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karinapplesauce 's review for:
The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well
by Meik Wiking
The tricky part about untranslatable words is that the native speaker can try their best to describe what it is, but that native speaker has some sort of inherent sense that you feel like you’re missing.
I did appreciate that when he brought up words that are unique to certain languages, my favorite word tsundoku (books you buy but don’t read) was mentioned. Now I just make laughably long reading wish lists that I’ll never complete reading even if I stopped adding books to the wishlist. Long tangent. Not the point of the book.
The great news is they weren’t kidding when this is a “little book.” I listened to the author read the book so got to hear everything spoken in Danish. Which was a mixed bag.
Some takeaways/my attempts to grasp the concept:
1) Scary/Creepy is the antonym of hygge.
2) Your satisfaction with your social life is a direct correlation to your happiness. Danes like to have smaller groups of friends (3-4) to have maximum hygge. Hygge is more likely to appeal to introverts (sound of me perking up)
3) There’s a whole chapter of recipes, and as far as I can tell...the longer it takes to make something, the better. I’m declaring making cheesecake as hygge. Store bought cheesecake is less hygge?
4) The specific details of what it means to be hygge felt a little silly (you must wear a scarf! That recipe is so not hygge). At times it felt a little complicated for a concept that should be close to the word “homey”
Will I now try to pursue a hyggeily life? Eh. I’ll pick the pieces that I’m currently doing and declare it hygge. I will continue to wear comfortable shoes and clothes to work. I will wear comfy clothes at home. I’ll opt to stay in all the time, cuz hygge. I can’t say I’m going to get on board with spending two hours baking a complicated dish no matter what the hygge. Wouldn’t that take away time from family and friends?
I did appreciate that when he brought up words that are unique to certain languages, my favorite word tsundoku (books you buy but don’t read) was mentioned. Now I just make laughably long reading wish lists that I’ll never complete reading even if I stopped adding books to the wishlist. Long tangent. Not the point of the book.
The great news is they weren’t kidding when this is a “little book.” I listened to the author read the book so got to hear everything spoken in Danish. Which was a mixed bag.
Some takeaways/my attempts to grasp the concept:
1) Scary/Creepy is the antonym of hygge.
2) Your satisfaction with your social life is a direct correlation to your happiness. Danes like to have smaller groups of friends (3-4) to have maximum hygge. Hygge is more likely to appeal to introverts (sound of me perking up)
3) There’s a whole chapter of recipes, and as far as I can tell...the longer it takes to make something, the better. I’m declaring making cheesecake as hygge. Store bought cheesecake is less hygge?
4) The specific details of what it means to be hygge felt a little silly (you must wear a scarf! That recipe is so not hygge). At times it felt a little complicated for a concept that should be close to the word “homey”
Will I now try to pursue a hyggeily life? Eh. I’ll pick the pieces that I’m currently doing and declare it hygge. I will continue to wear comfortable shoes and clothes to work. I will wear comfy clothes at home. I’ll opt to stay in all the time, cuz hygge. I can’t say I’m going to get on board with spending two hours baking a complicated dish no matter what the hygge. Wouldn’t that take away time from family and friends?