The stories behind their books

“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.”

“올해 읽었던 책인데”

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

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

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

“I bought the book! I'll enjoy reading it.”

“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.”

“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.”

““I read Tuesdays with Morrie with my private tutor while studying English.””

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

“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.”

“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.”

“Its implications were particularly distinctive, which left a strong impression.”

“#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~”

““TWICE’s Nayeon gave me I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki as a birthday present. We used to talk about books from time to time. That book gave me a lot of comfort.””

“It's a book I really like.”

““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.””

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

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

“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.”

“Narin had recommended me a book called No Longer Human...”

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

“Recently, I enjoyed reading a book called Little Nicolas. It's like a fairy tale for adults.”

““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.”

“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.”

“Achilles. I really love that book.”

“The book I read yesterday was one called Maldok, and it was really interesting.”

“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.”

“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.”

“It’s a book called Do It for Myself.”

“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 watched the film Three Sisters. It left a long-lasting impression on me, so I couldn’t help reading The Story of Three Sisters all the way to the end. I wanted to share it with more people.”

“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 highly recommend it.”

“I thought about it a lot. Our fans range across different age groups, but there are quite a lot of younger fans.”

“So I brought some must-read books that I hope you’ll read during your teenage years.”

“Writing a book had been one of my New Year’s plans since I was young. In 2014, I felt I had to do it.”

“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.”

“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’d like to recommend A World of Children to people who enjoy watching My Golden Kids and want to understand themselves and others a little better.”

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

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

“I recommend giving it a read.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“I’m reading Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving.”

“In conclusion… I recommend reading it at least once.”

“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.”

“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 have it open to a page.”

“I love it so much that I’ve even memorized the page.”

“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.”

“I managed to get to Chapter 3.”

“People seem to be born as light as feathers, then gradually shoulder more weight as they live.”

“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.””

“read the book twice.”

“Have you read <A Person Harmless to Me>?”

“They say one person’s life becomes a landscape for someone else. To EXO-L (EXO’s official fan club), I’ll continue to show you many wonderful sides of myself. Thank you. I love you.”

“Managing your mood means managing your life.”

“Anne Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful”

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

“I regretted thinking, “Why did I only read the author’s book now?””

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

“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*.”

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

“Author! I read Human Acts while I was in the military. Sniff, congratulations!”

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

“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 is called “Anyway, Memo” by Hyeyoon Jung.”

“I was worried that I might write down too many notes, but I felt comforted as soon as I read the title.”

“And I felt like my actions were being validated.”

“The first chapter is called “I Should’ve Written It Down.””

“This is the thought that comes to mind most often.”

“So I thought that as I read this book, I’d feel like my thoughts were really understood.”

“So if you write down notes as much as I do,”

“or if you’re the opposite and want to build a habit of taking thorough notes,”

“I recommend reading “Anyway, Memo” by Hyeyoon Jung. (Recommend) (recommend)”

“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.”

“The protagonist, Jun, resembles me in his habit of not judging anything hastily and thinking things over again and again.”

““It’s something like a debate among philosophers about love. It makes you think seriously once again about how love is being consumed in modern society and about our attitudes toward dating.””

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

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

“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.”

“I read this book twice. Actually, the first time I read it, I put it down before I’d even gotten halfway through. Then, after some time had passed and I’d read more classics, I read it again and found it enjoyable.”

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

“[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'”

“As for books, I enjoyed Ito Ogawa’s The Snail Restaurant.”

“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.”

“Lily's book rec for today: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie.”

“It's really fun.”

“In life, you do things with many different people, and this book helps you keep the focus on yourself amid all that. I especially want to share the words, 'You don't have to do it well.' I recently tried acting. Wanting to do well matters, but that desire can also make you feel pressured and nervous. 'So what if I don't do it well?' Sometimes it's good to take things lightly”

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

“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).””

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

“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.”

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

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

“I think being a singer or entertainer is a profession where you’re only recognized if you achieve something big. You always have to come in first, set records, and win the grand prize at award ceremonies. People who are used to focusing only on major achievements—which can seem futile in a way—need to learn, as this book suggests, to appreciate the small joys of everyday life, or I don’t think they’ll avoid depression.”

“I recommend it to you.”

“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.”

“I read a memoir recently called Everything I Know About Love where the author pursues romantic love her whole life, only to realize something profound in the end: She had always been surrounded by amazing friends, and always been loved, and always gave love—that she’d been experiencing it all along, and that love had always been there by her side. When I read that, I kept thinking about the other members of the group. When I think about the future together with them, I feel like I could end up thinking something similar to the author. Being with them has made me learn to appreciate friendship even more.”

