The stories behind their books

“Yes. I think I came to appreciate novels like that through The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”

“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.”

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

“It’s a work that allowed me to get absorbed in the story and completely focus. It’s also good for killing time. It was made into a movie, too, but I recommend reading it as a book.”

“This time, I bought a book called The Practice of Not Reacting. I wanted to calm my mind. (Laughs)”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“Today's book”

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

““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.””

“The book I wrote, ‘Girl Group Yoga,’ is a book that even beginners can easily follow.”

“Ah, recently, for the first time in my life, I closed a book while reading and cried. I sobbed.”

“From a very young age until I became a singer, being able to learn vocal technique from Teacher Kim Myung-gi was a great blessing for me as someone who sings, and thanks to that, I was able to be where I am today. The methods I learned are presented in even greater detail in this book, and I hope that many friends who dream of becoming singers will also receive the same good fortune as I did.”

“Ah, yes, yes, and then the one with three holes cut in a box, with something inside it, and things like that.”

“A book that spoon-feeds you.”

“Someone recommended a book called Look at This Poem to me.”

“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.”

“My life will be divided into before and after this book is published. If my life up to now was given to me so that I could write this book, then I think my life from now on has been given to me so that I can make people want to read it.”

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

“Finally 😭 I finished reading it”

“I got interested while reading Small Things Like These, so I finished Foster and am drinking coffee now.”

“It shocked me a lot, and it was a book that gave me many realizations and resonated deeply with me.”

“I rarely imagine, while reading a novel, “What if I were to play this character?” But I feel like I might want to play Nakahara, the protagonist of this novel. Though it seems difficult.”

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

“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.”

“The books I’m reading these days are The Picture of Dorian Gray and Contradiction.”

“In particular, an encyclopedia of food called *Jeongjoji* (鼎俎志) was a great help.”

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

“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.”

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

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

“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.”

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

“The book I’m going to read to you today is *As Long as I Can Remember* by author Baek Eunbyeol.”

“So I recently bought this book, "8 Rules of Love" by Jay Shetty.”

“It’s provocative and captivating. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to turn to the next chapter faster.”

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

“Teacher, you taught us that the world is full of sounds, and when those sounds come together, they become music. You loved music and people until your final moments. May you have a peaceful journey on your long, long journey.”

“I sought out and read Pachinko because I suddenly wanted to get a feel for Korea’s modern history.”

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

“So I started reading Guillaume Musso's books. As I read love stories such as Save Me and The Paper Girl, I wanted to read other kinds of stories too.”

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

“In a book, you can see everything the protagonist is thinking before they act, and that’s so much fun.”

“Meeting this book was a great stroke of luck. It helped me understand my fans a little better and made me want to become a better person. I want to hold on to the precious feeling of liking someone, too.”

“I just hope everyone can be happy. Happiness isn’t something you can easily feel just because you want to, and it’s not an emotion you can copy or imitate, either.”

“I've been reading a book lately. It's called The Bare Minimum of Korean History. It does a very good job of explaining things concisely, from Gojoseon through modern and contemporary history. It made me think, “I should study more history,” and I hope many people will read it.”

“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.”

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

“A while ago, a director I know gave me What Is Death? as a gift. It compiles lectures by Professor Shelly Kagan of Yale University, but honestly, it’s very difficult.”

““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 highly recommend it.”

“There are times when I feel that way too, but it made me think I should pull myself together again and work hard at living.”

“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.”

“I found myself feeling drawn in by a book I had picked up casually, so I’m writing this.”

“When I read those lines, I felt so comforted that I even had the ridiculous illusion that perhaps all the time I had lived through and experienced was for the sake of reading this poem.”

“I’m not sure yet what kind of thoughts and feelings the poet is speaking to me with.”

“And I, too, as I suddenly began writing down the poet’s poem, am not sure what on earth I’m trying to say to you all.”

“But one thing I can say for certain is that those lines brought me great comfort, and rather than offering you the usual, countless, dazzling pleasantries, I wanted to return that comfort to you by writing down my sincere thoughts, one character at a time.”

“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’ve only read about twenty pages, but you know that thrilling feeling, that kind of feeling…”

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

“When I opened my eyes in bed, I imagined what the window would look like if I were in the protagonist's position in the novel, what the desk would be like, and how I could open the drawer.”

