The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

Title: The Little Book of Hygge

Author: Meik Wiking

Pages: 221

Finished: November 13, 2018

First Sentence: No recipe for hygge is complete without candles. 

Summary: This non-fiction book is a love letter to the Danish concept of Hygge (pronounced Hoo-ga). Describing it is difficult because the idea is coziness and comfort, but also togetherness and well-being, and other things. Wiking, the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen explains what makes something hygge and how you can acheive hygge in your own life.

Thoughts: This book was on a display in my library. I saw it from my desk while helping patrons find books. I walked past it on my way to lead storytime. I picked it up and thumbed through it... and felt instantly at home. The way Wiking describes hygge is the way I describe what my favorite time of year is and why I like it. Also, I apparently innately practice hygge.. or acheive hygge... or make things hygge... I don't know the right way to say it... I apparently am hygge in the mid to late fall through to Christmas.

That being said, by the end of the book, the constant talk about hygge was annoying. And I thought back to a quote he said at the beginning of the book:

What might also be unique for Denmark when it comes to hygge is how much we talk about it, focus on it, and consider it as a defining feature of our cultural identity and an integral part of the national DNA. In other words, what freedom is to Americans, thoroughness to Germans, and the stiff upper lip to the British, hygge is to Danes.

And boy is it an identity. I really felt for people who have to listen to my countrymen talk about Freedom all the freaking time. It was a little annoying.

But I love the idea of hygge, and I think I'll be adding a candle or two to our house this winter.