The stories behind their books

“I shouldn’t laugh, but that last line is so powerful.”

“It had such a strong pull that I’d throw my entire last paycheck at it. Reading this, I got such an intense feeling, and this kind of reading as a 10-minute read...”

“They say the book is called A Thousand Blues. If many of you also felt a strong pull toward this passage, I recommend giving it a read.”

“Thank you, poet #NaTaejoo”

“I enjoy calligraphy on a daily basis, so I like to read books that have great quotes in them. I would like to recommend a book called, “The Precious You” by Writer Kim Ji-hoon.”

“I wanted to watch the movie Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight, but I didn’t get to. Then I happened to find the original novel at a bookstore and started reading it. I thought the novel was interesting too, so I’ve been reading a few books.”

“Even deciding what to eat is a negotiation.”

“🐶 It's a book called A Good Day Will Surely Come! I read it really quickly... I've read two books this year... That's a first 🐶 But!! It's kind of!! a positive book?!? 🐶 When I read it, I feel like my personality and way of thinking are similar to mine, so I relate to it so much that I stop reading 😄😄”

“My mom bought it for me.”

“I definitely recommend reading it as a book, too.”

“I’m not very interested in novels, but this book made me so curious about what would happen next that I kept reading.”

“I decided to publish a book to share the happiness of cooking for myself.”

“The book contains not only writing, but also many forest photographs taken by the author. Just looking at the photos can be healing. The contents of the book also have a comforting feel. It gives you the feeling that you can relax while sitting in your room. I would like to recommend this book to people who do not get to spend much time outdoors because of work.”

“Although it's really gross, I also like this kind of manga.”

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

“Maybe it’s also similar to the story of *Peter Pan*. So before this round of activities, I started digging into *Peter Pan* and went through various dark fairy tales. The dark fairy tales in particular felt new to me because they were different from what I knew as a child.”

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

“These days, I've been reading <When Attitude Becomes the Work>.”

““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.””

“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.””

“These days, I’m reading *Reading Schopenhauer at Forty*.”

“I did my reading with those.”

“As a celebrity, there are times when people criticize you and times when people offer you comfort. Reading this book, rather than blaming others, I had various thoughts along the lines of, “That’s just how people are; I should at least try not to be that way.””

“A book I’m so glad to find, for me, who dreams of becoming a showbiz singer at sixty.”

“I think it’s nice because I can write down the things I like—something I can enjoy at least a little—as part of my routine.”

“The Little Prince”

“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*.”

“While browsing Instagram, I saw a book posted by an upperclassman from school and bought it. It was a book called *Lessons in Self-Esteem*.”

“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...”

“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.”

“I don’t have any Chinese books over here, so I can only borrow books. And if I borrow books, I can only borrow them from SEVENTEEN’s The8 because he has a lot.”

“I enjoyed reading Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea when I was young. A song inspired by a part of that novel.”

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

“At one time, I was greatly comforted after reading Kim Shin-hee’s *I’m Glad I Lived Like Bonobono*. I felt happy just having the book with me, so I read it over and over.”

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

“I heard this book was a bestseller, so I bought it.”

““Hatrick” is actually inspired by The Great Gatsby, which I was reading while trying to improve my SD reading scores.”

“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.”

“Then, when the members made their remarks, I was really moved. “Ah… this is crazy, like a movie. Right, this is what I had been missing.””

“A book I want to take out and read whenever I think of my beloved pet who went to Dog Star. I related to Jiyul’s feelings and was deeply moved by Byeol’s love!”

“The Little Prince is such a famous work, you know. I first encountered it as an animated film, and later read it as a book. I want to express the feelings I experienced through contemporary dance.”

“The novel I’m reading these days is The Gurney by Hideo Okuda. I’ve always liked reading.”

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

“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.”

“Wow ㅠㅠ Make sure you read it all!!”

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

“This book is so good ❤️❤️”

“If the comfort I gave myself was what I needed to survive, reading this book felt as though my life was being healed.”

“I think I used to follow it a bit like a fandom thing, reading comics too, reading Lee Mun-yeol’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel, and watching Chimchakman’s Three Kingdoms.”

