Hygge? Lykke? Lagom? Huh? The Language Of Life Advice

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET LEARNED THE DEFINITION OF HYGGE, don’t sweat—the world will have moved on twice before you do.

- Lucy Feldman

Thanks to concepts like hygge, lykke and lagom, bookstore browsing has become an exercise in translation, with more and more covers boasting foreign catchphrases as prescriptions for a new and happier lifestyle.

Following the outsize success of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Japanese author Marie Kondo’s decluttering book that has sold 8 million copies worldwide, publishers are scouring the globe for similar hits. Drawing material from the Nordic countries, there’s a host of titles on hygge (the art of cozy living), lagom (the pursuit of balance) and now lykke (joy) as well as an end-of-life tidying manifesto on dostadning, or “death cleaning.” Publishers are chasing their tails for repeat Kondo performances in an industry that is rarely able to predict hits, but readers seem happy to buy in for now.