The stories behind their books

“Honestly, I’m not that amazing a person, but in the book I seem like such an amazing and wonderful person. (Laughs) It made me think I should treat myself a little better. It also gave me the confidence that I can do even better going forward.”

““The way it looks at events from a fresh perspective felt refreshing, and it’s an immersive book that allows you to think about the human nature the author intended to portray.””

“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.”

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

“내가 하는 위로가 살기 위해 한 위로였다면, 이 책을 읽으면서는 내 삶이 치유를 받는 기분이었죠.”

“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.”

“Today's book”

“[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'”

“Book: The Little Prince”

“I haven't shown it to PD Park Jin-young yet.”

“It’ll be a happy ending anyway”

“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.”

“Ah, is that it?”

“While reading a book, I suddenly came across a passage I really wanted to show someone... There is much to learn from the words of adults, then as now. When I was young, my father used to tell me as a matter of habit, “Choose your friends well.””

“You might think that a story about losing someone precious and getting the chance to see them one last time is a familiar premise, but the stories and heartfelt longing of each character will move you. I especially want to recommend this book to anyone who misses someone, or who wants to make up with someone after a fight but is hesitating. I hope you don’t lose someone precious in a moment of impulsive emotion and regret it later.”

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

“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.”

“Ah, but certainly, since the era is a little different from the tone we use these days, it feels distinct.”

“I like reading books.”

“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.”

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

“I used to read a lot. If I become interested in a movie, I look for the original work. The one I remember most is Pride and Prejudice. To be honest, the story was a little difficult, but I found the process of understanding it interesting.”

“The protagonist has the ability to see how much longer other people will live. A friend gets into an accident, and afterward the protagonist can see how much longer the friend has to live, which causes them anguish. It’s a novel that made me wonder whether being able to see the future is really a good thing.”

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

“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.”

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

“Wow, author Shim Yong-hwan’s new book #365DaysOfKoreanHistoryInOnePage is coming out soon 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻”

“I've read Tell Me with Flowers several times.”

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

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

“The command of language is so impressive, and it really draws you in. Right, it has that immersive quality.”

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

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

“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.”

“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).””

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

“Recently, before watching the film Pavane, I read the original novel, “Pavane for a Dead Princess.””

“I brought it along to read on the plane or during waiting time while filming in Japan, and I finished it there.”

“When a film based on a book comes out, I tend to read the book first.”

“A film clearly shows you a particular image, whereas with a book, I can imagine things in my own mind as I read, and I like being able to immerse myself in it in my own way.”

“I had read it once before, and it was really difficult.”

“I read To Kill a Mockingbird back in school, and...”

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

“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.”

“I find myself drawn to the second brother, Ivan.”

“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.”

“#Coloring”

“I read it too, and the elements were interesting.”

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

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

“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.”

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

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

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

“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.”

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

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

“At age 20, I suddenly remembered a book called *Reading the Analects Happily*. At the time, while reading it, I felt for the first time that my thinking was awakening, and”

“Rather, I think it’s a book that makes me look back on myself, so it has a lot of meaning.”

“I didn’t just read this book once; I read it several times, but…”

“Like the picture diary you kept as a child, try drawing your own memories each day, following wherever your heart takes you. Finding little moments of happiness in everyday life is quite a joyful thing.”

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

“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!”

“I think I’ve read these three books many times: You Too Are a Sky Mallow and Yeontan-gil.”

“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.”

“Art is close to us. I sincerely respect CEO Kim Do-hoon, who takes it and creates another kind of art. I think this book, too, is a “work” made from another part of Kim Do-hoon’s blood.”

“The photo and title on the cover caught my eye. Once I finish the books I’m reading now, I’d really like to read it if I have time.”

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

“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…”

“This book was written by my uncle—my aunt’s husband, you know?”

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

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

““I’m proud of my mentor.””

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

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

“I did my reading with those.”

“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.”

“This book is fun~!”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“Scary Stories Are the Best!”

