41 Must Read Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life

Best Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life will help you pick the next book you want to dive into or help you find that perfect gift for that special someone in your life. Hygge is a Danish word that means coziness, and adding books that give you that warm and fuzzy feeling is a good thing.

If you’re looking for more ideas on creating a hygge life, Best Hygge Movies to Watch and 100+ Hygge Journal Prompts to Stir Your Soul will help you on your journey.

Must Read Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life - Woman Reading book
Best Hygge Books to Read to Inspire a Cozy Life

Nothing goes hand-in-hand with a cold winter evening like a comfortable chair, a roaring fire, and an inspiring book.

Making the Danish philosophy of comfort a priority is an easy way to learn what one of the happiest nations has known all along.  Hygge (pronounced HUE-gah) is a Danish term that teaches you to embrace slowing down and enjoying the simple things life has to offer.

I put together a book list that not only gives you the titles of my favorite hygge books, I also included cookbooks, children’s books, memoirs, craft books, and simple living books that are hygge in nature.

There’s a link to Amazon on both the title and the picture of the book itself that will let you take a look at reviews and check out a few pages to see if the book peeks your interest.

So grab a cup of coffee and take a look at these cozy reads.

What is Hygge? 

According to Wikipedia, Hygge is “a Danish or Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment.” Hygge is the cornerstone of Danish life.

Creating a Cozy Life Group

Since you found this article on books that mirror the magic of Danish life,  Iโ€™m guessing you like all things cozy living. I created a Facebook group called Creating a Cozy Life with over 93,000 like-minded souls.

Itโ€™s a group where we share recipes, pictures of things that leave you in awe, and ideas on how to make your life just a little bit more snug.  Join here to be part of the virtual cozy cabin.

“Books are uniquely portable magic.”

Stephen King
Best Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life - Candle, Book, and Glasses
A List of the Best Cozy Books

Click on the pictures of the books or titles below for a peek inside of each one.

Here are the Best Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life:

Hygge Books #1 ย Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking

If you want to learn more about Hygge, then you want to learn it from Meik Wiking, who is the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.

This best seller book is the definitive guide on research data and tips on how to make your world a bit happier. Meik breaks down the Danish concept of hygge, and what makes Denmark the happiest place to live.

Meik Wiking also wrote the Little Book of Lykke that can be found here.  

Hygge Book #2 The Art of Making Memories – How to Create and Remember Happy Moments by Meik Wiking 

Meik Wiking dissects how we make memories and why creating happy memories is so important to our own life.

He weaves heart-warming stories throughout the book for a positive read.

Hygge Books #3 Home Sweet Home Coloring Book

Home is definitely where our hearts are.  This sweet adult coloring book has 38 illustrations to color. Even the cover is adorable.

Cozy teapots, snug cottages, and even a cozy chair are all featured and will transport you to a magical world as you decorate the pages.

The same illustrator also has:

Country Charm Coloring Book

Country Farm Scenes Coloring Book

Main Street Coloring Book 

Country Gardens Coloring Book 

Romantic Country Scenes 

Spring Scenes Coloring Book 

Summer Scenes Coloring Book 

Autumn Scenes Coloring Book 

Winter Wonderland Coloring Book 

Christmas Charm Coloring Book 

Hygge Books #4 The Laura Lea Balanced Cookbook: 120+ Everyday Recipes for the Healthy Home Cook

This cookbook is a visual feast. There’s nothing more hygge than making a hearty home-cooked meal, and this book will help you make a masterpiece every time.

Please note: This is a gluten-free cookbook 

I love reading cookbooks more than novels.  Maybe it’s because I love food.  The photographs in this book are have that rustic look that everyone will love.

Laura Lea also has another cookbook called Simply Laura Lea: Balanced Recipes for Everyday Living that you can find here. Finding new favorite recipes has never been easier.

Hygge Books #5 Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life: The Plants and Places that Inspired the Iconic Poet

Take an inside look into Emily Dickinson’s life and find out how her passion for gardening inspired her poems.

At Emily Dickinson’s family home, she had both a flower garden and a glass conservatory.  Emily studied botany at both Mount Holyoke and Amherst Academy.

Her love for plants inspired her creativity, and she shared her garden passion with family and friends.  She sent pressed flowers in her letters and frequently sent bouquets to her friends.

If you’re an Emily Dickinson fan, you will find this book to be a personal glimpse of her love of the natural world.  Beautiful photographs and illustrations are also dotted throughout the book.

The same author also wrote another book on Beatrix Potter’s garden inspirations: Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children’s Tales

Cozy Books #6 Maybe: A Story About the Endless Potential in All of Us

If you have a child on your gift list and are looking for a beautiful and inspiring picture book – this book is the one you’ve been looking for.

