, I’ve been getting a lot of requests to write, so these days I’ve been focusing on writing. Writing song lyrics feels fresh and enjoyable. The appeal of creative writing is that you can take your time with it.””

“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 received this question and gave it some thought. So I reread the book and thought about it, but it was difficult.”

“These days, I’ve been copying passages by hand from a book called *The Buddha’s Words, Reinterpreted*. Regardless of religion, I chose this book because I personally found a lot to learn from the sentences in it.”

““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.””

“Whenever that happens, I reread it, and perhaps because my own experiences are added to it, I feel that what moves me changes with age.”

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

“This quote was very motivating for me.”

“I put a bookmark sticker on this part because I really liked it.”

“And I search for what it means right away. [How YVES reads #3]”

“And I try to use that expression in my daily life! [How YVES reads #3]”

“Because then I think that's when that expression becomes mine.”

“So that's how I try to expand the world of language.”

“This book is very good for writing too.”

“And it'll be helpful for those who want to start blogging.”

“When I feel powerless, I mutter a little spell .. 🪄💫”

““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.””

““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.””

“He gave me a book as a gift.”

“It’s a book called The Joy of Young Werther.”

“I haven’t read it yet, but I think my dad gave me a book he’d already read. It wasn’t new!”

“Not that famous book! I think it’s another essay!”

“Actually, I haven’t read The Sorrows of Young Werther either, so I’m going to start with The Joy of Young Werther!”

“Yeah, yeah, maybe he hoped I’d find the wisdom in the conversations I’d had with my dad in this book, too. I should read it!”

“Anyway, I thought that someday I want to be someone who can pass on this kind of wisdom to someone else in my own way!”

“I find that wisdom in our ATINY, too, so I should become that kind of person myself.”

“i recently read a book called <me before you>. it was really touching. you should read it.”

“as i said earlier, there's a book called <me before you> and i hope you try and read it once. i think it'll be really fun if carats read it.”

“I did my reading with those.”

“I came across the author’s book Why Are We Like This? at a bookstore. Through that book, I discovered the author, learned about love, and received a lot of comfort.”

“It’s kind of giving me chills, but when I read this first sentence, I realized I’m the one who became Spencer as Holfield grew up.”

“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.”

“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 enjoyed reading the novel Coffee Prince, 1st Shop.””

“The Little Prince is, ah, really a song that's kind of like a fairy tale for adults. Um, it's inspired by the original novel, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, uh...”

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

“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.”

“The book I read recently is Kim Young-ha’s <Two People>. I love Kim Young-ha’s short stories, which let me experience rich emotions even amid the hectic pace of everyday life.”

“It's called 'You Shine in the Moonlight'”

“In the end, both those inside the book and all of us outside it were alive, and living.”

“This is my first book report! I’m a man who keeps his promises.”

“Personally, when I read the book, I was moved by the line, “Even if I am tainted, I will give you only white things.””

“고등학교 때, 서양고전문학 수업을 들었는데요. 『군주론 』, 『일리아스 』 같은 어려운 고전을 매주 1권씩 읽고 서평을 썼어요.”

“They say one person’s life becomes a landscape for someone else. To EXO-L (EXO’s official fan club), I’ll continue to show you many wonderful sides of myself. Thank you. I love you.”

“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)!”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“La Divina Commedia Written by Dante Alighieri 1308-1320 (The Divine Comedy written by La Divina)”

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

“These days, I'm reading Jonas Jonasson's novel *Killer Anders and His Friends*.”

“A piece that once again reminds us how precious and radiant it is, in the midst of life, to ask one another how we are.”

“I read Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, and I also read One Night When Little Things Became Something.”

““I read Tuesdays with Morrie with my private tutor while studying English.””

“After finding the answer in the Bible, I became able to answer without hesitation when asked, “Why do you live?” That answer became the anchor of my life and the source of my passion. (Omitted) I earnestly hope this book can give a clear reason to live to someone who feels empty, lonely, isolated, anxious, afraid, or depressed—and, above all, to someone who is thinking of giving up on life (p. 10).”

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

“I was impressed by that and named it Dongihon.”

“I define a singer as “someone who conveys.” Elements like pitch and performance are certainly important, but in the end, the most important thing is conveying a song and its meaning to someone.”

“If I had read The Stranger earlier, I wouldn’t have chosen my original name, Rap Monster.”

“Nietzsche’s Words”

“Since I’m not a children’s book author, it was difficult to create new characters. I thought it might be a good idea to use Tori and Seoa, the dogs who actually live with us at home.”

“좋은 책이에요. 한번 보세요. 가볍게 보시기도 좋고 추천드립니다. 남녀 노소 모두가 봤으면 좋겠어요.”

“It was a book my older brother had received as a gift and that was at home. When I read it, it was so good. It’s a book I take out and read whenever I’m having a hard time.”

“As I read it, I kind of feel like I don’t know that much after all.”

“I thought I should have my child read it, so I made a note of it, bought it, and had my child read it.”

“The last book I read was in middle school—Life at Nine?”

