BLOGMAS #4: REVIEW: The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

     
Title: The Little Book of Hygge
Author: Meik Wiking
Rating: 3/5
'The Little Book of Hygge' was kindly recommended to me by a good friend of mine when I told him I was feeling a bit homesick on my year abroad. He said it had helped him feel better and thought I should give it a go as well. So I did!

I read most of this book on the train from Verona, Italy to Venice, Italy where this photo was taken. It was a really quick and easy read with lots of interesting diagrams and photos to keep me entertained on the journey.

I find it difficult to write reviews on non-fiction books as I don't do it very often and don't really know what the protocol is... but I'll give it a go anyway!

I found the concept super interesting - I had never heard of hygge before and, to be honest, didn't know much about Danish culture in the first place, so it's safe to say this really opened my eyes. It was cool learning about a whole new culture that is so different to what I'm used to but in very subtle ways.

However, it got a bit repetitive towards the end. At times it felt like the author was milking the subject matter a bit, which I know is unfair to say given the title of the book literally has hygge in it... but I really don't think this book needed to be almost 300 pages long. Even with pages and pages of glossy photographs it felt like it dragged on for too long. 

Having said that, I do really appreciate the pictures and diagrams. I think they make the subject matter come to life. I must admit, though, that they could be seen as the dreaded filler pages where the publisher has said it needs to be (x) amount of pages long and the author doesn't have enough content for that...

I feel bad for saying all this negative stuff but it's true. It certainly didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book but it was definitely noticeable. 

After taking all this into account, I'm still going to read the next book in the series, 'The Little Book of Lykke'. I'm excited to apply some Danish culture into my life, especially as Christmas gets closer and closer!

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