The stories behind their books

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

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

“My brother had received this book as a gift, so it was at home. I tried reading it and liked it so much that I take it out whenever things are hard. The saying is really true: when I'm in a good mood, I can laugh off a bad situation, and when I'm in a bad mood, even a small thing feels big. Managing your mood may not be easy, but it made me reflect on myself a little. Since I'm the one living my life, I think everything begins with me. If I have good qualities, they'll spread a pleasant scent like perfume and have a positive influence”

“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 was surprised while reading because things I usually thought about were expressed so well in words.”

“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.”

“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.”

“I like books, so I try to read.”

“I have it open to a page.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“It’s Hwang Sok-yong’s The Evening Star. I first read this book in my second year of high school. By chance, I picked just one book from the many in the library, and it was The Evening Star. I was thinking a lot about my future at the time, so the main character, Yu Jun, felt just like me.”

“Professor Jung Jae-seung’s *Twelve Steps*. It was the first book I read in the military. It made me realize that what I’m worrying about and finding difficult right now is actually perfectly natural. It was a book that guided me so I wouldn’t fall into self-pity.”

“There’s a book by bell hooks called All About Love. It’s still my favorite work. Picking a favorite is so hard, especially for someone like me. (laughs) It taught me about the importance of community and how to create a culture where love can exist. So it also made me reflect a lot on my work with LE SSERAFIM. I think I would have come to this realization much later if I hadn’t read this book. The timing of when I read it, too, makes it a meaningful book. I’ve talked about it a lot with the members, so the memories I have connected with All About Love are incredibly precious to me.”

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

“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.”

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

“It’s difficult 🤤”

“The book we'll read 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, right?! Me too! I want to read it together… It was so much fun reading the first book together!”

“I think at least The Attributes of Money / Rich Dad Poor Dad are books really worth reading two or three times.”

“Actually, I was in the library club in my first year of high school, and around my second year I joined another club. Was it the economics club? We read things like 『The Prince』 and 『An Essay on the Principle of Population』, summarized them, and gave presentations in PowerPoint.”

“I read Gu Byeong-mo's book *Gills* three times.”

“I also want to reread the Sherlock Holmes series, haha.”

“Ah, yes. Among the members, I like reading, so I often seek out books. I haven’t been able to read lately, but during the <Mansae> promotions, I’ve been reading <Sherlock Holmes>. I really like detective novels, especially the Holmes series; it really suits my taste.”

“I really like it.”

“Was it The Hound of the Baskervilles?”

“I learned about it through the novels and watched the English drama, too.”

“I like the Sherlock Holmes series.”

“Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles”

“Sherlock Holmes, haha.”

“I thought this really summed up the book The Contradiction very well.”

“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.”

“There was also a book called _Eleven Steps._ It was kind of a philosophy book. But with any of the different books, I found myself putting myself into the text. Like imagining myself as a character in a novel, for example. I was so deep in my imagination at the time. Was it helpful? I’m not sure.”

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

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

“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.”

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

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

“There’s a book I’ve been reading lately. It’s a novel called *Mail from Postbox No. 110*—it’s heart-fluttering and gentle in tone.”

“This book reminds me that life is worth living, so I confidently recommend it.”

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

““I got into poetry by reading ‘Love, as if You Have Never Been Hurt (Ryu Si-hwa).’””

“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’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*.”

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

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

“A book I found because I was feeling a strong thirst for travel”

“To become better, we willingly became worse.”

“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…”

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

“Personally, my goal this year is to read more than twenty books. I really enjoyed reading Human Acts again last year, so this year I’ll read lots of interesting books too.”

“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 always carry around about two books like this.”

“Love as if you've never been loved.”

“When you’re working, there are moments when it gets difficult, and when that happens, if you read this book, there’s nothing in the world to get angry about.”

“It’s a very warm novel about things that happen in a convenience store. They’re stories that could happen in our everyday lives, and they move and comfort you. I read it all in one sitting.”

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

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

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

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

“Since it's about professional conversation techniques, it's difficult, so I can't read for long. I read a little at a time, a chapter at a time.”

“I think every artist should read it at least once”

“There’s also a book I recently bought after it was recommended to me, which I’m planning to read: The Laws of the Mind by Volker Kitz and Manuel Tusch. My acting mentor, Min Jun-ho, head of the theater company Ganda, recommended it, and I’m planning to read it soon.”

“Almost everything I know about love, I learned from my relationships with my longtime female friends. Love is laughing together so hard you can hardly breathe. It’s walking down the street together on a Saturday night and feeling that the whole city belongs to us.”

“I recently read the memoir Everything I Know About Love. The author talks about what she realized after spending her life pursuing romantic love.”

