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The Book of Delights: Essays Hardcover – February 12, 2019

by Ross Gay (Author)

4.4 1,803 ratings

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As Heard on NPR's This American Life: The New York Times bestselling book of essays celebrating ordinary delights in the world around us by one of America's most original and observant writers, award-winning poet Ross Gay. Pre-order The Book of (More) Delights now, too!

“Ross Gay’s eye lands upon wonder at every turn, bolstering my belief in the countless small miracles that surround us.” —Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winner and U.S. Poet Laureate

The winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry offers up a spirited collection of short lyrical essays, written daily over a tumultuous year, reminding us of the purpose and pleasure of praising, extolling, and celebrating ordinary wonders.

In The Book of Delights, one of today’s most original literary voices offers up a genre-defying volume of lyric essays written over one tumultuous year. The first nonfiction book from award-winning poet Ross Gay is a record of the small joys we often overlook in our busy lives. Among Gay’s funny, poetic, philosophical delights: a friend’s unabashed use of air quotes, cradling a tomato seedling aboard an airplane, the silent nod of acknowledgment between the only two black people in a room. But Gay never dismisses the complexities, even the terrors, of living in America as a black man or the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture or the loss of those he loves. More than anything else, though, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world–his garden, the flowers peeking out of the sidewalk, the hypnotic movements of a praying mantis.

The Book of Delights is about our shared bonds, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. These remarkable pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight.

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From the Publisher

The Joy and Delight Library from New York Times Bestelling Author Ross Gay


	Inciting Joy	The Book of (More) Delights

Customer Reviews	187	44
Price	$19.30	$18.60
Also by Ross Gay	“Brilliant.” —Ada Limón, U.S. poet laureate	A fresh new volume of lyrical mini-essays, available September 2023

Editorial Reviews

Review

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

As Heard on NPR's This American Life

“The delights he extols here (music, laughter, generosity, poetry, lots of nature) are bulwarks against casual cruelties. As such they feel purposeful and imperative as well as contagious in their joy.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“These charming, digressive ‘essayettes,’ in the manner of Montaigne, surprise and challenge . . . Gay, an award-winning poet, knows the value of formal constraint: his experiences of ‘delight,’ recorded daily for a year, vary widely but yield revealing patterns through insights about everything from nature and the body to race and masculinity. The fruits of this experiment—for which gardens and gardening provide a frequent, apt metaphor—attest to an imagination cultivated in hostile conditions. Gay’s optimism is as easy as it is improbable, his ‘heart cooing like a pigeon nestled on a windowsill where the spikes rusted off.’”
—The New Yorker

"What emerges is not a ledger of delights passively logged but a radiant lens actively searching for and magnifying them, not just with the mind but with the body as an instrument of wonder-stricken presence.”
—Brain Pickings, Favorite Books of 2019

“Ross Gay’s poems are little celebrations of joy, and this book of mini-essays—each centering around a particular 'delight,’ from sleeping in your clothes to planting tomato seedlings to the nod of greeting between the only two black people in a room—is a pure balm for your soul. Savor one at a time every morning, this summer, or wolf them all down en masse on a gorgeous sunny day.”
—Celeste Ng for GoodMorningAmerica.com

"Delightfully snackable . . . Pick it up, read for ten minutes (start anywhere, really), put it down, and you’ll find that the delights of Gay’s world illuminate the delights of yours, that his wonder is contagious and has caused you to deepen your own."
—GQ

“The shock of Gay’s writing . . . is his seamless shift from breezy, affable observation to sober (and admittedly still affable) profundity . . . I want to say that Gay’s writing is magical because that’s the way it feels when I read it. But . . . calling it magic undercuts Gay’s craft, the effort that goes into producing literature that feels as fluent and familiar as a chat with a close friend. His voice has integrity, in both senses of the word: a completeness or consistency, true to itself; and an honesty and compassion so frankly subjective that it produces an incorruptible vision. Gay’s loose-limbed sentences diagram his delight, partaking in numerous asides—some as paragraph-long parentheticals—and equally numerous asides within asides, as well as nested subordinate clauses that are the purview of intimate conversation, not written prose. They are clauses and asides in which, as Gay writes them, you feel his hand on your arm, you feel him lean in toward you, conspiratorially or simply to emphasize his meaning.”
—The New York Review of Books