“Not long ago, I read The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which tells the story of four men and women who are very different from one another. It seems to me that people are born as light as feathers and gradually take on weight as they go through life. Personally, I thought Sabina’s life was wonderful.”

“This one is a novel. I told you all about it, right?”

“to me I would definitely say five stars”

“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.”

“It’s a book called My Pinky Son. I wrote a recommendation for it because of my longstanding connection with Hong Won-gi, who has the rare disease progeria.”

“When I was really into novels, I read the Japanese novel *The Age-70 Death Bill Passes*.”

“I decided to take part in this project because I thought this book could give many people an experience like the one they might have from a moving film or song.”

“If we're talking about books that have stayed with me, I think I've read these three books many times: The Lighthouse Keeper, You Too Are a Daylily, and Yeontan-gil.”

“I regretted not having read the writer’s book sooner.”

“This is a classic rumination on how to live your best life, as if each day could be your last. It feels important now more than ever to remember that happiness doesn’t come from your circumstances, but your spirit. It’s a reminder to shut out the noise and be in the moment, whenever you can.”

“I did my reading with those.”

“So I said I read about the scaly thrush’s call in The Rapids.”

“When I read books, I imagine everything in the scenes. These days, I’m reading a book called Dallergut Dream Department Store, and when they talk about the dream department store, I can see it in my head. I imagine I’m shopping there as I read. It’s not just novels, but other books, too—for example, if there’s a sentence where Einstein is talking, I imagine him saying it. (Laughs) That’s probably why I was able to learn video production so quickly.”

“If I were to buy [a dream], it’d be one where I’m flying through the skies or swimming freely in the deep sea. But those kinds of dreams don’t sell well.”

“I read Dallergut Dream Department Store.”

“For me, I’d buy one where we become whales and swim together in the sea. What’s the relation? Because it’s a whale, I’m a whale shark.”

“I’ve told this to CARATs several times. After reading Dallergut Dream Department Store, I haven’t been able to read a book because I’ve been busy with work.”

“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.”

“Just as I comforted myself by saying, “Not everything is like that,” I hope that through this book, you too will find words of comfort or a perspective of your own.”

“When I was stressed, I went to a bookstore and a book called *That Sort of Person, Still a Person* caught my eye. At first, I was drawn to the cover and title (laughs). The passage I remember most from the book is: “Today is the only time when I can choose and put into practice what I want. If today, too, passes by like this, it will become yesterday, and I’ll miss it.” I think I was hurt and having a hard time back then, and I made up my mind to try to live this one day well. After reading those lines, I mean.”

“When I’m stressed, I think just going to a bookstore and looking at books can be comforting. Even if I don’t read it right away, just buying a book and bringing it home somehow makes me feel cozy and healed.”

“I’ve really liked The White Book for a long time. It’s an easy, relaxing read.”

“이어서 카뮈의 또 다른 작품 <반항하는 인간>까지 읽고 나니까 그 마음을 얼추 이해하게 됐어요.”

“The book that moved me is The Time Traveler's Wife... The book is so much fun, but the movie is so good too, and I really like the female lead~”

“#RomanceWillKillMe I met lyricist Seo Ji-eum, who has such a girlish air~ Please show lots of love for writer Ji-eum’s book too~”

“I heard it was fun.”

“I’m not someone who reads a lot, but I started reading books while working. I like philosophy.”

“That's right, people would tear it out and take it.”

“I think it would be good to read it with a light, relaxed mind.”

“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.””

“It’s a story about my cat. It’s called *I Love You Every Day*. But after I finished writing it, I realized there was a lot about my dad in it.”

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

“Although many stories I didn’t want to make public became known, I had never properly told my own story. As I kept those things bottled up, they began to fester.”

“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.”

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

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

“A book I read while at the TWICE dorm. A book that made me focus on myself. A book that helped me not be consumed by pressure.”

“Though our nationalities, languages, and ways of expressing ourselves are all different, I feel that sincerity always gets through.”

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

“The book I'd like to recommend is [Eleven at Night] by author Hwang Kyung-shin.”

“I want to reread Norwegian Wood. I read it so long ago that I don't remember it.”

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

“It’s a work that reflects on the value of human life through a doctor named Sashal, who is a metaphor for a “lucky person” in modern society, where most people are unhappy. But more than that, what resonated most with me was Sashal’s way of embodying the ideal human relationships I hope for.”

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

“The book I read quickly and enjoyed just as much is Dante’s Divine Comedy. Turning each page is so enjoyable and fun.”

