Friday 4 May 2018

A very Danish book haul

Hello, beautiful people!

Ah, to believe that two weeks ago, I was on the plane to Copenhagen. *sigh dreamily* Like I said in my last post, I traveled to Copenhagen last month and I completely fell in love with that city. I so wanted to remember every second of my time there, and while buying items in souvenirs shops can be fun, I was thinking that I wanted to bring back books that would remind me of Copenhagen and Denmark. I know that when my friend Aseel @ Lights and Pages traveled to Paris last year, she bought several books that reminded her of France, whether it was French literature or books in French. I decided to do that as well, because it's an excellent idea and to present you what I got in this little book haul, because obviously all those books have Denmark in common.





Fairy Tales: A Selection by Hans Christian Andersen

Genres: classics, fairy tales

You've all probably heard of Hans Christian Andersen, even if you don't recall his name: this Danish author is best-known for his fairy tales (he wrote so much more than that though!), such as The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, The Emperor's New Clothes and so many others. He lived in Copenhagen for quite some time, a boulevard was named after him and there is the statue of The Little Mermaid on a waterside at the Langelinie promenade. While my parents read me many of his tales before I went to sleep when I was a little girl, I am so curious to revisit them as an adult and I thought it was the best time to buy them, because I was in Andersen's city after all. I also read a French YA novel* last year that featured Andersen as a character and have been so curious about him ever since, so I really didn't need any excuse anyway.

*For French people, I'm talking about Animale : La Prophétie de la Reine des Neiges by Victor Dixen, that I adore, while I'm not a huge fan of his Phobos series #sorrynotsorry.





Genres: non-fiction, psychology, self-help

This book has been all over bookstagram for the past year or so, I've been meaning to get to it for so long, but I don't know, when I bought books I wasn't really thinking about getting that one. However, when I was in Copenhagen, I felt so peaceful and happy, yes it was due to the fact I was traveling with my boyfriend, but more than that, it was the atmosphere of the city. The Little Book of Hygge was written by the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, so once again, if I didn't buy it here, when would have I gotten it? Anyway, Denmark is presumably the happiest country in the world and the reason for that is supposed to be hyggewhich has been translated as everything from the art of creating intimacy to cosiness of the soul to taking pleasure from the presence of soothing things. This book's purpose is to try to make the reader understand hygge and it seems like quite an interesting concept, so I'm excited to finally discover what it's all about!




The Royal Physician's Visit by Per Olov Enquist
Genre: historical fiction

It's quite interesting that I bought this novel, because it was actually written by a Swedish writer and I got to Sweden right after Copenhagen, so it's pretty much the epitome of my trip. I first heard about this novel because Christine @ Wee Reader read and adored it, if she loves a historical novel, I know I will love it too. It's thanks to her that I discovered Susanna Kearsley after all. Anyway, The Royal Physician's Visit is set in 18th century Denmark, during the reign of Christian VII. His wife, Queen Caroline, fell in love with his most trusted advisor, the court physician Struensee. It also follows the conflict between Struensee, who is introducing Enlightenment ideas in Denmark and Guldberg, the cold-blooded religious fanatic. I so want to know more about Danish history and apparently it's done very well, so I'm looking forward to that. Besides, there is a movie called A Royal Affair with Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen that also tells this story and I'll be able to watch it right after.


Can you feel my love for Scandinavian countries grow? I sure can.
That's it for my little book haul today, thank you for reading!



Lots of love,
Lucie

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