December is seriously whirling by and I can't believe we're already down to the final days of 2017! I haven't read as much this month since I was super busy with work and tying all the loose knots before year end. Hopefully I'll be able to make it up next month, one of my goals for the new year is to not find myself between books. I did manage three books this month (still in the middle of the last one!), and they were all really good!
* The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking is a must read! It's been on my list for a while since it came out earlier this year, and I was so happy Kovi got it for me for Chanukah. As Wiking -- who is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute -- explains, is "the sense of comfort, togetherness, and well-being," often felt in moments of pure contentment and. Despite its lack of sunlight and high tax rate, Denmark is consistently ranked in the top happiest countries, so they definitely know what they're doing! I loved how Wiking offered insights into different genres, such as home decor and style, as well as the actual tenets of the philosophy to help us get a little more hyggelig!
* 97 Orchard by Jane Ziegelman was great, it combined two of my greatest interests -- history and gastronomy -- into one amazing read. Ziegelman chronicles five immigrant families in a tenement building on the Lower East Side at the turn of the century. I love plots that intertwine unlikely characters, and highlight their differences and similarities in light of their unlikely circumstances. While I'm familiar with Eastern European cuisine, it was fun to peek into the "norm" of the other families featured in the novel. What's more, 40 recipes are also included, which really makes the story come alive. You can really see how "American" food was shaped by the melting pot culture.
* Through the Language Glass by Guy Deutscher is the one I just started, but I'm already hooked! Continuing on the motif of sharing something in common (a tenement building or world, for instance), but experiencing it differently, Deutscher's work explores whether the language that we speak influences our thinking, or rather is a reflection of it. This is definitely not a light read, but a fascinating (and important!) one. Although this book is an older one, it won several prestigious accolades in 2010 and I've been wanting to get through it for a while.
Do you have good reads to recommend? I'm always looking for new books to discover and would love to hear your suggestions! Share them in the comments below.
Happy reading!
xoxo,
Estie