“Please show lots of interest in my yoga book.”

“I was really burdened by it. When I heard they were making a musical about Big Bang’s story, like *Shout to the World!*, I was scared at first. And since this was only my second musical, I also wondered whether it was too soon to perform our songs. There were a lot of things I felt cautious about.”

“The Giving Tree, but this feels less like it’s a person I am and more like an ideal I want to become.”

“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.”

“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.”

“SODA’s first Photobook: Candid🍬”

“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.”

“Personally, I like spending my time studying and reading books!”

“I like books, so I try to read.”

““It was content that gave me insight and resonated with me.””

“After discovering Keigo Higashino through The Devotion of Suspect X, I’ve read everything of his that has been translated into Korean, and this was one of the books I picked up relatively early on. “It really pulls you along.””

“Eugene’s book is packed with content.”

“[Next is 'Hunger'] And 'Hunger' is”

“a love story”

“But it's an extremely tragic and sad love story”

“What struck me the most was…”

“After Gu dies, Dam becomes determined to eat him”

“But as I was reading…”

“I knew what the plot was about before I started reading”

“By the time I finished reading, I was kind of convinced It felt like that”

“There were so many lines that resonated with me”

“But that book is really polarizing”

“There are a lot of graphic descriptions too”

“But the people who like it will really like it”

“I personally loved it!”

“I did well in January The book for January was 'Hunger'”

“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 couldn't finish reading The Three-Body Problem because it had more pages than I expected.”

“Still, I thought, “I hope lots of people get to know about this,” and I really hoped it had helped, even a little.”

“I recently read Harry Potter.”

“Our mountain grandfather, who grades our pointy day as a long oval.”

“Even the small, uneventful days without any big events must be one of countless foreshadowings in the movie of life.”

““I wasn’t someone who read novels often. But as I was transitioning into acting, I thought I should read a full-length novel. Then I remembered that I had read Musso’s earlier work *Call from an Angel* some time ago, so I picked up his new book, *A Paris Apartment*.””

“He is such an ardent fan of Park Saeroyi that he read the entire Itaewon Class webtoon in just one full day.”

“My mom bought it for me.”

“The book *The Power of Being Alone* was a comfort to me. I read it when I was consumed by self-reproach, wondering if there was something wrong with me.”

“The Little Prince!”

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

“I hope this book can offer even a little strength and comfort to those standing at a crossroads of choice or feeling exhausted and weary.”

“I remember crying so much when I read The Giving Tree as a child.”

“I also recommend <Happiness Doesn't Come Alone> and Sister Lee Hae-in’s essay book <Just Cry When Things Are Hard>.”

“Even though I may seem easygoing, I get hurt a lot. The book I read when the hurt caused by those words reached its peak was [The Temperature of Language]. I read whenever I have time. It gives me a sense of stability whenever I’m exhausted. And I feel the depth of words and the power of words with a ‘warm temperature.’”

“Facts are sacred. Facta sacra sunt”

“A book that gave me a lot of courage.”

“I bought this book, “Magnolia Flower Blooms Again,” from Aladin.”

“My grandmother once told me, “You’re like a magnolia flower.””

“That really touched me and resonated with me. (Touched) (Almost teary)”

“So I went to Aladin bookstore and found this pink book—the color I really like! (Pink) (Pink)”

“The title, “Magnolia Flower Blooms Again,” felt like a message meant for me.”

“When I was going through an anxious, difficult time, I felt withered, like a flower...! But this book says “blooms again,” and that made me feel so comforted!”

“So I bought it as soon as I saw the title.”

“While I was reading this book, I felt lonely.”

“[Recommended for these people!] If you want to feel understood and comforted, reading this poetry book will really help.”

“Anne Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful”

“I’m honored to receive the Content of the Year award. Grapefruit Apricot Club is a work that sincerely captures the reality the children face and the pure solidarity through which they hold on to one another and try to make it through.”

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

“When I get stuck writing lyrics on my own, I find myself wondering, “How would Aunt Ina work it out?” As someone who does that, I’m genuinely glad this book exists.”

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

“Hello! I'm Lily. The book we're reading together this time is [The Man Who Died Twice] by Richard Osman, the second book in the Thursday Murder Club series we read last time! You're curious about how the story continues, aren't you?! I am too! I want to read it together…”

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

“Having experienced it firsthand and then reread it, I thought, “This was totally a Kurly promotional book.” I was moved by a different aspect, thinking, “So you really can grow this much in six months.””