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

“Recently, I enjoyed reading author Kim Ho-yeon’s book *The Inconvenient Convenience Store*. It’s about a homeless man who works part-time at a convenience store, comforting various customers and reflecting on himself. It’s a book with an emotional impact I can’t convey just by explaining it this way.”

“The Giving Tree, but this feels less like it’s a person I am and more like an ideal I want to become.”

““I also like comic books like Conan and Naruto.””

“Art is close to us. I sincerely respect CEO Kim Do-hoon, who takes it and creates another kind of art. I think this book, too, is a “work” made from another part of Kim Do-hoon’s blood.”

“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.”

“First of all, Yamanhagu is, well, truly living up to its reputation.”

“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.”

“In The Hedgehog’s Wish, when none of his friends come to visit, the hedgehog gathers his courage and decides to invite the animals, but in the end, he can’t bring himself to do it.”

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

“Even though I may seem easygoing, I get hurt a lot. The book I read when the hurt caused by those words reached its peak was [The Temperature of Language]. I read whenever I have time. It gives me a sense of stability whenever I’m exhausted. And I feel the depth of words and the power of words with a ‘warm temperature.’”

““I’ll recommend a book for the first time!! It’s a novel I’ve been reading casually whenever I have a little time: [My Don Quixote — Kim Ho-yeon].””

“Honestly, I’m not that amazing a person, but in the book I seem like such an amazing and wonderful person. (Laughs) It made me think I should treat myself a little better. It also gave me the confidence that I can do even better going forward.”

“Which one should I choose?”

“At the time, I really liked the great insight I gained from the story of the Indians in writer Park Min-gyu’s book *Pavane for a Dead Princess*.”

“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.”

“I had to appear on a broadcast and comment, and I referred to *The Temperature of Language* at the time.”

“I didn’t know much about “The Rabbit’s Trial.” I think it’ll be more fun to listen to it in Jiae’s voice. I’m looking forward to it.”

“The book I recently enjoyed reading was Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist.”

“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.”

“Because *Memoir of a Murderer* was the book that introduced me to the world of books, and”

“As I felt changes in my vocal production while taking lessons from Director Lee Yun-seok and reading the book alongside them, I kept thinking that I had understood vocal production in an overly complicated and difficult way all this time. “Use your abdominal muscles,” “sing as if sending the sound backward,” “lift the sound,” and so on—one of the things that confused me most when learning vocal production was these abstract expressions. I was the same way. They are not incorrect expressions, but when you are encountering vocal production for the first time, it seems inevitable that you’ll feel confused and wonder, “What does that mean?” After taking the director’s lessons, what struck me most was singing in the most natural state. Don’t try to embellish your sound too much; make sound as comfortably as possible, without tension. Since everyone’s appearance is different, the sounds and pronunciations that feel comfortable to produce may differ, but ultimately the path the sound takes is the same for everyone, and I think a person’s own color emerges from how they sing along that path. This is the point most emphasized in the book, too, so I hope you’ll remember to make sound in the most comfortable state. This book helped me realize that sound isn’t something I create, but something that comes naturally when I’m most comfortable, and I think it explains that in the simplest way. If your work involves using your voice, I hope you’ll read it at least once and find a more comfortable sound. I hope everyone who reads this book finds a sound that is not the best, but their only one!”

“I think this is a perfect novel.”

“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.”

“I've read Tell Me with Flowers several times.”

“A writer who portrays a natural attitude toward life with purity and precision. The moment I read her writing, I already belong to happiness. It is a clear and sturdy world that only those who live as themselves can enter.”

“I read a novel called Horrorstör.”

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

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

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

“It was a book called The Success of Self-Control.”

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

“It contains ways for creators to express how they communicate with the public and inspire empathy, as well as methods for finding inspiration.”

“It also makes me think about those kinds of things, so I zone out a lot while reading. That’s why I think it’s a book that takes a while to get through. I recommend it.”

“When I was in sixth grade, I loved Harry Potter so much that I even personally opened the internet cafe “Dumbledore’s Army.” I uploaded spells.”

“I love the story, too,”

“I sympathize with the fox, waiting for the Little Prince [to express his desire for friendship.] When it comes to relationships, I usually take time to observe and wait for the other person [to express their feelings] first.”

