Ross gay the book of delights

Among Gay's funny, poetic, philosophical delights: a friend's unabashed use of air quotes, cradling a tomato seedling aboard an aeroplane, the silent nod of acknowledgement between the only two black people in a room. In The Book of Delights 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. 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.

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. As Heard on NPR’s This American Life: The New York Times bestselling book that celebrates ordinary delights in the world around us by one of America’s most original and observant writers and the author of Inciting Joy, award-winning poet Ross Gay.

Named a best reviewed book of by Lit Hub. Named one of five books every high schooler should read by the School Library Journal. From the Publisher: 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. 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.

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In The Book of Delights 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. 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.

Smith, Pulitzer Prize winner and U. Savor one at a time every morning, this summer, or wolf them all down en masse on a gorgeous sunny day. It encourages the reader to slow down, take in each moment and find joy in the everyday. This is an entire book of such glimmers, in which Ross Gay notices tiny moments in life and nature, so that we too may delight in them. In a climate of serious thoughts about serious subjects, Ross Gay truly does delight, bringing more poetry than usual to an essay collection that challenges the conventions of the form.

A worthwhile break from the monotony of worldly worries, The Book of Delights reminds its readers to treat themselves to a bit of beauty. We all deserve it. This little book is a summer companion — it will make it summer no matter the season. He feels his losses but imbues them with gratitude; people here and gone remain his delights. There is, indeed, a great pleasure to be unearthed. His eye is so brilliant, it seems to glow from within.

When I need hope, I turn to his words. And this collection will remind you how beautiful it is to be alive. Ross Gay is a secular blessing, a possibility-expander; his work is a free box of realizable light. This is an illuminating and necessary meditation that unravels masculinity, race, tenderness, strength.

His liberated words open our minds and hearts to speak.

I am indebted to this book for reminding me, reminding us, that there is so much to celebrate in the world. It is not that we should ignore the moments that are painful, but that should we hold those small moments of joy alongside them. Reading The Book of Delights brings you right to our profound connection to the world and to each other.