“When I go to a bookstore, I sit down, pile up a whole lot of books, and read. I like that people at bookstores don’t pay attention to others. I bought a whole pile just the other day, too: The Children of Gwaengiburi Village, The Little Prince, Confession, March Is a Red Ravine, Norwegian Wood, and a collection of poems by poet Lee Byeong-ryul. I usually get a lot of book recommendations.”

“I heard it was fun.”

“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.””

“This is a mystery novel I read recently.”

“When I finish this book, I plan to read *Seven Years Later*.”

“As I felt changes in my vocal production while taking lessons from Director Lee Yun-seok and reading the book alongside them, I kept thinking that I had understood vocal production in an overly complicated and difficult way all this time. “Use your abdominal muscles,” “sing as if sending the sound backward,” “lift the sound,” and so on—one of the things that confused me most when learning vocal production was these abstract expressions. I was the same way. They are not incorrect expressions, but when you are encountering vocal production for the first time, it seems inevitable that you’ll feel confused and wonder, “What does that mean?” After taking the director’s lessons, what struck me most was singing in the most natural state. Don’t try to embellish your sound too much; make sound as comfortably as possible, without tension. Since everyone’s appearance is different, the sounds and pronunciations that feel comfortable to produce may differ, but ultimately the path the sound takes is the same for everyone, and I think a person’s own color emerges from how they sing along that path. This is the point most emphasized in the book, too, so I hope you’ll remember to make sound in the most comfortable state. This book helped me realize that sound isn’t something I create, but something that comes naturally when I’m most comfortable, and I think it explains that in the simplest way. If your work involves using your voice, I hope you’ll read it at least once and find a more comfortable sound. I hope everyone who reads this book finds a sound that is not the best, but their only one!”

“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.”

“I’ve read a lot of books recently. I read “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.” There are other books I can’t remember. I read a lot of books while on vacation.”

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

“I’m rereading the novel Almond, which takes me straight back to my middle-school days.”

“So I recently bought this book, Eight Rules of Love by J. Shett.”

““I’ve started another new book.””

“As I read this, I was able to learn a little about the CEO’s life before I joined the company, since I first got to know the CEO after I started working there. It was also a chance to spend that kind of time.”

“As I read it, I found it incredibly delicate. Not only the expressions and descriptions, but also the emotional threads are woven together so intricately that it pains my heart as I read. I think it’s a book every Korean should read.”

“It is set during the Japanese colonial period, a time when society was highly unsettled. Although women had relatively fewer opportunities than men at the time, she fought for the social course she believed was right. It was a book that made me reflect on myself.”

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

“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.”

“When I read this book, I feel as though I’m having a wonderful beer I’d never heard of before, bought with the change left over after spending all my travel money in an unfamiliar place, while listening to a bartender who’s further along in life than I am. I know it’s an excessive metaphor, but for me, unable to easily leave my room right now, it’s the closest feeling I’m allowed.”

“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.”

“SODA’s first Photobook: Candid🍬”

“This book and the “Gen Z Bookshelf” interview sparked my interest in reading.”

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

“I recently read Harry Potter.”

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

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

“I think this passage very well symbolizes the lives of artists who carried art like a divine punishment until the day they died, so it seems to be a passage that broadly symbolizes the book.”

“This is a book I'm reading. It's about how the story keeps going back through the generations—my mother's mother, my mother's mother's mother, and so on. So it's really interesting and has a great atmosphere. It's a healing book to read.”

“I really enjoyed reading the book. It helped me see the world a little more deeply and broadly.”

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

“I read a book called “Courage To Be Disliked” which something you read in life, it really helped when I was stressed, it also helped me to become more mature.”

“And the book I’d like to recommend today is The Tea House at Cape Rainbow. It’s a book I read as I entered my thirties. Lately, I’ve found myself drawn to the author’s descriptions of scenery and flavors. When I encountered abstract and emotional ideas, I felt a deep attraction to the writing, savoring it as I formed my own images from my experiences.”

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

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

“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.”

