The stories behind their books

“Make notes.”

“Whenever I’m exhausted from practicing all day or performing overseas, Professor Shim, my spiritual mentor, has always awakened my self-esteem—the sense that I am the protagonist of this world—and given me courage. At last, he has published a book for young people. From now on, I should always carry this book in my travel bag. I sincerely want to recommend it to everyone I know.”

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

“It's interesting.”

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

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

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

“I regretted not having read this book sooner.”

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

“There’s a book by author Kim Eana called *Ordinary Words*.”

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

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

“This book shakes readers and ultimately changes them.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

“I recalled my solo trip, which moved between excitement and apprehension, anxiety and comfort.”

“That book is also really good.”

“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.”

“Thank you, poet #NaTaejoo”

““I found The Buddha’s Words in a Modern Translation really impressive when I read it, and hearing the words gave me so much strength, so that’s what stayed with me.””

“A book that comes to me when I make time to read, even for just five minutes, because I want to clear my mind and feel happy.”

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

“I read a novel called Horrorstör.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

“Saying, “Am I a fan or a disciple?”—the book I’ve been working hard to read lately. I wonder if I’m going to stop being a fan and become a disciple now, or if I’ve become more resolute at heart. Because I’ve lived like a fan, I find stories about life in the world really interesting; I’ve thought I was lucky, liked having lots of money, and felt proud when I achieved my goals. But I don’t want to miss it.”

“I hope many musicians studying composition don’t read this book. Let me be the only one who sees it!”

“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.”

“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 love the story, too,”

“I sympathize with the fox, waiting for the Little Prince [to express his desire for friendship.] When it comes to relationships, I usually take time to observe and wait for the other person [to express their feelings] first.”

“Living in a different environment [is] like living on a different planet,”

“I have a larger heart in understanding the difference between others than I had before.”

“I recently finished reading My Brilliant Friend.”

““As I was working on my book, I read Jeong You-jeong’s *The Origin of Species* and Shim Eun-hee’s *The Wind Blew in Ireland. Waves Rose in My Heart*.””

“I hope this book can offer even a little strength to people who are at a crossroads or feeling exhausted.”

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

“I brought “20th Century Boys,” which I’ve really enjoyed reading recently. It’s so good. I have the complete series.”

“I’ll definitely finish reading Eragon!!”

“it looks like the illustrations from the book the little prince.”

“on the side, it looks like the boa constrictor from <the little prince>.”

““One familiar poetry collection, one I want to read anew. And this one is one I really love. I always carry three poetry collections in my bag.””

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“The first Korean poetry collection I read when I was first learning Korean was *You Sometimes Think of Me, While I Sometimes Think of Something Else*.”

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

“Biases block the path to healing and change. To address the root of the problem, we must begin with affirmation through prevention and education, not law and punishment.”

“I hope that through this book, readers can truly empathize with the dangers of drugs and focus on healing.”

“I am trying to convey a message of prevention and healing through music. I hope this book will also create a peaceful world where you do not doubt yourself at the end of a day, just like after a test.”

“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!”

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

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

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

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

“Writer Yoo Hee-seon, your warm heart comes through. I’m cheering you on. #I’llReadItWell #Don’tCarelesslyTalkAboutMe book”

“There’s a book called Kind People Win that I read recently. I really found it very relatable.”

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

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

“If I were to recommend a book I enjoyed reading, first of all, it would be *Ordinary Words* (Kim Eana).”

“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’m proud of my mentor.””

“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.”

“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.”

“The book has so many meanings and I have a lot to learn from the Prince. [Despite his age], he’s emotionally more mature than adults. His values are incredible,”

“She doesn’t express her feelings well, but in every action, sincerity is included. I think she and I deal with things similarly. I try to express my real thoughts and emotions truly to others, but it’s not easy.”

“I believe that sincerity does reach others eventually,”

“the bond depends on how much each [person] cares about developing that particular relationship.”

“This is really interesting. You absolutely have to read it. People who create things absolutely have to read this. It’s a book called Sparks of Genius.”

“A book that made me realize that everyone has mistakes in the past they wish they could fix, but even those mistakes are what made me who I am today.”

“I brought a book”

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

“I’m not very interested in novels, but this book made me so curious about what would happen next that I kept reading.”

“I really recommend 0 to people like that.”

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

“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.”

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

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

“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 heard this book was a bestseller, so I bought it.”

“I’ve been interested in investing lately, but I can’t afford to invest carelessly.”

““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.””

“As I got further into the latter half, I found myself thinking how astonishing it was. This is the first book that has made me feel that way. I was amazed by how it planted clues and then brought them back later.”

“Ah, is that it?”

“I read a poetry collection called *Forgiveness of the Sky* on a holiday. One line I wrote down was, “Would even angels know that their wings are symmetrical?” Isn’t that so cute?”