Books

Hygge!

It’s no secret that I love to read. I spend at least few minutes every night reading, but I’ve also gotten super into listening to audiobooks. Certain books don’t work as audiobooks, but I’ve had great luck with listening to nonfiction books. Recently I downloaded The Little Book of Hygge. It’s under four hours so it was a pretty light and easy “listen.” I finished it up over a few days and LOVED IT.

“Hygge” is a Danish word that means a mix of comfort, safety, coziness, etc. It’s hard to directly translate into English because it’s really more of a “sense” or feeling. The book breaks Hygge down and explains what it means (and what it doesn’t!) and how you can achieve it at home.

A few people had recommended it to me after I mentioned on here that I was forcing myself not to hate winter. If you haven’t read the book yet, I highly highly highly recommend it! I think this is one case where listening to the audiobook might be a better experience than reading it. The author narrates it, which I found to be so helpful to get to know the pronunciations of the Danish words.

Hygge

I happened to listen to the majority of the book right before a big rainstorm hit the area. I’m normally all about enjoying the outdoors on the weekend. Initially, I was disappointed to see rain in the forecast, but after learning about hygge, I was kind of excited to embrace it fully.

We had a cozy weekend inside watching the Olympics. I wore a thick sweater (verrrrrry “hyggeligt”), donned slippers, wrapped a blanket around my shoulders! We even went to a warm restaurant right as the rain turned into a downpour. Part of hygge is a sense of safety so I knew that being holed up enjoying French toast while the rain intensified only made our day more hyggeligt.

The only thing missing was candles! (If you’ve read the book, you know how important lighting and candles are, haha!)

What I ultimately liked the most about the book was the emphasis on happiness and how to find it within yourself and within your community. Denmark is consistently ranked as one of the happiest countries, if not the happiest! There is a lot to learn from them.

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24 Comments

Sarah

Reading this from “Hyggeligt” Copenhagen right now, wrapped in my blanket with a cup of coffee in my hand. You have to put Denmark on your must see list!

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Brianna

there’s a bar/ restaurant in my neighborhood called Bar Hygge and it’s amazing! it basically feels like you’re in a living room with soft seating everywhere…this makes me want to go!

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Maitland

I can’t wait to read this! My birthday was at the beginning of the month and I had a friend who kept asking how I wanted to celebrate and I almost had a hygge party because I’d prefer to stay in cozied up than go out partying like she wanted me too haha.

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Erin

I’ve just gotten back into reading after a several year hiatus. During our snowpocalypse last weekend, I blasted the heat in my bedroom, got under some blankets, and finished a book I’d been reading.

I’ve been meaning to download some audiobooks so maybe I’ll try this one out!

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Allie McWilliams

I studied abroad in Denmark and watched the super length days of August whittle down to only a few hours of daylight by December, during which I was in class the whole time. The Danes truly have mastered the secret to happiness, not just with hygge, but with their view on life. They are so much less focused on the grind and more about taking the time to love life and embrace the little moments that they work hard to make sure to have daily with their loved ones. I am so nostalgic for Denmark and am happy to see doses of hygge cropping up across the American trend map. You are so right – we have a lot to learn from them. Definitely read up on their socialist system…. they restrict campaign finance, have 6 weeks of PTO a year, and have a great safety net. It is so intriguing to see how they are doing it, but so hard to translate this from a homogeneous country of 5M people to a heterogeneous country of 320M+ . Okay, going to stop nerding out now but would definitely recommend a visit to Copenhagen soon if you are loving hygge <3

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Shannon

LOVE that book! I read it and I did find the Danish words hard to follow at times. I love the tips he had for living a more hygge life. I ended up buying more candles for the house.

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Karen

I read this book in the winter while studying abroad in London and right before I visited Copenhagen. It was a great way to embrace the cold weather and elevate my perspective!

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Janine

I love this book and the hygge culture in general! It’s definitely a book that I need to re-read each winter because I always dread it. Incorporating hygge traditions makes it so much more bearable though!

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Coco

I knew about hygge thanks to Lucy Fink’s video (it’s quite good!). And it was right up my alley! I have not really gotten a chance to try it out but, this really made me want to!
Coco| pjsandstuff.wordpress.com

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Juliet

I love this!! I studied abroad in Copenhagen last semester and truly miss hygge. The Danes are all about fur throws, candles, and doing anything to beat the long, Scandinavian winters!

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