“Everyone could use a bit more delight in their days . . . Gay, who is the winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry, is here to provide just that, with essays celebrating everything from air quotes to candy wrappers to pickup basketball games.”
—New York Post

“The Book of Delights is both practice and perfection in an unassuming package . . . These pieces reflect and examine the natural world, masculinity, racism, and other topics with vibrancy. Most essays are a few paragraphs, a page or two at maximum, but it’s not the width or length of the pieces that ultimately grabbed my attention. It was the heart and intelligence found within his daily introspections.”
—The Rumpus

"A reminder of what the personal essay is best at: finding the profound in the mundane . . . his delight is infectious. It’s hard to read Gay and not to be won over.”
—Seattle Times

“This collection proves is that delight is infectious and demands to be shared, and, most importantly, ‘our delight grows as we share it.’
—Washington Independent Review of Books

“It's the perfect read to inspire observing your corner of the world with a little more care and delight.”
—NPR.org

“Sweet, powerful, funny, honest, moving. Gay has a new book on the way, too; I can’t wait for it.”
—Orange County Register

About the Author

In addition to The Book of Delights: Essays, Ross Gay is the author of three books of poetry, including Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Catalog was also a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Poetry, the Ohioana Book Award, the Balcones Poetry Prize, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call It Ballin’ and founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a nonprofit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. Gay has received fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Indiana University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Algonquin Books; First Edition (February 12, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1616207922
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1616207922
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 7.33 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #9,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14 in Essays (Books)
- #47 in Black & African American Biographies
- #383 in Memoirs (Books)

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4.4 1,803 ratings

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Ross Gay

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Ross Gay is the author of The Book of Delights, a genre-defying book of essays, and three books of poetry: Against Which, Bringing the Shovel Down, and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. He is also the co-author, with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of the chapbook "Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens," in addition to being co-author, with Richard Wehrenberg, Jr., of the chapbook, "River." He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin', in addition to being an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press. Ross is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Ross teaches at Indiana University.

Author website: http://www.rossgay.net

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Jenni C.

Love really is all around.

Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023

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I could not have picked a more delightful book (pun-intended) to read during such a difficult time. Ross Gay’s ability to find something of beauty and goodness every single day is beyond inspiring. In a world full of darkness, this book is a beacon of light. The preface alone made me fall in love with the book immediately. I just think his idea for this book, to hand-write about something positive every day is so impressive. His ability to turn the most simplistic of delights into wonderful, rich imagery is astounding. Because Gay is a poet, his prose continues with that poetic feel. His essays seem like longer poems with more elaboration and detail. I love how intimate this book felt as well. It was almost like you could tell all of these essays were hand-written, as there was a very journalistic vibe going on. It was very personal and intense look into the mind of a stranger. Another uplifting factor of this book was how nothing that Gay described was extremely significant. There were no accounts of crazy miracles, or unbelievable luck. Instead, Gay focused on finding the positives in the ordinary things that have been a part of his life for days, weeks, months, or even years. These ordinary things had significance because Gay chose to give them significance through his writing. This book has really opened my eyes to how much there is to be grateful for, and how if you really look for it, love IS all around.

5 people found this helpful

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Dario

Ross Gay is a national treasure

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2024

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I bought this slim volume for my wife for Christmas, 2023. She sets a personal context for herself every year on New Year's Day, and 2024's context is delight. Mr. Gay was already a favorite poet of ours, so this was a no-brainer. She was and is delighted with his "essayettes," informing and inspiring her first few days into this year's context for her life. Keep your eye on this poet, essayist, and marvelous all-around author. Already an award winner, a Pulitzer and more are almost inevitable in his future.

2 people found this helpful

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BJO

Delightful

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2021

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This is a fun and thoughtful little book. Even though the essays seem spontaneous, I'm certain that the author edited and curated the selection. He supposedly wrote one short essay each day for a year but there are only about 100 essays in the book, so he left most of the year's essays out. I'm enjoying his white-bashing moments (even though I'm white) and small triumphs as they are gentle and seem well intentioned.

7 people found this helpful

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science reader

poetic and profound

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2019

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I feel I have found a kindred spirit in the protagonist of this volume. I myself keep a diary of delights in which I tally mine and also attempt to justify a life devoted to delight, “Delight soothes sadness, calms fear, assuages anger, lessens the tenure of horror, compensates loss, ameliorates humiliation, kindles hope, inspires love of life, fulfills a day’s experience. What shall we do today? What we did yesterday: create delightful homes, tend their gardens, cook delightful food, delight in friends, in family, and in language.”

