The stories behind their books

“I really hope you’ll read this work.”

“When I opened my eyes in bed, I imagined what the window would look like if I were in the protagonist's position in the novel, what the desk would be like, and how I could open the drawer.”

“The book I read quickly and enjoyed just as much is Dante’s Divine Comedy. Turning each page is so enjoyable and fun.”

“Recently, I liked Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.”

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

“I liked Evangelion so much that I once read the Bible.”

“The last book I read was in middle school—Life at Nine?”

“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 watched the movie and read the book, and the book is overwhelmingly more fun. It's really fun.”

“I brought a book”

“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.”

“I’ve read a lot of books recently. I read “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.” There are other books I can’t remember. I read a lot of books while on vacation.”

“I’m going to read my first book (manga) today! This was a recommendation. Actually, Ni-Ki has also mentioned this series before. So, I’m going to give it a go.”

“Two people, each with their own wounds, meet and make each other's everyday lives feel okay. To me, you're that kind of friend.”

“I’ve really liked The White Book for a long time. It’s an easy, relaxing read.”

“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.”

“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 heard a rumor that the book was the bible of the Illionaire label, so I read it out of curiosity. When I read it, I found it was about a sense of accomplishment, and the main point was that the sense of accomplishment you feel when you spend the money you’ve earned ultimately makes you work harder. But, amazingly, after reading it, my actual spending habits changed. I guess I became more interested in doing the things I wanted to do than in saving money?”

“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.”

“In particular, an encyclopedia of food called *Jeongjoji* (鼎俎志) was a great help.”

“I recommend it to you.”

“Yes. I think I came to appreciate novels like that through The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”

“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.”

“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.”

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

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

“I'm also continuing to read it, curious to see whether I'll make it to the end. Since it's a book that's received so much praise, I want to make sure I read it all the way through, if only out of curiosity.”

“It’ll be a happy ending anyway”

“I’ve been very interested in composing lately, and the book contains a lot of things that people like me, who want to compose popular music, would want to know for themselves. People tend to think composing is difficult, but it explains very clearly and simply what composing is and how to do it. One of our songs is included in the book, too, so I thought, “That’s how this song was made,” and it brought back a lot of memories of recording and singing it at the time. It also helped me with composing.”

“Well, that's what I'm reading. It's like it becomes like a horror novel though.”

“While reading a book, I suddenly came across a passage I really wanted to show someone... There is much to learn from the words of adults, then as now. When I was young, my father used to tell me as a matter of habit, “Choose your friends well.””

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

“can't miss”

“Everyone, love one another~”

““The part I like best is when the man, who had kept his heart closed off, opens up to the woman and says, ‘Stay with me tonight, Clara.’ Even in the film based on the novel, that scene is the best.””

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

“I did buy it when I was just thinking, among the people around me, “Why is everyone so weird?””

“Then, after reading another work by Camus, The Rebel, I began to understand how he felt.”

“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.”

“Harry Potter. I want to ride a magic broom at least once. I’d also like to think about which team to join and which house to be in.”

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

“Another one is a book called *All the Time in the World*. These days, everything moves so fast, and it’s hard to imagine life without videos like Shorts, right? This book is about a life of slow accumulation, in connection with quantum mechanics, and offers various perspectives on letting time rest, bending it, and stretching it. It’s a good read for people who want to create some breathing room in their lives.”

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

“I really recommend 0 to people like that.”

“when I was younger reading like Lord of the Rings Harry Potter and the Narnia books”

“As I read it, I kind of feel like I don’t know that much after all.”

““While reading *Contradiction*, I was struck by the phrase ‘the volume of life.’””

“I cried a lot, especially at the parts about parents.”

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

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

“I read it, and it wasn't childish at all; I really enjoyed it.”

“I remember being captivated by Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when I read it as a kid.”

“It's interesting.”

““The music video was inspired by Georges Bataille’s book *Erotism*. It deals with the theme of breaking taboos, and I thought about how that could be reflected in the music and in what I would show. For example, revealing bare skin is still considered taboo in some ways. If a male performer takes off his shirt and the audience goes wild (because bringing a taboo before the public and having it accepted means overcoming that taboo), I wanted to understand and incorporate the idea of breaking taboos through that.””

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

““When I was 20, I suddenly remembered a book I had come across called ‘Happy Reading the Analects.’ At the time, while reading it, I felt for the first time that my thoughts were awakening. That memory led me to learn about thinkers other than Confucius, and I found ‘Essay on Eastern Philosophy,’ which clearly explains the main ideas of the Hundred Schools of Thought. I liked that the different philosophies and interpretations weren’t dressed up or presented narrowly, so I could read the book using my own judgment and thoughts. I think it’s a book that even people who aren’t interested in philosophy can easily approach, and that can serve as a first step toward developing a philosophy of their own.””

“I want the COVID era to end soon so I can set off in search of delicious food.”

““I also read a book called ‘Shoko’s Smile.’””

“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.”