We love a good hygge book here in Minnesota and this was no exception! While I think the fad has calmed down a little, there are concepts in this book that are timeless and necessary to get through Midwest winters!

This is a beautiful book and I am full of regret that it has taken me so long to actually read it. The older I get, and in the face of another big house move, I realise that too much stock is placed in "stuff" and not enough in experiences. Hygge has been a wonderful reminder that life can be about more than the things we think we need to spend money on.

I have to say it's not what I was expecting but I think that's on me for not reading the blurb. It's a very slow opening and I've been dragging myself through the pages. I don't think this book is for me, unfortunately.

I wanted to love this book. Alas, it's more a memoir than an actual explanation of what Hygge is, and how to incorporate it into your life. I'd say it's mislabelled - if I knew what I was getting into, I'd likely have not grabbed it as an ARC.

Still, it was well-written and interesting, just not what I was looking for on the topic of Hygge.

I struggled with reading, synthesizing, and reviewing this book. I love hygge, and so I was very excited to read this book. Once I started reading, I quickly realized that this is more of a memoir than it is a book about hygge. It was still interesting, but definitely not marketed correctly (at least as an ARC). Part of why this took me so long to read is that it really hops back and forth between subjects. As mentioned above it is part memoir, part how-to hygge, part Danish design resource, and part philosophical discussion of happiness. It was a little bit hard to "get into" as it switched around so frequently as to the topic and style of writing. I am not interested in design in the way that this book approaches those sections. I'm not particularly interested in the movements, specific chairs, where to get them, etc. I did, however, appreciate her tips on how to set up a hyggelig room. The sections on design were much too long for my taste.There is also a part where she talks about her struggles with dieting and eating which I felt were a little bit of a tangent. On the one hand it is good to draw from personal experience, and I see what she is saying. On the other it felt different. As I expected this to be more of a how-to type of book, or an explanation of hygge, it felt very very personal to me. Abrahams shares a lot of personal details related to her divorces, blended family living, family feuding, etc. It was a lot to take in, and while it explained why she turned to hygge and her journey through it... it felt like a surprise to me. There was also a rather long bit about the philosophy of happiness that eventually tied in to Denmark's rank as the happiest country in the world, but it took too long to get there. This is coming from someone who loves to learn and research, and took notes on the entire book. From time to time I really enjoyed Abraham's writing voice, the dry British humor is always something that I really enjoy. Toward the end of this book there were more sections that were both practical and actionable - which is how I prefer my non-fiction, so I really enjoyed that part. I think if you are interested in a multi-layered memoir/how-to/design/happiness book, go ahead and check it out. If you are looking for a book on hygge, I wouldn't recommend this one. If I hadn't been reviewing it I might have just skipped some sections. Lastly, I appreciated that she brought up that hygge is something that people of privilege enjoy. I agree with what she is saying, and am glad that she addressed it, but it was quite a short section and I felt a little un-thoughtfully (maybe just succinctly?) worded.

Difficult to really say this was about Danish culture, instead it was a torrent of British whingeing interspersed with some ideas from hygge culture. Oh, and there was a lot about furniture design but also, I failed to note how it was related to Danish culture of hygge...

Unfortunately this was not the book I thought it was going to be. I was looking for advice on Hygge but instead this book is all about the author's life and how she has used Hygge. I found it a little tedious in places, and in a book that I wanted to be uplifting I did not want to read about the downsides of the authors life.

This was not what I expected. Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures. Living the Danish Way by Charlotte Abrahams is not about hygge but about Abrahamas. I wanted or expected more in depth explanation or something from a Danish person.

I wasn't motivated to finish this book. I'm very interested in the subject of hygge, but when I realized that the author's approach to it was a couple steps removed from the authentic origin, I lost some of my interest in this title. It seems to be more a book about her own perception of hygge, in spite of her limited contact with the Danish culture. The concept is already becoming overexposed in the media; this book feels like it's just riding the coattails of the trend. I'd rather read something that gets to the heart of the concept, written by someone who's grown up with it or at least has a closer connection than this author.

This is at least the third book about hygge that I've read and I adore the previous two so I thought I would love this...but I was very wrong! The cover is quite inspiring, the photos weren't particularly striking (most of them in the e-book version via Netgalley were missing) and the first third of the book is so focused on interior design, specific designers and furniture that for me, someone who is interested in design but not incredibly passionate about, it became quite boring and tedious.

Now, there are some interesting bits about Danish life, the Danish view of hygge and a slightly more balanced view of hygge (there were quite a few negatives about hygge mentioned) but the rest seemed to be a combination of the authors rants about her disjointed family, her life choices and divorce or sections that were just copied and pasted studies/wikipedia entries. At the beginning the author states that she isn't an expert or Danish...so why is she writing this book. I did not enjoy this book and towards the end I was frequently just flicking through; sadly I would NOT recommend. Buy the Little Book of Hygge instead; also it's far prettier, more interesting and composed by not only a Dane but an 'expert' too!

Hygge become quite a popular notion recently with books The Little Book of Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well and Hygge: The Danish Art of Happiness populating bookstore's shelves. When I noticed this title on Nethalley I decided to try and read more about this. I think that I made wrong decision with starting reading about Hygge with this book. I hope those two other books I mentioned are better, and maybe I will give them a try.

The author of Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures. Living the Danish Way is not Danish, nor does or did live in Denmark. She doesn't have anything in common with Danish culture, but the interest in Hygge. When I read that in the introduction in instantly made my uncomfortable and wary of the whole book.

The book is not so much about hygge, but about authors journey to living more hyggelig. The chapters tell her story of realization on how her house or her cooking or family life are hyggelig. It's more of her musing about how hygge she is, how she understands it, and how really it all just normal and simple and something everyone wants, but hygge just gives it all a name.

I loved this book. I've already read a couple of books on Hygge but it's safe to say I'm obsessed, and this one was just as good, if not better than the rest. I really liked reading it from an English writer's perspective and it was a really easy read.

The concept of hygge is incredibly interesting, however the author went off on tangents often enough that the concept was difficult to grasp until the end. This could have easily been much shorter and effective. I expected to learn about her hygge journey, but the book the first part of the book focused more on furniture and a good chunk of it focused on what isn't hygge. I believe I would have enjoyed a more concise version of this book.

I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read about the concept of hygge in an architectural newsletter and when I saw this book on NetGalley I thought I would give it a try. Well I am still interested in hygge as a concept but this is definitely not the book for me to learn about it.

Charlotte Abrahams has written a memoir, and I don't like memoirs. This is not the book to buy if you are after practical information. Try Christopher Alexander instead.

I received a review copy of "Hygge: A Celebration of Simple Pleasures. Living the Danish Way." by Charlotte Abrahams (Orion) through NetGalley.com.

I enjoyed learning the history of Hygge. As a Canadian reading this during the winter, I can relate to the idea of making your environment as pleasurable as possible.

The history of Danish design was also interesting; I just personally have a hard time with the idea of spending $5000+ for one chair when hygge is about simplicity and the opposite of extravagance.

I liked the blend of the author's personal experience with her research. It gave the information an anchor.