These books helped me to feel better and to concentrate my mind on positive thoughts, and I extremely needed it.
Please note: The pics on some books are in Italian (I enjoy reading in both languages) but, by clicking on the link at the end of the review, you will find the English version!
1. The little book of HYGGE by Meik Wiking
Apart from the crazy urge to book a flight to Copenaghen, this book left me a pleasant feeling of tranquillity and well-being, considering the time we are living in, I guess it was a perfect reading!
Smooth and structured as a sort of guide, this book is written by Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute of Copenaghen.
From lighting up candles to making the perfect harmonious atmosphere inside our house, passing through recipes and tips on how to organise unforgettable meetings with friends and family (hoping to be able to do so very soon…)
This book is a journey inside the little things that convey happiness and, despite at times it doesn’t say anything new, I really enjoyed its company.
Click here to buy The Little Book of Hygge
2. Books to read during lockdown: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
“You are not required to save the world with your creativity”.
Dedicated to those who are always blocked by a never-ending fear of not making it, to those who don’t dare and to those who are lost in seeking perfection.
Elizabeth Gilbert – the same author of the bestseller Eat, Pray, Love – invites anyone who has a creative nature to free themselves from their own preconceptions and to stop being paralyzed by the anxiety of the judgement of others.
Big Magic also talks about the power of inspiration and ideas that have, according to the author, their independent life: if you don’t rush to make them happen, they will go elsewhere and to someone else.
Click here to buy Big Magic
3. Sophie’s world by Jostein Gaarder
A few months ago, on the shelves of a bookstore, I came across this book almost by chance.
I already read it during high school, but I picked it up instinctively and I started to read it again at the hospital, the day after having had a surgery (gone exceptionally well!) at the end of January.
It was a slow and savoured second reading that kept me company during my rehabilitation days and made me relive some moments of my teens age.
Sophie’s world is half a novel and half a treatise of philosophy, which revolves around the story of a special bond, the one of a fourteen-year-old girl, Sofia Amundsen, and her teacher Alberto Knox.
The two of them, through a course that in the beginning takes place only by correspondence, accompany us in a journey to discovery the history of man’s thought.
In the between, a little crime and other characters including another girl, Hilde Møller Knag and her father, Albert.
It’s a novel for everyone, adults and young people, that helps to reflect on life and to answer many questions about why things are as they are.
Click here to buy Sophie’s world
4. Books to read during lockdown: Ikigai, by Bettina Lemke
In Japanese there is a word to express the good feeling of a fulfilling and worth living life: Ikigai.
Each of us has its own Ikigai, but we don’t always manage to be aware of it.
In other words, the author helps us find our Ikigai and not to let it go anymore..
Considering the current situation, I find this a very useful reading.
Click here to buy Ikigai
5. The life -changing magic of tidying up by Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo is a star of order and organisation I’ve heard so much about, and when I got to the last page of her book, I felt kind of close to her.
Do you know that friend you admire because of her spot-on house and her ability to remain true to herself no matter what?
Well, I imagine Marie a little bit like that. Between rigour, organisation and real chats with her bags (she advises you to empty every day) and all the objects that surround her .
To me she’s like that friend a little out of the ordinary, who gives great and sometimes weird advices.
I’ve finished reading her book recently, I underlined a lot and I’m trying to figure out when to start revolutionising my house according to her suggestions.
As soon as I make up my mind, I promise, I’ll let you know 😅
Click here to buy The life -changing magic of tidying up
