Friday Reads: The Year of Living Danishly

Happy Friday! And if you're looking for ways to make all of your days a bit happier, Kelly's current read, The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell, attempts to dissect the contributing factors to Denmark's famed happiness. 

I don't remember what caught my attention about this book, but it was evidently enough that I downloaded it from the public library. I enjoy learning about different cultures through the eyes of long-term visitors, and the writer of this book (Helen Russell) is a London native who moved to a remote area of Denmark for a year so her husband could pursue a dream opportunity at Lego. As a freelance lifestyle writer, she knew that Denmark regularly ranks as the world's happiest nation, and she wanted to take an up-close look at the aspects of Danish life that contribute to this contentment. 

The author's time in Denmark begins, inauspiciously, in January. Russell is horrified by the "baltic" temperatures, which made me feel smug after I converted the numbers to Fahrenheit. The Danish are all holed up at home with their families and friends at this time of year, doing hygge things. She and her husband gradually learn more about their adopted land, furnish their rented home, and have an unfortunate run-in with the neighbors over recycling protocols. 

Russell terms her year in Denmark her "Danish happiness project." Though I don't think she references it by title, this book is clearly inspired by and patterned after Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. Each month of her year is devoted to learning about and experimenting with one particular aspect of Danish life and culture. January, for instance, delves into the concept of hygge and the impact of interior design. In February, she looks at corporate cultures and workplace expectations. In March, she explores the importance Danes place on being involved in clubs. 

I doubt this book is going to be lifechanging for most, but it's an easy read and gives a glimpse into life in a country most of us probably know little about. 

Friday Reads: Pachinko

It's been a minute since our last Friday Reads post, but we haven't forgotten! Today, Adam tells us about Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and reflects on learning through historical fiction. 

One of the things I like about reading historical fiction, especially historical fiction written by authors from other parts of the world, is that I often learn for the first time about historical events that occurred outside of the United States. Before I started reading Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee, I never knew that Korea was a Japanese colony from 1910 until the end of World War II. To learn that Korea was not an independent nation for most of the first half of the twentieth century came as a surprise to me, and it helped spark my interest in this story right from the start.

Pachinko is a sprawling, multigenerational saga about a Korean family's experiences living in Japan during the twentieth century, exiled from their homeland and struggling to survive and thrive amid prejudice, hardship, and loss. The story begins with teenage Sunja, who becomes pregnant after falling for a wealthy businessman in her seaside Korean village. Refusing his offers of financial support after finding out he's already married, she instead accepts an offer of marriage from a kind minister passing through on his way to Osaka. Sunja moves to Japan to live with the minister and his family, and so begins an immigrant story that is rich with themes of sacrifice, ambition, and love. I'm usually a sucker for flowery or elaborate language in the fiction I read, but Pachinko is written in simple, straightforward prose that is nevertheless very affecting.