“And maybe that’s essentially what love is—learning to be kind through friendship, then practicing and showing it, like the book says.”

“the wings of kirin”

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

“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.”

“I made Zeze from the perspective of Mingyu, the lime-orange tree in the novel. Zeze is innocent, but cruel in some ways. Looking only at the character, Zeze has many contradictions. That’s why I found Zeze appealing and sexy.”

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

“to me I would definitely say five stars”

““I’ve started another new book.””

“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.”

““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.””

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

““I enjoyed reading Animal Farm, so I’m looking for other works, too.””

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

“I recently started reading a book called I Want to Go Home Even Though I’m at Home.”

“I received a lot of comfort and empathy.”

“I had only just read the cover.”

“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.”

“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…”

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

“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 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.”

“It’s Kim Byeol-ah’s novel Passionate Love. I haven’t actually read it recently, but it’s a book I recommend.”

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

“As I thought about what book would be good to recommend (or introduce) to all of you—people of different ages and living different kinds of lives who will read this article—I browsed the bookshelves and, after much deliberation, chose this book.”

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

““It read like a series such as Gilmore Girls.””

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

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

“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.”

“'Contradiction'”

“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.”

“I read 'The Vegetarian' (2007) while serving 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.””

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

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

“That book is also really good.”

“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.”

“So, it was a fun book to read.”

“I'd like to recommend Osamu Dazai's *No Longer Human*.”

“Still, I’ve read three of this author’s books, and From the Shore is number one. I was reading it at a bookstore, then bought it right away and kept it.”

“One of my all-time favorite classic books is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I love the descriptions of nature.”

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

“That is so true. I’m in such a good mood today. Even if something bad happens while I’m feeling happy, I feel like I have the leeway to just laugh it off.”

“There are many passages that resonate with me, so I keep reading it.”

“I think I first saw this in the bestseller section [Actor Park Jeong-min’s PICK, “The Real Thing”]. I also understood that actor Park Jeong-min had recommended it, and hearing that made me even more curious about the novel.”

“[I like long novels] I tend to like long novels, but since The Real Thing is a short-story collection, it reads really easily and quickly × 2, you know? So [Gaeul’s Book Club reading journal / Recommended for people who find reading difficult] I think it would be a really good book for people who find books difficult and want to challenge themselves.”

“[Munsu: left behind by Granny Jangsu, a shaman with no god] And since the subject itself is shamanism, [Granny Jangsu / Sin-aegi: Granny Jangsu, who left Munsu and became the tutelary deity of a spirit-afflicted person] it feels very fresh, but also has that eeriness. And I didn’t know this, but when I looked it up, [honmono: real / nisemono: fake] I found that “honmono” means “real.” So, between me (Munsu), who goes mad and devotes myself to it like that, and Sin-aegi, who received the spirit initiation, which one is the real one? At the end, the two of them perform a gut ritual like mad [Spoiler warning]. That scene was, as expected, the most memorable. [A book that made me think a lot about “what does ‘real’ actually mean?”] It was a book that made me think a lot about what it means to be real.”

“[Author Sung Hae-na, born in 1994] So I understand that this author is young, and our generation really is one that grew up watching videos rather than reading books, right? I heard that when the author writes, she writes in a way that makes it play out like a video, and I felt that too. I was impressed, thinking, “So a picture can form in my mind just from imagining it.” But I think it would be fun if this came out as a drama or a movie. I think that would be even more fun, because a gut ritual has such strong imagery.”

“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.”

“I read *Human Acts* while I was in the military, author. Congratulations.”

““Don’t be attached. If you don’t cling to anything in the world, there’s nothing to be a problem; but the moment you become attached, that mindset gives rise to suffering and makes things hard.” Seeing those words gave me a lot of strength.”

“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.”

“Through Demian, the embodiment of the perfect, ideal human being, I discovered the essence of jealousy within myself.”

“Last year, my manager gave me *We Do Not Part* as a gift. I received a lot of comfort from reading this book.”

“I still remember a sentence that went, “It must have been something like a snail advancing on the edge of a blade.” When I read that, I cried so much. I think that’s the charm of fiction.”

“And I ended up choosing these two.”

“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.”

“I think I was tempted by that blurb and read it. But it was such a predictable story... I read it in the bookstore and left it there.”

“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.”

“I can now carry the collection of poems by Han Kang, which I received as a gift, in my bag.”

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

““I enjoyed 'Animal Farm,' so I’ve been exploring more of his works. These days, I often talk about books with IVE member Ahn Yujin.””

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

“I think I can take one step closer to becoming that kind of person only if I’m happy first and receive energy.”

““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.””