“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 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.”

“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*.”

“For me, this is another bittersweet seize-the-day story about the preciousness and fleetingness of all the beauty around us. And it’s a heart-stopping, heartbreaking romance, rolled into one. I just love the way Jojo Moyes creates such compelling, emotionally layered characters.”

“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.”

“I also liked *The Little Prince* and *Harry Potter*, among others.”

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

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

“I thought about what would be interesting and worth watching all the way through. It’s about a girl who’s a born idol but is actually hiding a huge secret, and makes it into the underground scene…”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“These days, I’m reading *So My Heart Won’t Get Hurt*.”

“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 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.”

“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.”

“After that, I also read a book called <Miracles of the Namiya General Store>.”

“Miracles of the Namiya General Store”

“My members. Books → Miracles of the Namiya General Store lol.”

“I remember being captivated by Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when I read it as a kid.”

“I have so much I want to talk about that even writing it as an epic novel on the scale of *Toji* wouldn’t be enough, but…”

“I looked it up, and apparently one of them is water residue.”

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

“I'm slightly in love with it”

“There’s a book called The Shell with Two Sides. The Shell with Two Sides. I thought it was one story, but it turns out there are several episodes. So I’ve been reading it, and I think it’s fun.”

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

“In books, you can see all the thoughts the protagonist has before taking action, and that’s so interesting.”

“I like books, so I try to read.”

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

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

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

“The most recent book I read was *Almond*. A friend told me to give it a read, so I did.”

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“I'm also continuing to read it, curious to see whether I'll make it to the end. Since it's a book that's received so much praise, I want to make sure I read it all the way through, if only out of curiosity.”

“LOL, my mom might say something if she sees that I read these, but these are the books I picked up from January to March at the beginning of this year while talking about things like “the energy of the universe.” The Nature of Money and Rich Dad Poor Dad, at least, seem like books worth genuinely reading two or three times, and the other books left me with a lesson along the lines of “use your heart for good.” You shouldn’t live a narrow-minded life, you know.”

“Everything I'd ever told you by Celeste Egg that I read during this quarantine”

“This book is called "If I Could Life My Life Again" by Hyenam Kim.”

“She wrote "What would've been better if I had known at age 40."”

“So like this, it was like messages that are very professional but also messages from my mom.”

“So I cried while reading this book too.”

“Unlike the poetry books I recommended earlier, this book is not abstract.”

“I recommend this book to those who want to feel comforted in a direct manner.”

“The book I always recommend to SWITH as my all-time favorite is Hector and the Search for Happiness (François Lelord).”

“My mom bought it for me.”

“Achilles. I really love that book.”

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

“Although it's really gross, I also like this kind of manga.”

“A book I'm reading these days. I'm still in the early part, so it's too soon to say what I think of it.”

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

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

“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.”

“I think it’s right now. I can see <You Have to Look at It for a Long Time to Find It Lovely> right in front of me. It’s a book I’ve been reading recently. As I was reading it, I suddenly felt a sense of romance.”

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

“It’s a book that brings so many emotions, from warmth to sadness. In particular, it made me reflect on my mother once again.”

“This book lets you see again, feel again, and think again about the things around us that we miss and pass by, through the perceptive and discerning eyes of Kim Hyung-seok. When you read this book, you too will feel what I feel when I talk with Kim Hyung-seok. I hope you will immerse yourself in a conversation with Kim Hyung-seok.”

“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...”

“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.”

“This book shakes readers and ultimately changes them.”

““I was drawn to the line on the first page of this book, ‘You’re crazy because of the person you love,’ so I bought it right away and read it.””

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

“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.”

“Inspired by Shakespeare’s play As You Like It, it explores the themes of birth, love, conviction, and reaching the peak.”

““The noble-minded are open and at ease; the petty-minded are always troubled.””

“This is a very warm and easy-to-read book.”

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

“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.”

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

“Even deciding what to eat is a negotiation.”

“I did my reading with those.”

“He gave me a book as a gift.”