“There are times when my self-esteem hits rock bottom and my sense of self wavers. People around me say you need to have a hobby to relieve stress, but I haven't found one yet. So whenever I'm having a hard time, I read books like “Look at This Poem” and “Still, I Love You.” I don't read long texts very well, so I mainly look at books with lots of pictures and the words I want to hear.”

“I read a memoir recently called Everything I Know About Love where the author pursues romantic love her whole life, only to realize something profound in the end: She had always been surrounded by amazing friends, and always been loved, and always gave love—that she’d been experiencing it all along, and that love had always been there by her side. When I read that, I kept thinking about the other members of the group. When I think about the future together with them, I feel like I could end up thinking something similar to the author. Being with them has made me learn to appreciate friendship even more.”

“And maybe that’s essentially what love is—learning to be kind through friendship, then practicing and showing it, like the book says.”

“The most recent book I read was a novel called Whale, which comedian Park Ji-sun gave me.”

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

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

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

““I’ve started another new book.””

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

“Through “Professional Lyric Writing,” I’m also learning a lot about writing lyrics that comfort people’s hearts.”

“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.”

“When I first started writing, I felt more fear than excitement, but now I’m glad I can share my stories in writing.”

““While reading *Contradiction*, I was struck by the phrase ‘the volume of life.’””

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

“A few days ago, I took that book out and read it again... It’s still on my desk... I’m grateful to you as much as you loved me—no, even more than that... Rest in peace.”

“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.”

“So I brought along Amélie Nothomb’s *Hygiene and the Assassin*, which I enjoyed reading.”

““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.””

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

“I told that friend I really enjoyed reading *Gills*.”

““I’m proud of my mentor.””

“I collected about 20 volumes of the Conan manga.”

“Among baseball manga, my favorite manga is H2.”

““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.)””

“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.”

““One Piece””

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

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

“A book called Iroseok, on the topic of… Looking at this book, I thought the keyword “god” was just right for you, experiencing life for the first time, to whom everything in the world is unfamiliar and difficult. So I bought this book too, and since I declared it and lay down…”

“The scenes where Tsuchida, a bookstore clerk, delivers monologues about impressions he has formed while watching customers, family members, and others are striking.”

“I've read this book several times.”

“Thank you, poet #NaTaejoo”

“After reading Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories, I wrote the lyrics for the song “Curse,””

“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.”

“As a celebrity, there are times when people criticize you and times when people offer you comfort. Reading this book, rather than blaming others, I had various thoughts along the lines of, “That’s just how people are; I should at least try not to be that way.””

“I learned a lot while publishing I Love You Every Day two years ago.”

“I’d like to talk about Osamu Dazai’s *No Longer Human*, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s *The Little Prince*, and Han Kang’s *Human Acts*.”

“I thought people working in the music industry would get a lot out of reading this.”

“I've been reading Norwegian Wood lately. I've almost finished it.”

“It’s a book I really hope you’ll make time to read.”

“In the early hours of Friday, I finished reading A Little Life.”

“It's been quite a while since I bought Douglas Kennedy's The Big Picture, but I've been so busy that I still haven't started it.”

“Dad, you watched over my incredibly demanding training and supported me all along—what a thoughtful dad! I’ll keep the “empty jar theory” you told me so often engraved in my heart, and keep trying to fill it with clear water and fragrant oil. You can do it too, Dad!”

“Recently, among the books I’ve read, there’s one called *Schopenhauer at Forty*… People read it at forty, but I wanted to read it at twenty, thinking it might be good to know about it at twenty… So Schopenhauer is quite, kind of… pessimistic…”

“I found it interesting while reading Small Things Like These, so I finished Foster and am having coffee now.”

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

“A Thousand Years of Love, Father.”

“Among the books I read this year, it was one of the books that resonated with me the most.”

“It’s a book called *Obsession*. Annie Ernaux writes candidly, like a diary, about how awful she became when the lover she’d been seeing got a new lover. I think that’s when I first became a little curious about it.”

““Finally😭 finished reading””

“There is a poetry collection by Na Tae-joo called I See You as a Flower. It was a book that helped lift me up when I was feeling a little down.”

““Even with my busy schedule, I try to make time to read. I love those moments when I can focus and organize my thoughts as I read.””

“It's another manga I like. I bought all the collected volumes. It really feels like actual people are in it.”

“I like the title ‘Knowledge and Love’ better than ‘Narcissus and Goldmund.’”

“I read this book twice. Actually, the first time I read it, I put it down before I’d even gotten halfway through. Then, after some time had passed and I’d read more classics, I read it again and found it enjoyable.”

“So, it was a fun book to read.”

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

“That author had a lot of books listed as bestsellers in Korea, including one called *Save Me*, and”

“Recently, I read José Saramago's *Blindness* and *Seeing*.”

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

“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.”

“I thought it was art that I, as a Korean Confucian girl, couldn't understand. Maybe it was because some parts were difficult, or because the characters were hard to remember. Let's try reading it again in about six months.”

“Father, I thank you for letting me know, even if only vaguely, the joy of a life focused on you.”

“I was able to spend time with the makeup team and photography team as if we were family, and the shoot was fun in a warm atmosphere.”

