Hello friends, and welcome to the first video of 2023 here on The Ritual of Reading. I often find that January is a strange time for many of us. The holidays take the excitement levels so high, we are at…
Scandinavian Advent Calendar Day 24 Welcome to Christmas in the heart of Copenhagen, dear friends. Before you lies Tivoli Gardens dressed in its finest party attire, transformed into something that exists halfway between dream and reality—a place where the boundary…
Scandinavian Advent Calendar Day 23 We’ve nearly reached the end of our Advent journey together, dear friends, and so I’ve saved one of the most endearing Scandinavian Christmas traditions for these final days. The quintessential Christmas dessert throughout Denmark, Sweden,…
It’s been a while since I last read drama, but I couldn’t let my Scandinavian Advent Calendar finish without diving into the work of Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen. A major figure of universal drama writing, and one of the most…
Scandinavian Advent Calendar Day 21 Hello, dear friends! Today is December 21st—the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, when darkness reaches its fullest expression before beginning its slow retreat toward spring. Up north in the lands of the…
Scandinavian Advent Calendar Day 20 Light or darkness—do you value them equally? Are you drawn to the ethereal strangeness of the midnight sun, that disorienting season when day refuses to end? Or does your soul lean toward the polar night,…
Hello my friends ! And welcome to day 19 of our Scandinavian Advent Calendar ! Dreaming of a fish menu for this year’s festive meal, I went in the direction of Finland for this traditional salmon soup. Lohikeitto is prepared…
Scandinavian Advent Calendar Day 18 What constitutes a feast? How much abundance crosses into excess, and is there such a thing as indecent indulgence in fine food? These questions resist easy answers, yet they circle around an idea I hold…
Scandinavian Advent Calendar Day 17 Hello, dear friends! We’ve arrived at day seventeen of our Advent Calendar, and by my reckoning, it’s time to address the Christmas tree. I don’t typically decorate this early—blame my little predator, who views every…
Welcome to 12th century Sweden. A goblet of ale in you hand and a warm cloak on your back, you are ready for the adventure that is Jan Guillou’s novel “The Road to Jerusalem”. The first book in his Crusades…
