The stories behind their books

“I highly recommend it.”

“When I go to a bookstore, I sit and read with a huge pile of books. I like that people at bookstores don’t pay attention to others. I bought a whole stack recently, too. There’s “Children of Gwaengiburi Village,” “The Little Prince,” “Confession,” “March Is a Red Abyss,” “Norwegian Wood,” and a poetry collection by poet Lee Byeong-ryul. I get so many book recommendations all the time.”

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

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

“Bias block the path of healing and change. To solve the root of the problem, it must begin with affirmation through prevention and education, not law and punishment.”

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

“I am trying to convey a message of prevention and healing with 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 a test.”

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

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

““One Piece””

“At first, I read it as a print book, and then I tried listening to it as an audiobook too; hearing it in the actor’s voice made it resonate with me more.”

“Thank you, poet #NaTaejoo”

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

“I bought a book, not a poetry collection. <Quiet Excitement>. It's a book about what happened during the author's three-month trip to Europe. Even the really trivial things are written down, and they're all so cute.”

“What do pigs live on? A delicious read recommended for thinking pigs.”

“At the time, I read Han Kang’s novel The White Book, recommended by the head of my agency, and from the line, “Even if I am sullied, I will pass on only white things,” I thought, “I should become this kind of singer…”

“헌책방에서 우연히 만난 책인데요. 생태와 자유가 마침 제가 찾고 있던 주제였어요. 당시 제 안의 가치들이 무너져 내리고 있는 듯한 느낌이 들었는데, 책을 읽으면서 돌아가야 할 곳은 어디인지, 앞으로 찾아나가야 할 것은 무엇인지 실마리가 됐던 것 같아요.”

“Even today, when the word “sublime” has been reduced to a tedious and stifling word, it is unavoidably sublime.”

“DinDin reading at 4 a.m., photographed by my salon buddy Seon-ho hyung #TheInterpretationOfMurder #ILoveYou #KimSeonHo #JongminHyungToldMeToVote #DontBeUpset #DinDin #2DaysAnd1Night #DanbiIProtectedYou”

“This book is called “Schopenhau to Read Before Bed.””

“You can see there are so many bookmark tabs.”

“There were so many passages I could relate to and wanted to learn from! [How YVES Reads #2]”

“So I can’t finish this book! lol I have to read it over and over again.”

“So that’s what he said. But on the very next page, he says, “In life, suffering and concerns are necessary.””

“Then I get all confused while reading!”

“I’m like, “But you just said they’re the two enemies!””

“And then again, it’s like, “Suffering and concerns are common in life.””

“Ah, I see.”

“Mmm... I see what you mean.”

“This book is also very realistic, and it’s a great book to read if you want to be comforted and clear your mind of your worries.”

“So I recommend this book too.”

“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.”

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

“As I read the book, I found myself agreeing and thinking, “Oh, that’s right, I was born in the ’90s too.” I think it could help people born in the ’70s and ’80s understand those born in the ’90s. As time goes by, we could become “old fogeys” too. People born in the 2000s might find us really hard to understand. In that sense, I think it would be good for people born in the 2000s to read it as well.”

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

“<내 새끼 손가락 아들>이라는 책인데요, 소아조로증이라는 희귀질병을 앓고 있는 홍원기 군과 오래된 인연을 통해 추천글을 적게되었다”

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

“Because I enjoyed reading Animal Farm so much”

“일제강점기가 배경인데, 당시 사회적으로 혼란이 많던 시기다. 상대적으로 여자들이 남자들에 비해 할 수 있는 것이 적은 시기임에도 불구하고 자기가 옳다고 생각하는 사회적 방향으로 맞서 싸워나간다. 나를 돌아보게 했던 책”

“The first flapping of wings toward freedom”

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

“I recently bought this book. It’s called *8 Rules of Love* by Jay Shetty. Um, it’s a cute title, right? It feels a little cheesy. So normally, I don’t think I would have picked it up at a bookstore.”

““They say that there are five languages of love: ‘words of affirmation,’ ‘quality time,’ ‘gifts,’ ‘acts of service,’ and ‘physical touch.’””

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

“People who are at a crossroads, people who want to travel but don’t have time, people who are curious about Hawaii, and people who need healing.”

“This book is fun~!”

“Even recently, the works I keep rereading are Phoenix and Buddha.”

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

“I brought it because Demian is my favorite.”

“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.”

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

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

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

““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.””

