The Book of Delights: Essays (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781616207922)

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.

Author: Ross Gay
ISBN-10: 1616207922
ISBN-13: 9781616207922
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Language: English
Published: 02/12/2019
Pages: 288
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.64lbs
Size: 7.20h x 5.20w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2019
Booklist 12/15/2018 pg. 80
Publishers Weekly 12/17/2018
Foreword 12/26/2018
Shelf Awareness 12/03/2019
BookPage 01/01/2019