Reading and traveling are two of my favorite things, so it’s a joy to combine the two. Aside from being a voracious reader of travel guides, I also love to read books about other writers’ travels. In Calidris Reads, I will briefly introduce you to these books and provide my personal rating from 1 to 5 knots (Terrible to Must-read).
The Year of Living Danishly:
Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country
Helen Russell
First sentence: “It all started simply enough.”
Indeed, it all starts simply, when Russell’s husband, fondly dubbed “Lego Man” in the book, receives a job offer to work for the toy company at their home base in Denmark. Despite a successful if exhausting career in London publishing, Russell decides to take the plunge and move with him to the tiny country (pop. 5.7 million; smaller than Toronto).
Living Danishly, she soon learns, can be challenging, baffling, frustrating, and rewarding. Danes are both freethinkers and rulemakers and are not shy about letting you know when you’ve stepped out of line. Each month of the year leads to new discoveries about the Danish way of life and questions about how aspects of it contribute to Danes’ high level of happiness. From traditional food to modern furniture, raising children to celebrating Christmas, Russell shares info and anecdotes that are always illuminating and often funny. As when the two Brits visit their first Danish bakery and are confronted by an unhelpful clerk:
“The place is empty, so we stand expectantly, waiting to be served. But the woman behind the counter remains expressionless. ‘Hi!’ I try, but she averts her eyes and busies herself rearranging a crate of buns….We smile. She does not. Instead, she points to an LED display above her head that shows the number 137. Then she points at a deli-counter-style ticket dispenser behind us….Is she seriously telling me that I have to get a ticket?…Bakery woman has now folded her arms resolutely, as if to say, ‘Play by the rules or no buttery pastry goodness for you.’ Knowing when I’m beaten, I turn around, take three paces to my right, extract a small, white ticket with the number ‘137’ on it from the machine, then walk back. The woman nods, takes my ticket, and uncrosses her arms to indicate that normal service can commence.”
Or when they naively hoist the revered Danish flag up a pole without consulting the flag laws and a disapproving neighbour presents them with a comprehensive list of rules that he has helpfully printed off his computer and laminated for them.
I must confess, I shared Russell’s curiousity about why Danes consistently rank themselves so high in happiness, so I found all the factoids fascinating and I thought she threw in enough humour to help the medicine go down in a most delightful way. Even if you have no intention of visiting Denmark, The Year of Living Danishly will have you wondering whether the Danes are really onto something and you’ll be asking yourself: Would I be happier living Danishly?
5 knots Must-read
Ha, ha! Nice one, Peeps. I must admit I’ve encountered a similar refusal-to-serve-without-a-ticket thing in Austria. At a deli/bakery with no other customers. I must have been asking for a Danish!!
It’s those subtle cultural differences that scupper you when you’re in a foreign land…. On my most recent trip to Germany, it seemed like every time we went into a restaurant, we got the “seat yourself” vs “please wait to be seated” thing wrong. When we seated ourselves, we got glares from staff and customers alike, and when we waited politely to be seated, staff would completely ignore us. There must be some coded signal that only Germans understand, their way of keeping the foreign riff-raff at bay.