“Until now, making music was the only way I knew how to talk about myself. I’m not someone who likes to go on at length to people about myself, so I had only put my voice into music. Now that I’ve had the opportunity to talk about myself through a book, in writing and photographs, I decided that since I was doing it, I might as well be honest.”

““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.””

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

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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 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.”

“I did my reading with those.”

“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 recommend “Holding Hands in Midsummer,” which is good for a light summer read.”

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

““I read The Buddha’s Words: A Modern Translation and was deeply impressed by it.””

“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.”

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

“Anne Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful”

“올해 읽었던 책인데”

“I’d like to introduce a book called At Dusk. Its main character is also extremely busy. This person is worn down by life and has a very hard time, yet still meets many people, falls in love, and keeps doing their best to live. I think seeing that comforted me too. If I met the main character, I’d want to give them a big hug.”

“A book that spoon-feeds you.”

“I was immediately drawn into that book.”

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

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

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

“The wit in Berlin Diary was really something.”

“I’ve been active for about 13 years. I’ve worked with SHINee, pursued solo activities as Taemin, and also worked on a new project with SuperM. I thought I’d like to slightly change the familiar world I’ve experienced and built up so far, and show you a new side of myself.”

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

“to me I would definitely say five stars”

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

“Even now, it feels fresh. It’s as if each chapter contains a message hidden like a secret map.”

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

“Alain de Botton’s *Status Anxiety* and Lee Seok-won’s *The Ordinary Existence*. They left a deep impression on me when I read them, and have stayed in my memory for a long time.”

“After reading it, I was completely influenced by it.”

“My life will be divided into before and after this book comes out.”

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

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

“I tend to have a lot on my mind, especially before album promotions. I recently picked up again a book I read when I need to find my center.”

“I first read Siddhartha in November 2025. My family is Buddhist, and that summer we all went to see a monk we had been close to for a long time. He gave it to me as a gift, saying, ‘It’s a book I truly cherish and have read over and over, and one that helped me a lot in not losing myself.’”

“Before, whenever things got too hard, I would turn away from the situation and hide behind a mask. That was how I got through life. But I recently realized that someday I would have no choice but to face the weaker side of myself. I also came to understand that when that time comes, I can meet my true self, and the path forward becomes clearer. While I was thinking about those things, I came across Siddhartha, and its sentences came to me as if by fate.”

“That’s right. I remember a childhood moment when I saw my younger sister playing guitar and asked her to teach me too. After that, I taught myself guitar by watching YouTube and started writing songs. It was a turning point that made me who I am today.”

“I think that’s the central message this book is trying to convey. I, too, am constantly changing like a river, but at the same time, I was able to firmly inscribe in my life the wisdom that I am the river, and that my existence as me does not change.”

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

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

“It's called 'The Big Picture' by Douglas Kennedy.”

“I read this in middle school... or high school.”

“It's very fun and provoking.”

“I read almost every book he wrote. I like this one the most among all.”

“Even when I read books, I imagine all the scenes as I go.”

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

“God, this is not an illusion but a true, faithful answer from You. From now on, I will live not as Kwon Gi-beom of the world, but as a holy child of God!”

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

“I stopped watching The Ravages of Time partway through.”

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

“To briefly explain the story, a pilot who crash-lands in the desert is one of the protagonists, and a little prince who suddenly appears before him asks him to draw a sheep. The two then build a friendship and get to know each other; it’s that kind of enjoyable novel.”

“So I really enjoyed reading this book, too!”

“Like the title says, I’d recommend it to everyone moving toward their purpose in life.”

“It's really fun.”

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

“철학에 대해 관심이 없는 분들도 쉽게 접하며 자신만의 철학을 갖기까지 도움닫기가 되어주는 책이라고 생각합니다.”

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

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

“This is a book I'm reading. It's called The Consciousness of Seth Nutter. I went to the store, saw it right there, and thought, “Oh, I'm curious,” so I opened it up. I was struck by one sentence, and that's why I bought the book.”

“So I lowered the level a bit and set myself the goal of reading all of Minumsa’s World Literature Collection before I die.”

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

“So I really, really recommend reading it.”

“<우리 둘에게 큰일은 일어나지 않는다>”

“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.”

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

“[Unread Book with a Pretty Cover #1] 'Don't Let Your Mood Become Your Attitude' by Lemon Psychology”

“It was the last birthday present my late grandfather gave me. He also wrote me a letter. Since it was a story about a grandfather and granddaughter, a lot of it really resonated with me. I kept reading it again and again—two or three times.”

“The Little Prince!”

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

“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.”