In his book, Gay delights also in nature, which should be in the list, for sure.

So, from my perspective, Ross Gay’s book is profound. It is also poetic, in keeping with its subject. Gay doesn’t have to record that he is delighting in the language he uses. It’s manifest.

This is the second book I have begun to reread as soon as I finished it. The other was Garrison Keillor’s Homegrown Democrat, another delight.

A reader who cultivates delight may learn from this book that delight may be defiantly employed as a poke in the eye of racism, for instance, in Gay’s case. Or, if the president of the beautiful country in which you reside is an anhedonic (David Brooks’ word) teetotaler, defiantly lift your glass of first-rate pinot noir a little higher and taste with deep attention. You’ll feel better. In the rural setting where I grew up in the middle of the last century, delight was a bulwark against poverty, not an even match but often sufficient. About fabulous farm food my dad crowed, “Now that’s what I call eating!” He was delighted by it.

I learned from Ross Gay that delight may be compounded by sharing. Thanks.

76 people found this helpful

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Ali

This book will change the way you look, and smile, at the world.

Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024

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We all need more of this -- to notice, celebrate, and share the simple delights of life. I will be reading this book again...and again. It feels like medicine for the soul.

One person found this helpful

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susan schneider

Delights are individual but good to be shared

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023

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I was delighted by the authors openess and delight in his delight while some of his delights would not be my delight. It was a wonderful project and calls me to idetify some of mt own.

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Eddie Merkel

To have eyes like this!

Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2022

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Now that I have read this book, I am trying to recall how or where I came to know about it and what prompted me to read it in the first place. I care only because I would like to thank them. I love this book.

Gay's style here is not what you might expect. So many of his "essayettes" read like he was stream-of-conscious, journaling his delight of the day and doing very little revision. But, just listening to his voice and seeing the pictures he paints about the delights he wants to share is captivating.

Before I read anything about the author, it was apparent he was a poet. His words and thoughts sometimes seem to ebb and flow across the page. But they always get tied up in a beautiful bow at the end. In addition to how he writes, another clue to his poetic leaning is his power of observation. I suppose that if you are looking for a different delight every day, life being what it is and what it has been for all of us these past few years, some days you REALLY have to look hard. But he makes it seem effortless, and as you read, you realize that he appears to be surrounded by delight. I would love to cultivate vision and sensitivity like that.

Some reviewers seem to have been put off by the author's oversharing. I just feel he is being as honest about how he puts on coconut oil as he is about pulling weeds in his garden. To me, this makes him more believable and makes the act of finding delight more attainable for the rest of us.

The more I read, the more I loved Ross Gay and this book. I was less than halfway through before I bought copies of the book and sent them to my 3 kids and a friend. I also bought one for myself. I try and check books out at the library and only purchase what I know I will want to read again. This one will be on my reading table for a long time.

34 people found this helpful

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Brie

Like a hug

Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2021

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A beautiful compilation that made me smile and melt into sleep many nights. My favorite thing to pick up and start reading in the middle. Also a wonderful book to share and read aloud. Sharing in more delight. Thank you to Ross Gay for this beautifully collected set of stories and thoughts.

One person found this helpful

Senthil Arasu

One of the worst books ..cant even continue few pages....so dumb

Reviewed in India on June 27, 2023

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One of the worst books ..cant even continue few pages....so dumb..there is no such thing called delight

Landgirl

Nothing twee about these delights

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2021

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If a friend had not sent me this book, I might well have overlooked it. I didnt want to be shivvied into a better mood with some light hearted look at the world. This is so much more substantive than that. I read it once and then again and then ordered his book of poetry. I began my own little collection of delights. Read it. I gurantee you'll be --delighted.

3 people found this helpful

Saskia Voss

Love this book

Reviewed in Germany on July 1, 2019

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Be inspired to write a delight book

Alice May

Depressing book

Reviewed in Australia on January 31, 2021

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It was not a book of delights but a diary of the author's daily encounters with people he knew. No reflections on these people. Most of then crude remarks about comments of his daily activities. A book of delights should have been what could have been a pleasant reflection of what joys he found in his encounters with a person he had just met. Or say a piece of joy he discovered around the next corner. There was no delight in his book. I threw it in the bin after being a quarter of the way through..

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