Empowering words and magical illustrations will make this a children’s book to pass down through the generations.

The book talks about all the possibilities in life and the unbounded potential you have inside.

Not only is the message beautiful in this book, but the illustrations are dreamy. This book makes the perfect gift for kids or even someone that is discouraged.

Kobi Yamada also wrote three other books that comes in a boxed set on Amazon called What You Do Matters. You can find them here.

Hygge Books #7 Hygge – The Danish Art of Happiness by Marie Tourell Soderberg 

This is a good book to show how to get started on ideas on how to embrace hygge. I loved the interviews in the book.

The book provides simple steps to adopt the Danish lifestyle into your world. The author talks about how hygge has enriched her life and gives you recipes to make at home.

My only complaint about this book is the typeface is really small.

Hygge Books #8 Floret Farms A Year in Flowers: Designing Gorgeous Arrangements for Every Season 

If you love flowers, then this is the book for you. Erin from Floret Farms knows a thing or two about growing a variety of flowers, arranging them, and teaching others how to do the same.

The photographs are stunning in all her books. Gardening books are some of the best books on hygge.

The authors also wrote two books called Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden: Grow, Harvest, and Arrange Stunning Seasonal Blooms and Floret Farm’s Discovering Dahlias: A Guide to Growing and Arranging Magnificent Blooms.

Hygge Books #9 The Year of Cozy: 125 Recipes, Crafts, and Other Homemade Adventures by Adrianna Adarme

Get your cozy on with a wide selection of recipes, crafts, and ideas to make your world a bit more snuggly. If you’re looking to add a little more peace and quiet in your life, this lifestyle book would help you achieve that goal.

Recipes like Chipotle BBQ Bourbon butter and Salted Pretzel Ice Cream will have you in the kitchen immediately.

Cozy Books #10 100 Days of Kindness: A Devotional 

A inspirational book on how to practice intentional kindness to help transform your family, community and faith.

The world could use a little more joy, and this book will help you find ways to spread a message of hope and love. Kendra Roehl, Julie Fisk, and Kristin Demery are the three authors that contributed their wisdom and life stories to inspire you.

Hygge Books #11 Scandinavian Needlecraft: 35 Step-by-Step Hand-Sewing Projects by Clare Youngs 128 pages

Gorgeous 35 Traditional Scandinavian-style projects including hearts, flowers, and birds. Simplicity is the heart of all the author’s designs.

Clear instructions and photographs showing you how to create projects step-by-step in this treasure of a book.

Hygge Books #12 Welcome Home: A Cozy Minimalist Guide to Decorating and Hosting All Year Round

If you’re looking to transform your home into an oasis you love, you found the right book. This book will teach you to embrace your home, flaws and all – and make it a haven you love to come home to.

The author also wrote two other books The Nesting Place:  It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful and Cozy Minimalist Home 

Hygge Books #13 The Danish Way of Parenting: What the Happiest People in the World Know About Raising Confident, Capable Kids

Give modern, high-stress parenting the boot and learn how to incorporate Danish principles into your life.

Free-play is one of the concepts the book talks about and how it develops children’s minds. Parents across the globe are embracing a more nurturing way of raising children and this book will help you start.

Cozy Books #14 The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life by Anu Partanen

Having lived in the United States and the Nordic region, the author compares lifestyles and offers a way to incorporate more the Nordic secrets into our way of living.

It’s the perfect guide for happy living ideas and creating a sense of comfort in your life.

Hygge Books #15 Lagom: Not Too Little, Not Too Much: The Swedish Art of Living a Balanced Happy Life by Niki Brantmark

If you’re looking to add balance to your life, look no further than this book. The author offers practical steps on how to make subtle changes so you can make room for more happiness.

Hygge Books #16 Homemade Winter by Yvette Van Boren

You can’t go wrong with a cookbook that is filled with recipes such as Creme of White Beans & Celeriac with Chile Oil or Ridiculously Delicious Mud Cake with Homemade Nut Butter.

Hygge Books #17 Selina Lake Winter Living: An Inspirational Guide to Styling and Decorating Your Home for Winter by Selina Lake

Make your feeling of home cozy and comfortable all winter long with these inviting ideas. Selina Lake is a stylist that brings her vintage romantic style to life on the pages.

Adding simple touches like a soft throw, candlelit table, or the right lighting can transform your space into the hygge way of living.

Cozy Books #18 Fireside Feasts & Snow Day Treats: Indulgent Comfort Food Recipes for Winter Eating by Ryland Peters

You had me at Cider Fondue. There’s nothing more hygge than enjoying a delicious meal fireside and spending time with your closest friends and family.

This book is an ideal companion for the winter months. The instructions for making the combination of recipes that are clear and the photographs showcase the amazing meal you’ll be making.

