#author: myeongseok kang

[haveyoureadthispoll]

After taking their first step into the world on June 13, 2013, BTS will celebrate the 10th anniversary of their debut in June 2023. They have risen to the peak as an iconic global artist and during this meaningful time, they look back on their footsteps in the first official book. In doing so, BTS nurtures the power to build brighter days and they choose to take another step on a road that no one has gone before. BTS shares personal, behind-the-scenes stories of their journey so far through interviews and more than three years of in-depth coverage by Myeongseok Kang, who has written about K-pop and other Korean pop culture in various media. Presented chronologically in seven chapters from before the debut of BTS to the present, their vivid voices and opinions harmonize to tell a sincere, lively, and deep story. In individual interviews that have been conducted without a camera or makeup, they illuminate their musical journey from multiple angles and discuss its significance. In addition, portrait photos that show BTS as individuals and artists open the book, and throughout there are concept photos, tracklists of all previous albums, and over 330 QR codes. As digital artists, BTS has been communicating with the world through the internet and this book allows readers to immediately access trailers, music videos, and more online to have a rich understanding of all the key moments in BTS history. Complete with a timeline of all major milestones, BEYOND THE STORY is a remarkable archive—truly everything about BTS in one volume.

[beautifulpersonpeach]

BPP, I've been waiting to see if you would talk about the weverse article but since no one has asked I'm going to. Wth is Hybe doing? 1st Jhope "leads contemporary" and then Namjoon, THEE Namjoon who created the whole idea of Spring Day isn't mentioned at all. Please tell me your thoughts. Sure lets say Hybe hates Jimin but now they hate Namjoon too? It makes no sense for something like this to come from Hybe writers.

***

For anyone who hasn't read the article yet, here's the English version and I suggest you skim it at least so you know what's actually written.

Anon, yours is actually the first ask I've gotten on it today, and your gut feeling that it's not usually staff writers at Weverse pushing out these articles is correct - I've written about how the magazine works before and it's usually Korean critics who are contracted to write pieces. But this time, the article is actually written by a staff writer, the Editor in Chief of Weverse Magazine to be exact, Kang Myeongseok - the same guy who authored the BTS book.

I understand why you're left scratching your head after reading it, and I've pointed out the magazine's shoddy writing before, but I think this latest issue is partly an instance of context lost in translation.

iMO, the point of the article is three things:

To use the upcoming anniversary of Spring Day to remind people who haven't yet purchased the BTS book, to get it.

To remind people that BTS are in fact still the top group and it's songs like Spring Day that gained them acclaim.

To tie Spring Day into the album narrative of BTS.

The point of the article isn't to give an accounting of how Spring Day was made or who led it, and you can glean this from how RM making the song is given only a sentence in the article -

"RM이 ‘BEYOND THE STORY : 10-YEAR RECORD OF BTS’에서 “한국 사람들 사이에서 오래 가고 싶은 노래”를 만들고 싶었다고 말했던 소망은 현실이 되었다."

- all that says is that RM's dream of making a touching song happened with Spring Day.

Two members are used as touchpoints: Yoongi and Hoseok. Yoongi because his personal story ties literally to the lyrics, and Hoseok because his interpretive dance piece incorporating b-boying and contemporary elements, is the piece which introduces the Wings/You Never Walk Alone album on which Spring Day is on. It's also Hoseok who starts the dance in the choreography alongside Jimin - the language in the article implies the author is talking about Hoseok literally starting the song in the stage performance with Jimin. It's also a continuation of how Hoseok's dance piece is what starts the album. The mention of contemporary dancing with Jimin should've been highlighted more prominently, but the following mentions of contemporary dancing in the article (eg Black Swan) is referring to the group as a whole. Not Hoseok and not Jimin.

*

Like I said, the point of the article doesn't appear to be a detailed account of how BTS made Spring Day or the contemporary dancing strength of the group. The two key members for both things - Namjoon and Jimin - are given only a cursory mention at best. I don't think anybody reading the article in Korean, or even English, will come away thinking that's the point. The article honestly just reads like an elaborate ad for the BTS book using the 7th year anniversary of Spring Day as the catalyst.

Is this worth any of the hysteria I've been seeing on Twitter? No. In my opinion. But I also won't really fault anyone feeling some type of way about the article. Weverse in general does a shitty job with their feature pieces. They deserve all the criticism. The only thing they seem to do decently enough is their interviews.

[ijustkindalikebooks]

Another month. Wild.

I had a little book slump near the end of the month so things slowed down a little, but still before that I read like forty books so don't worry about that. I read some great books this month and some really bad ones actually (I one star books that are offensively bad and that happened this month) and I have three five star books and I am going to talk about those below.