“There’s a book I finished in two days. It’s called The Greenhouse at the End of the Earth. It’s really good.”

““A Thousand Blues,” something like that.”

“I brought it because Demian is my favorite.”

“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 shouldn’t laugh, but that last line is so powerful.”

“It had such a strong pull that I’d throw my entire last paycheck at it. Reading this, I got such an intense feeling, and this kind of reading as a 10-minute read...”

“They say the book is called A Thousand Blues. If many of you also felt a strong pull toward this passage, I recommend giving it a read.”

“Jeolchang is really fun.”

“예전에 봤던 책인데 가슴에 계속 남는 책이어서 한 번 더 가져와 봤습니다.”

“when I was younger reading like Lord of the Rings Harry Potter and the Narnia books”

“Most recently, I read a book called Almond that a friend gave me.”

“This is documenting us, so I want to talk about everything.”

“Among the books I’ve read recently, I read a book called Reading Schopenhauer at Forty. Schopenhauer is pessimistic, but there are times when I actually find comfort in that aspect of him.”

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

“Whereas my previous book told, almost in diary form, various stories about life that a woman in her twenties learns while living with a cat, with Sweet Remedy I wanted to use as few words as possible and, alongside the flow of the photographs, give readers the feeling that we are traveling “together.””

“It's a book called < 1cm+ >, and a fan gave it to me.”

““Please keep all the stories we shared in ‘1719’ as our own secret.””

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

“I held back until the end, then burst into tears. It makes you cherish life.”

“When I go to a bookstore, I sit down, pile up a ton of books, and read. I like that people at bookstores don’t pay attention to others. I bought a whole bunch just recently, too. There are The Children of Gwaengiburi Village, The Little Prince, Confession, March Is a Red Ravine, Norwegian Wood, and a poetry collection by poet Lee Byung-ryul. I get a lot of book recommendations all the time.”

“I read it on the flight to Europe and at the hotel. Even though I was in a good situation, reading that book weighed on my heart.”

“Your writing is so vivid and skillful that I was impressed as I read it.”

“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 come across a passage I like while reading, I take a photo of it on my phone.”

“It defines and interprets social issues I haven't experienced from the perspective of justice, and I think there are many questions you have to think through and judge for yourself.”

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

“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 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.”

“A book I’m so glad to find, for me, who dreams of becoming a showbiz singer at sixty.”

““Finally😭 finished reading””

“The wit in Berlin Diary was really something.”

“I have it open to a page.”

“It’s very good.”

“I recently read Philosophy Changes the Weather. I’ve always been quite interested in philosophy and found it fascinating, but this book discussed philosophy through everyday topics that were easy to relate to, so I really enjoyed it. After reading it, I wanted to try books that explore philosophy in greater depth.”

“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).””

“Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince”

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

“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.”

“Because I want to make the contents of the book my own.”

“I read *Romantic Love and Its Aftermath*. It’s such an adult book that I couldn’t understand all of it, but there was this line: “You can’t be in a relationship on feelings alone.” It meant that feelings of love or liking someone aren’t enough to be with a person; their tastes, depth of thought, and values have to align for you to become truly close to them. Just because you like someone doesn’t mean you can have a deep relationship with them. It made me think that the adults who say that, as time passes, only one or two friends remain really have a point.”

“Perhaps the process of experiencing contradictions firsthand and making choices ultimately enriches a person’s life. I, too, want to live while gradually expanding the breadth of my life.”

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

“That book is also really good.”

“This is exactly where my heart is.”

“I also liked Hideo Okuda’s The Aerial Trapeze. Each short story features unusual patients who receive counseling and suggested treatments. I wanted to get counseling from Ibura, the doctor in the novel, too.”

“The three books I read during this South American tour. They have different themes, but perhaps they form a mysterious combination that ultimately leads to one thing. In this era when everything is changing rapidly, what kind of mindset should we have as we prepare to face the world? What kind of mindset do those who, unseen, quietly bring about change in the world have? The reunification that is sure to come is not simply a burden but an ‘opportunity.’ The very foundation and basis for all of it is the ‘Gospel.’ This Gospel is not simply a message of love; it is the power of God that has come upon us, sinners. I’ve gone on a bit, but anyway, it was really good.”