As an extra bonus, this book would look beautiful on your coffee table.

The author also wrote two other books called Winter Drinks: Over 75 recipes to Warm the Spirits and Long Nights and Log Fires: Warming Comfort Food for Friends and Family.  

Cozy Books #19 Martha’s Vineyard – Isle of Dreams by Susan Branch 

This is one of my favorite books of all time.ย If you don’t know who Susan Branch is – she is primarily a cookbook author that started the illustrated lifestyle cookbook trend. Susan is a master of the celebration of simple pleasures.

This memoir is one of a trilogy. ย I’m getting them all because I love them so much. The other books are The Fairy Tale Girlย and A Fine Romance: ย Falling in Love with English Countryside.

I wrote a book review for this memoir – you can find that book review on Martha’s Vineyard Isle of Dreams here.  

Hygge Books #20 – Faerie Knitting: 14 Tales of Love and Magic by Alice Hoffman and Lisa Hoffman

This is a wonderful book for hygge lovers. The combination of knitting and stories together will make any cozy living lover happy.

Each story is short and sweet and is paired with a project to knit.

Some of the projects to make are a cowl, a shawl, amulet necklace, a capelet, a scarf, charm bags, a vest, glovettes, a hat, gloves, leg warmers, a hood, and a gorgeous blanket.

Alice Hoffman is the author of Practical Magic too. This book is one of the best hygge knit books to add to your craft library.

Hygge Books #21 You Belong Here by M.H. Clark 

This is a beautiful children’s book that your whole family will love – including you.

You children will want you to read it to them over and over again because it’s such a feel-good book with beautiful illustrations.

The book is a poem that talks about how everyone has their special place where they belong, animals included. The poem is written in handwritten style, which adds even more magic to this wonderful book.

Hygge Books #22 Watercolor with Me Into the Ocean by Dana Fox

If you love to watercolor and the sea, than this book is perfect for you. It has 50 different whimsical illustrations for you to try.

Every project is small, so you can learn to watercolor in bite-sized pieces. ย This is a great book for beginners.

Some of the things you’ll be painting are: jellyfish, whale, sea turtles, sand dollar, crab, sea otter, a treasure chest, and even an old ship.

Dana Fox also wrote and illustrated another book called Watercolor With Me Into the Forest. ย You can find it here.

Cozy Books #23 Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver

This wonderful books has 200 poems from 1963 to 2015, selected by Mary Oliver for inclusion in this book.

If you’re looking to start your day in an uplifting manner, than this book of poetry is a great way to start that journey.

Someone wrote that this book was a great reminder to be astonished at the beauty in the world.

Mary Oliver had a talent to write about the world through a different lens and let the reader go along on the magical journey.

This book will probably never leave your bedside table.

Hygge Books #24 What Can I Bring? Southern Food for Any Occasion by Elizabeth Heiskell 

If you love to go to gatherings, then this is the book for you. Exquisite photographs grace the pages of this wonderful book.

There are nine chapters that are each dedicated to an occasion where you will be encouraged to bring food. Every recipe is next to a photograph of the finished dish so you know how it should look.

Chapters like Sunday Brunch, Housewarming Party, and Garden Party are just some of the festivities the author features.

Sour cream coffee cake, roasted cashews with rosemary, and bacon jam are just some of the recipes that you’ll learn to make.

Cozy Books #25 Simply Living Well by Julia Watkins 

If you’re looking to simplify your life – this hygge book will help you get started on the path.

It’s a book for both the newbie and someone that’s been on the journey for awhile.

A beautiful resource full of recipes, tips on living sustainably, and you tour the author’s home and garden.  It gives you the encouragement you need to live the life of your dreams.

Hygge Books #26 The Women’s Heritage Sourcebook: Bringing Homesteading to Everyday Life 

If you’ve ever dreamed about creating your own homestead and don’t know where to start, this book will help get you started.

Learning how to live like our grandparent’s did is a worthwhile goal.

With 400 pages of recipes, DIY’s, preserving traditional foods, raising animals for food, and using herbs – it gives you approachable ways to create a richer life.

Hygge Books #27 The Little Book of Cottagecore: Traditional Skills for a Simpler Life 

If you’re longing to return to a simpler life, this book will help you start a path to simplicity. It gives you step-by-step instructions on baking from scratch and gardening.ย 

Hygge Books #28 A Book That Takes Its Time: An Unhurried Adventure in Creative Mindfulness

This book is a treasure trove of ย small creative projects designed to help you relax. It will help boost your creativity and see life in a different light. ย 

If you click on the link to Amazon, there are videos of people opening the book to show you how amazing it is.  

