The Book of Delights

Written by Ross Gay

Narrated by Ross Gay

The winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry offers up a spirited collection of short lyric essays, written daily over a tumultuous year, reminding us of the purpose and pleasure of praising, extolling, and celebrating ordinary wonders. Ross Gay's The Book of Delights is a genre-defying book of essays- some as short as a paragraph; some as long as five pages-that record the small joys that occurred in one year, from birthday to birthday, and that we often overlook in our busy lives. His is a meditation on delight that takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities, even the terrors, in his life, including living in America as a black man; the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture; the loss of those he loves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980013068

Ross Gay

Ross Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Delights and four books of poetry. His Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. Gay has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Indiana University.

Reviews for The Book of Delights

[Yam Castrejon · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

El mejor libro que he leído en un par de años, es a riesgo de sonar redundante "una delicia" y me encanta como alguien que ha sufrido pueda encontrar el humor y la cosas bellas de la vida.

Muchas veces este libro me hizo reírme en la calle y que todos voltearan a verme, eso por si mismo me parece "una delicia"

[zizi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I keep coming back to this profoundly uplifting collection. Love the author’s reading as well.

[amy mcmullen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

it contains just what is promised; pure delight, in many forms, and all while keeping us focused on justice and interconnected-ness, which should be a word. might even be a delight.

[Ann Boyd · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such delightful short essays and I loved having the author read it aloud.

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Easy-reading, positive essays.

[pepperwings · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed some of these stories, and was a bit bored by others, it took a long time for me to get through it--which is partly on me, I have a hard time with collections of short stories or essays.

[froxgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this meandering, almost daily journal of the author's found aspects of happiness in his daily life. Most involve interactions with people and plants. Reading it made me appreciate the chorus of birdsong outside my window every morning and night. Identifying joy can only be helpful in the quest for a good life.

[librolindsay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

That was such a lovely read I listened to it twice in a row. It truly is a delight. It's sweet and funny (lots of maniacal giggling happening over here) and sometimes crude lest you think it's going to be too saccharine, which just makes it even better.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Ross Gay set out to write an essay-ette every day for a year, chronicling all the small delights that he encounters in his regular and ordinary life. From nicknames to bumble bees to peeing his pants (a weird delight to be sure, more of a confession) to travelling on planes and encountering babies. Ross Gay can find delight in the most mundane or bizarre things. Sometimes the delight stems from a fear or an uncertainty. Lyrical, comical, and profound - this little book of essays is not what I pictured it to be, but still a delight to be sure.

[ansate · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I know, it's a lukewarm star rating, but I do recommend it? It's a weird book of essayettes, two and three page musings on delight, over the course of a year. It's a sweet read but not a compelling one - my library copy expired twice! I'm told the audiobook is especially delightful, and I recommend that for anyone going on a long drive - the not-compellingness of it will make it easier to start and stop, but every few minutes you get a good smile.

[andreas6wpv · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

How famous does one have to be to be able to sell everyday ramblings and mini essays as 'delights'?

I read about 1/3 of the book, really trying to understand, connect, see the special, but failed. Very nicely bound book, with really nice dust jacket, but very disappointing content.

[nmele_4 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Reading these short essays, or essayettes, about what delights Ross Gay delighted me. Humorous, humane, observant and often thought provoking, these pieces are so good I ran out and bought copies to give to friends. Read them yourself!

[nancyadair-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Communication is often fraught with misunderstanding. Sometimes it is disastrous, and sometimes hilarious. Ross Gay relates the story of going through an airport security check and chatting with the man patting him down. “I told him I was going to read poems in Syracuse,” Ross writes, noting the quizzical look on the man’s face. The man said his mother took him to have his poems read once. “I never believed in it myself,” the man concluded. As Gay left he heard the man tell a coworker, “that guy’s being flown to Syracuse to read palms!”

What a delight to read. It lifted my spirits.

Ross Gay committed to writing an essay a day, a book of delights about the day’s experiences, the people he encountered, the insights he gleaned. The loveliness of getting a high-five from a stranger, a waitress who puts her hand on his shoulder. Mistaking a man on a plane for his late great-uncle. The joy and terror of being a parent. The brevity of life. The pleasure of remembering one’s dreams. The awareness that each of us lives with some profound sorrow, yet that is also a kind of joy.

The biracial Gay grew up in Levittown, PA, a planned, segregated, community. (For three years in the early 70s I lived up the pike from that community and had visited its homes.) Some days relate darker stories of racism.

He talks about music and how a song can transport you back in time. (His song was by DeBarge, a group I was not familiar with, but discovered the mother of the group was from Royal Oak, MI, where I lived during my teenage years! That was a delight.)

The best way to read this book is day by day, allowing you to enjoy each essay.

The book is now available in paperback .

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley.

[davidabrams · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read one delight a day. Maybe sometimes two, if I felt I was getting "behind" in my "schedule." (But that's one of the by-products of this, yes, delightful book: Slow down, taste, and savor.) Not all the delights hit their mark and the occasional run-on sentence could do with some editorial lasso-ing, but when Gay's delights land and stick, they burrow deep.

[lycomayflower · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Poet Ross Gay set himself a project of writing an essay each day for a year about a delight he had experienced that day. The Book of Delights is a collection of some of those essays. And it is just wonderful. The topics range from simple pleasures to heavy subjects, but there truly is always delight in each one. Listening to Gay read the book was a joy, and I suspect I will both listen to this again and find myself a hard copy for flipping through and rereading. Recommended.

[bell7_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

On his forty-second birthday, poet Ross Gay decided to write essayettes about things that delighted him. He made a few "rules" for himself: to write every day (or almost), and write it longhand, for one year. The result is this book.

As one might expect, such a book ranges far and wide through Gay's observations and stream of consciousness style of writing. In the midst of delight are also some serious observations about race, how time has become a commodity, and the challenges his parents had when they married, a Black man and a white woman. There are also moments of joy with friends, loving the quirkiness of living, and working in his garden. I enjoyed reading this so much that I reached that almost painful place of wanting to keep reading but also wanting to slow down, pause, and draw out the experience just a little longer. His style of writing meant that while I loved some sentences and observations on their own, it depended so much on the phrase or sentence before and after that I couldn't pick out just one sentence (or handful) to write or quote - I would've just rewritten the whole mini essay. They're each only a paragraph to a few pages long at the most, so it's easy to sit down and just read a few at a time, fitting it in during lunch breaks or reading just a bit before bed. It's inspired me to notice what delights me as well - not least of which is this book.

[bemislibrary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

People going through the buffet in the wrong direction, tomfoolery, airline safety instructions, plastic toys are just a few of the two to four-page rambling thoughts of the one hundred and two put forth by author Ross Gay. Although possible, this is not a book to read cover to cover. The format is suited for when time is short and yet a reading break is needed. One can use the table of contents to pick topics or pragmatically work beginning to end.

[billiebook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really needed this right now. I am grateful to Ross Gay for embarking upon a project to record one delight every day for a year and then finding a way to share those delights with all of us. Thank you, Mr. Gay, for being a light. The world needs you and people like you very much right now.