“Even just reading her writing, I thought, “The author’s perspective is so healthy and profound,” and she felt like a “senior in life” to me.”

“After reading No Longer Human, I also sought out and read The Setting Sun.”

“Through stories of biblical figures, it explains the reasons for suffering and ways to overcome it to Christians going through difficult times. It even makes you look forward to the joy that may come after trials.”

“I cried so much reading Tablo’s Pieces of You. The very first chapter was so dry. The writing. From the second chapter on, the tears just kept falling, and I was like, “What do I do? I feel sorry.””

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

“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 long ago. These days, my inner child helps me relax.”

“After Blonote, I think this book may become the book of my life.”

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

“The moment you embrace hope, a miracle happens.”

“Anne Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful”

““I also read a book called ‘Shoko’s Smile.’””

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

“Excuse me Jungkook has bought a copy of Crying in H Mart!!!!!”

“It was fun, so I think I finished the whole thing in just a day or two.”

“Writer! I read Human Acts in the military. Congratulations.”

“Achilles. I really love that book.”

“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 was also very impressed by Anxiety.”

“I did buy it when I was just thinking, among the people around me, “Why is everyone so weird?””

“Well, first of all, the reason I started reading it is—there’s a producer. The producer who first got me to debut on a program called New Nonstop, Producer Ginisi, and I have a book club, just the two of us. I was going to introduce this book…”

“So I really, really recommend reading it.”

“I like the scene where the protagonist is standing in first place among the other aliens.”

““I was greatly inspired while working on the album Legend.””

“I highly recommend it.”

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

“I really recommend 0 to people like that.”

“The one I liked best among them was a writer named Cheongchun Yuri. It had this feeling of walking through the seasons. But it was really colorful.”

“I received a book called The Creative Act as a gift. I don’t often read self-help books, but this one made a strong impression because I related to it and found a lot to learn from it.”

“Watching that, I resolved to make an album the way I wanted.”

“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.”

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

“I’m Karon’s mom, Kim Jae-kyung, pleased to greet you as an author.”

“Even deciding what to eat is a negotiation.”

“If your memories were slowly fading, who would you least want to forget?”

“He wrote poems that brought me great comfort.”

“그 책을 읽고 내 세계관이 바뀌었지.”

““Let’s take courage from reading this book. Aging is a disease.””

“A considerate gene.”

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

“I think it’s nice because I can write down the things I like—something I can enjoy at least a little—as part of my routine.”

“I had to appear on a broadcast and comment, and I referred to *The Temperature of Language* at the time.”

“When I was in middle school, I received The Age of Loss as a gift from my aunt and read it.”

““Ah, Paris” is something the author wrote after going to Paris, like a diary. At first, I bought it because the style was pretty and because I wanted to go to Paris. I’d never been to Europe. It feels like I’m secretly peeking into someone’s diary written in Paris. It captures the little details and atmosphere of everyday life in Paris—the restaurants, the streets, and so on—so I felt as if I were there in Paris myself.”

“I actually don't like science fiction that much. I hardly ever watch sci-fi movies, either. Did I get this book recommended to me on social media? Not directly, but I saw someone recommending it, got interested, and decided to read it.”

“This book—[there's so much to say about this one]—as you can see, is incredibly long and hefty... [in a nutshell,] not an easy book to take on. But! [Here comes the sales queen] The appeal of a long novel is that... once you get past the beginning, where you memorize the characters' names and get some explanation of the situation, [the twists never end &] there really are endless twists and [one shocking scene after another] so many scenes that leave you stunned.”

“Honestly, I find these doorstopper books challenging, too. I tend to read them over the course of several months. Me, too? But this book is really difficult in terms of its ideas. It makes you think a lot, but the sentences themselves aren't difficult! [Thoughts that keep spiraling / Easy to read, but full of ideas you can't simply brush aside] It's a book that's easy to read, but makes you go back and think about it afterward.”

“When I try to sell people on this book, I tell them that even in a world this advanced, after so much change, the feeling of love is still so precious and powerful. [If you don't understand how wonderful love is, I feel sorry for you] There are so many things the characters do because they love each other. Rowan thinks he could die in Citra's place because he loves her, and Citra risks danger and takes action because she loves Rowan. Watching things like that made me feel that, in every generation, [an emotion that transcends time: love] emotions have such a powerful effect on people. That's what lies at the heart of who we are.”

“That's right. I felt the same way while reading it, too—the translator, Lee Soo-hyun, seems to have done a great job. [A style that draws you in without difficult sentences] There aren't any difficult sentences, so every line really catches your eye, and each and every one is a gem. I really want more people to know about the red-covered book Scythe. [I want to finish it and talk about it with everyone] While reading Scythe, [a book that makes you reflect on respect for life and ethics], I found myself thinking a lot about how we regard life and about ethics.”

“When I was in my teens, I was deeply impressed by Bernard Werber’s book *Papillon*, and its story remained in my heart even into my twenties.”

“The professor explained positively that being sensitive means you’re someone with highly developed senses and someone who can stand out in a particular field, so this is a book that gives me even more comfort.”