The stories behind their books

“It’s called ‘Übermensch’—advice you need for living? That’s the sort of thing it is. I haven’t finished reading it yet either. It has content similar to the ‘values’ I mentioned earlier. I haven’t even read quite half, but it was such a good book that I’d like to recommend it! And it’s not thick. You know how the book Cosmos is, like, this big, hahaha. I think it’s good to carry around and read. I think it was in the car...”

“Pieces of You was originally written in English, you know. It should have been translated by a professional translator, but I think it was a mistake for me to stubbornly insist on translating it myself. The English version is much better, but I got carried away by my own ambition.”

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

““Reading is the foundation of music creation.””

“I bought a book called Jeolchang, and it seems interesting!!”

“The process of a lonely cat and a person exchanging love and finding happiness felt so warm to me.”

“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’m just going to read one more chapter and then go to sleep.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“Make notes.”

“The Miracle of the Namiya General Store.”

“It gave me an opportunity to reflect once again on the pride and prejudice that anyone can have in life. It made me think about the prejudices that can lead anyone to misunderstand others, as well as my own arrogance, and it is the book that has had the greatest influence on my actual values and way of life.”

“Among the many books, one is Music Short Story Collection, a book that gathers short stories inspired by music by five novelists.”

“These days, I’m reading a book called “Dallergut’s Dream Department Store.” When the novel talks about the dream department store, I can picture it in my mind. I read while imagining myself shopping there.”

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

“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.”

““The love and psychology between men and women in many different situations are captured like a movie.””

“I read this book.”

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

“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.”

“Facts are sacred. Facta sacra sunt”

“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.”

“There are many ways to win people's hearts. Among them, let's take a look at one... where is it? How to persuade busy people quickly.”

“After reading this book, I learned that it was a blessing just to have witnessed something invisible.”

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

“The Devotion of Suspect X.”

“You don’t have to start from the beginning; you can open the book wherever you like and read. It was a book that had been at home because my older brother had received it as a gift, and when I read it, I thought it was so good. I take it out whenever I’m having a hard time.”

“Ah, is that it?”

“It was a book I really enjoyed reading when I was young. Just as I was forgetting about it, I saw the title and immediately thought, ‘This is it,’ so I chose it.”

“I think I read it when I was about six, starting around 11 a.m.”

“Since our juniors probably haven’t had many chances to travel around Korea, I think it would be nice to give the books to junior girl groups.”

“Even things I had never tried and couldn’t say I liked often turned out to suit me and become things I cared about once I actually experienced them.”

“I read it some time ago, but it has stayed with me, so I brought it again.”