Hygge Books #29 The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a mortgage, and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering, and eating locally (all on $40 a week) 

The author wrote this memoir in 2011 – but it’s still one of my favorite books. It’s about a woman who was a writer that had it all and lost it all by a twist of fate. ย 

Robin Mather lost her husband and prestigious job back-to-back. She had to give up her home and move to a tiny cottage on a lake that they had a vacation home with her bird and dog. ย 

The tiny cottage was located in a vacation area that had harsh winter conditions. She built her life back up with her determination and grit. ย 

Her small weekly budget for food of $40 didn’t stop Robin from eating quality food. You can also try some of the recipes she made. ย 

This book is definitely worth the read.  

Hygge Books #30 Deep Run Roots:  Stories and Recipes from the South

I saw this cookbook in a bookstore, and it’s enormous! I’m pretty much obsessed with this fantastic cookbook. ย 

This cookbook is a work-of-art. ย It’s part memoir, part recipes, and part history. You won’t be able to put it down. ย 

Hygge Books #31 Crafting with Cat Hair: Cut Handicrafts to Make with Your Cat 

I laughed out loud when I saw this craft ideas book on the shelf.  

Cat lovers rejoice that you can finally make use of your best friend’s hair. It would make an excellent gift for friends that love their cats as much as you do. ย 

Cozy Books #32 Living Large in Our Little House: Thriving in a 480-Square Feet with Six Dogs, a Husband, and One Remote

If you’re looking to downsize and live a simple life, you have found a source of inspiration.  

The author shares the challenges they faced, along with the triumphs.  

Hygge Books #33 The Hands-On Home: A Seasonal Guide to Cooking, Preserving, & Natural Homekeeping

I followed Erica’s blog for years when I lived in the Seattle area. She wrote about creating a Pacific northwest edible garden. ย 

If getting down the basics is one of your goals, look at this book for ideas.  

Hygge Books #34 Simple & Natural Soapmaking: Create 100% Pure and Beautiful Soaps with The Nerdy Wife’s Easy Recipes and Techniques

Herbalist Jan Berry will show you step-by-step how to make botanical soaps at home. She talks about both cold-process soaps and hot-process soap making. ย 

Hygge Books #35 Country Living Mini Makeovers: Easy Ways to Transform Every Room 

If you want to change your home decor but find the process overwhelming – here’s a simple guide to give you ideas on how to transform every room with little cost.  

Hygge Book #36 French Country Cottage Inspired Gatherings 

If you’re looking to create gatherings that would take your breath away, this is a beautiful book for giving your the ideas to do so.  

Hygge Books #37 Making a Life:  Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You are Meant to Live 

If making things with your hands is something you long to do more of, this book will encourage you to jump in and get started. 

Go on a journey with the author as she interviews crafters that talk about their lives and passions that will inspire you to make crafting a priority.  

Cozy Books #38 The Dirty Life 

What happens when a New York City writer interviews a dynamic young farmer who lives on 500 acres?  A life change that she didn’t see coming.  

If you’ve dreamed about living on a farm, you’re not going to want to miss this memoir.  

Hygge Books #39 The Botanist’s Stickers 

If you’re looking for gorgeous stickers to decorate your stationery or journal, this book might be what you’re looking for to add flair to your paper.  

Cozy Books #40 Big Magic

If you’re looking for ideas on how to add joy to your days, this book by Elizabeth Gilbert will help you get started. The author of Eat, Pray, Love offers inspiration to finally chasing your dreams.

Hygge Books #41 A Woman’s Garden: Grow Beautiful Plants and Make Useful Things

Making the most out of your garden was never easier with the suggestions outlined. The author features other women and their gardens with DIY projects.

When you’re ready to put down a book and play a game, why not do it in hygge-style?

Weโ€™ve reached the end of Best Hygge Books to Inspire a Cozy Life.  I hope you found a new book that stirs your soul.

These books will help you embrace your life and look forward to creating new memories to last a lifetime.

Let me know in the comments below how you liked the Best Books on Hygge to Inspire a Cozy Life post and your favorite hygge book.

Don’t forget to join the Creating a Cozy Life group.ย Youโ€™re not going to believe how amazing it is!

Please pin this hygge books post below on your hygge board on Pinterest to refer back to it again. You can follow me here on PINTEREST.

Thanks for stopping by!

Related Hygge Books Posts: 

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7 Comments

  1. Confused myself a bit there. On the second book it said 2108, but I’m guessing it meant to say 2018?

  2. Hello…I’m really adapting and loving Hygee everything. I have read a couple of the books listed and just copied down 7 more titles. Off to the library I go to reserve some books. Once I check out the books at the library…..then Amazon is my next stop. Thank you for sharing such great reads.

  3. Pingback: The BEST Hygge Home Decor Ideas and Tips – news