“I enjoyed reading Han Kang’s Love of Yeosu and The Vegetarian, Yang Gwi-ja’s Contradiction, and Jung Dae-geon’s Torrent, among others.”

“Of the books I’ve finished recently, the one I liked best was I Said It Was Goodbye ㅠㅠ”

“read the book twice.”

“Reading it at the same age, I found another point of interest. I wondered whether, when I was that age, I could do serialized labor like that, and whether I could put my story out there so starkly for the world to see. I guess I’m not there yet.”

“I think young adult literature would probably be best for our baby DIVEs. I thought a book called The Wizard’s Bakery would leave more of an impression on your heart if you read it when you’re really young. So, our baby DIVEs, let’s read a fun book together sometime.”

“If you find out the title of the book, most of you will probably give up [trying to read it]... The Perpetual Fluctuation of Wealth ^^ Hahahahahaha, everyone will give up. You should read it all. I also bought a book called People Born in the ’90s Are Coming. Try challenging yourself [to read] this book too 😄”

“It's really fun.”

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

““I read the Analects and so much of it really resonates with me. I love learning from it. One thing that comes to mind is, ‘The noble person is at ease, while the petty person is always anxious.’ That brings comfort to my heart.””

““The person who knows how to love themselves is the greatest person.” (From *315 Proverbs Worth Reading Even a Hundred Years from Now*)”

“Reading this book made me think that I should cherish and love myself more.”

““I want to look back on everything from our debut up to now before more time passes.””

“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.”

“A book I’ve enjoyed reading this year is *Goo’s Proof*.”

“I also recommend “One Person on Earth” (Jung Se-rang).”

“I think every artist should read it at least once”

“This is also a book read by Heath Ledger, an actor I like. It's Gustave Flaubert's novel Sentimental Education. After seeing the book appear in the documentary film I Am Heath Ledger, I became curious about what he was thinking when he read it.”

“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.”

““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.””

“A little while ago, I read a book called *The Wizard’s Bakery*.”

“Oh, I did like that. I did like that classic. That was was a good book,”

“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.”

“'Contradiction'”

“I also bought a book called *People Born in the ’90s Are Coming*. Try challenging yourself [to read] this book too 😄”

“As I was reading the book, my mom’s spicy whelk-and-noodle dish came straight to mind.”

“Cool, cool. #LifeBalancer”

“Among the books I’ve read recently is one called *Reading Schopenhauer at Forty*. I wanted to read it when I was 20, so I did.”

“I remember reading this book while crying. I hardly ever cry when I’m reading. The protagonist has a terminal illness.”

“Through that book, I discovered for the first time the nature of the jealousy within me.”

“I was able to look back on my jealousy toward the boys in my class who were tall, handsome, good at school and sports, and popular with girls.”

“I read this book four or five times.”

“Thanks to it, I had the opportunity to naturally encounter the wonderful wisdom left by the preceding generation.”

“It isn't a classic itself, but I have a book about classics: 『Classics Answered: On the Life We Ought to Live』.”

“It's a book about how we ought to live this difficult life. Nothing in it feels difficult; it just tells you plainly, point by point. It's very clear.”

“Classics are actually difficult, and you can interpret them in so many different ways. I think that's part of the appeal of reading a book about a classic, too. You get to read that author's distinctive interpretation, and there's the pleasure of thinking, 'I found that classic difficult or it didn't really resonate with me when I read it, but I can read it this way too.' I think it's a really good thing. I think the real answers lie in the classics.”

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

“I first read this book in high school. As a trainee, I felt slightly off the usual path, while my friends seemed to be studying hard, going to university, and following a smooth course. I felt anxious because I didn’t know when I would debut as an idol singer. What God says to Knulp felt as though it was being said to me, and it brought me great comfort.”

“It's a book that gives me a sense of security.”

“I read Ernest Hemingway’s *The Old Man and the Sea*, and it was so much fun. It’s quite short, but I finished it in about two hours.”

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

“The books I'm currently reading—I’m reading two at the same time: one called *Consolation for Sorrow* and *Strange Comfort*.”

“It’s about how she became a star when she was young and what life as an actor was like; it’s a really sad story.”

“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 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.”

““I’ve started another new book.””

“I heard it was fun.”

““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.””

“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.”

“That is a definitive answer. If this is the Gertrude Stein who supported Picasso and Matisse, then isn’t this a kind of conclusion from someone who supported artists endlessly? It’s a book I enjoyed reading six or seven years ago.”

“I managed to get to Chapter 3.”

“I recommend it to you.”

“I also like Sapiens, which I’ve been reading recently, in a similar vein.”

“It's a book I really like.”

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

“As soon as you turn the first page of this book, the voices you’ve missed may come tumbling out in a lively chorus.”