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher - T. Kingfisher is easily becoming one of my favourite authors, and this book is so good. The characters are amazing, the plot is so good and I do love a fairytale retelling so this book combines some incredible things for me. I think this book is out now and I highly recommend it if you like fantasy retellings with frogs and nice princes.

Beyond The Story: The Ten Year Record of BTS by BTS, translated by Myeongseok Kang, Anton Hur, Slin Jung and Clare Richards - I am an army, don't get me wrong and though in this book if you've been around for a bit nothing exactly will surprise you, it is incredibly well written and put together with interviews from each of the members. Also how this book is told is excellent too, with QR codes that lead to videos that connect to the period talked about in that part of the book. Anton Hur on translation is a masterstroke and he and the others really do such an incredible job on this book. If you're intrigued by the phenom that is BTS this is the book, if you're an army, this is your bible.

Artificial Condition (Murderbot Diaries #2) by Martha Wells - This series has an incredible reputation and and it is deserved and I really need to read these books more than once a year. The story of a robot that is sentient as they begin to figure out how they ended up sentient and accused of a crime, Artificial Condition explores them finding out more about their past while helping a team of researchers. I was hooked on this book, I need to read book 3 soon.

What have you been reading in July? I'd love to hear!

Vee xo.

[smithlibrary]

Read More 2024 Korean Peninsula

A book about or set in North or South Korea, or written by a Korean author.

Fiction The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim The Plotters by On-Su Kim Pachinko by Min Jin Lee The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See The Frozen Hours by Jeff Shaara

Thriller Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha Star of the North by David John

Graphic Novels The World After the Fall

Young Adult Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi

Biography Beyond the Story by Myeongseok Kang Tastes Like War by Grace Cho All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung

Non-Fiction The Great Successor by Anna Fifield Azaleas by Sowol Kim Aerial Concave Without Cloud by Sueyeun Juliette Lee

[yessadirichards]

BTS book 'Beyond the Story,' source of Internet speculation, to be published July 9

NEW YORK

The guessing game began a few days ago, when an anonymous, untitled book scheduled for July 9 —— “4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023” — had Taylor Swift fans so convinced she had written a memoir that they made it a bestseller.

By Thursday, the Swift rumors had been refuted and the mystery resolved: Flatiron Books announced the upcoming release of a book by another musical powerhouse, BTS.

“Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS” is 544 pages, according to the publisher, written by the journalist Myeongseok Kang and structured like an oral history about the K-Pop boy band. It has been translated into English by Anton Hur, in collaboration with Clare Richards and Slin Jung.

Details about the book had encouraged fans of Swift and BTS. The author and subject were to be revealed June 13, a favorite number of Swift's, but also the 10th anniversary of BTS' first single, “No More Dream.” The page count numbers — 5-4-4 — also add up to 13. The publication date, July 9, is close to the release date of Swift's album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)," but it's also ARMY day, the 10th anniversary of the founding of BTS' ARMY fan base.

Speculation about the book's subject made it a bestseller on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's website.

Booksellers had been informed of a major release from Flatiron, which billed the work as a “fun, celebratory title” that would skew to "slightly younger" audiences. The book, a Flatiron sales official emailed sellers, would have “global appeal” and “massive publicity.”

[yessadirichards]

BTS book 'Beyond the Story,' source of Internet speculation, to be published July 9

NEW YORK

The guessing game began a few days ago, when an anonymous, untitled book scheduled for July 9 —— “4C Untitled Flatiron Nonfiction Summer 2023” — had Taylor Swift fans so convinced she had written a memoir that they made it a bestseller.

By Thursday, the Swift rumors had been refuted and the mystery resolved: Flatiron Books announced the upcoming release of a book by another musical powerhouse, BTS.

“Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS” is 544 pages, according to the publisher, written by the journalist Myeongseok Kang and structured like an oral history about the K-Pop boy band. It has been translated into English by Anton Hur, in collaboration with Clare Richards and Slin Jung.

Details about the book had encouraged fans of Swift and BTS. The author and subject were to be revealed June 13, a favorite number of Swift's, but also the 10th anniversary of BTS' first single, “No More Dream.” The page count numbers — 5-4-4 — also add up to 13. The publication date, July 9, is close to the release date of Swift's album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)," but it's also ARMY day, the 10th anniversary of the founding of BTS' ARMY fan base.

Speculation about the book's subject made it a bestseller on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's website.

Booksellers had been informed of a major release from Flatiron, which billed the work as a “fun, celebratory title” that would skew to "slightly younger" audiences. The book, a Flatiron sales official emailed sellers, would have “global appeal” and “massive publicity.”