“Living in a different environment [is] like living on a different planet,”

“I have a larger heart in understanding the difference between others than I had before.”

“I’m Going to Be Lovely Next Year Too”

“I was able to spend time with the makeup team and the photography team as if we were family, and we had fun shooting in a warm atmosphere.”

“I watched it, and it wasn’t childish at all; I really enjoyed it.”

“In particular, the poetry collection *Love as if You Have Never Been Hurt* left a deep impression on me.”

““I read it when I was young, too, but it seems to mean something different each time I read it. As I get older, and at each stage of my life, my interpretation changes. There are lots of plays on words in the book, and it’s a world of make-believe, isn’t it? They stimulate my imagination, and it’s fun to picture a Wonderland in my mind. And above all, I think the book’s strength is that it doesn’t force a lesson on you.””

“I even recommended If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light on Weverse.”

“I brought a book”

“The motif for those lyrics came from the manga Fullmetal Alchemist, which I saw when I was a child.”

“Be sure to read it, everyone.”

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

“It feels like only yesterday that I started yoga, and I’m truly happy to have earned my instructor certification and even published a book like this.”

“This book and the “Gen Z Bookshelf” interview sparked my interest in reading.”

“There was nothing to do at the training camp, so I read books. I also kept a diary, and I cried twice.”

“The Little Prince is, ah, really a song that's kind of like a fairy tale for adults. Um, it's inspired by the original novel, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, uh...”

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

“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 😄”

“I found some time to relax on this trip.”

“Today's book”

“Last fall, an artist senior to me whom I’ve been close to for a long time recommended this book, and that’s how I learned about it. I’ve always trusted their recommendations, so I naturally became interested and opened the book to find inspiration while working on a project. I’ve read about half of it so far.”

“It opened my mind to the thought that anyone can live creatively in their own way. I was impressed by the idea that creativity isn’t something only special people have.”

“Creating something often comes with profound loneliness, and this passage helped me learn how to manage myself. After reading it, I felt more mature.”

“Nietzsche’s Words”

“The Devotion of Suspect X.”

“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.”

“This is really interesting. You absolutely have to read it. People who create things absolutely have to read this. It’s a book called Sparks of Genius.”

“I have read the manga since I was little, so its characters have influenced me.”

“I started writing and reading books again, as I did when I was young. I recently read Life Lessons by psychiatrist and writer Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, and what I’m reading now is About Her by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto.”

“A book? Ah, but I haven’t finished reading everything yet... I’m still in the midst of reading it... Guns, Germs, and Steel... It’s sort of like a history book~”

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

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

“Reading this script while imagining the drama can be helpful and fun. Everyone, try reading it this way sometime.”

““Strangely enough, with just one cookbook, I feel as though I’ve taken a step closer to senior Park Jun-myeon. Perhaps it’s because this book resembles the senior I know.””

“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.”

“La Divina Commedia Written by Dante Alighieri 1308-1320 (The Divine Comedy written by La Divina)”

“I think I've read these three books several times: The Lighthouse Keeper, You Too Are a Sky Lily, and Yeontan-gil.”

“A life journey with Dor!!!~ It’s a book I received as a gift~ As I travel through life with Dor, I should study Korean hard too, right? ^^♥”

“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.”

“The first flapping of wings toward freedom”

“I recalled my solo trip, which moved between excitement and apprehension, anxiety and comfort.”

“When I was in my teens, I was deeply impressed by Bernard Werber’s book *Papillon*, and its story remained in my heart even into my twenties.”

“Everything I'd ever told you by Celeste Egg that I read during this quarantine”

“Thanks to this book, I learned a lot about what I hadn’t known about everything that goes into an artist coming into being. I felt grateful to everyone who was with me, and is still with me, on the journey to becoming the ‘Baek A-yeon’ I am today. If you’re curious about the idol industry, this book will be a great help.”

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

“I think this is the book of my life, and one that can help many other people, too.”

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

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

“Ah, but certainly, since the era is a little different from the tone we use these days, it feels distinct.”

“I couldn't finish reading The Three-Body Problem because it had more pages than I expected.”

“So I recently bought this book, Eight Rules of Love by J. Shett.”

“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.”

“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.”