Book of Delights

by Ross Gay

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

As Heard on NPR's This American Life

"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 lyric 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 other subject, 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.

• ISBN13: 9781616207922
• Publish Date: 12 February 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Algonquin Books (division of Workman)
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Book of Delights is a well curated short essay collection on the nature of delight/joy by Ross Gay. Released in Feb 2019 by Algonquin, it's 288 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats, with a paperback due out 16th Aug. 2022.

The author began and ended the year's ruminations on life, joy, the realities of daily life, patterns in our daily routines (and the immediate joy of occasionally breaking them) on his birthday. It became a habit, an exercising, he says in the preface of a "delight radar", a muscle, and it's a treat. Much of the prose is luminous and on dreary days, gave me a small boost. It was a joy to read. I would recommend sampling essays rather than a cover to cover binge, but I admittedly did just that, thinking "just one more" until I had read it all. I've revisited the collection several times since that initial read, however, and the re-readability is very high.

This book is what the "Chicken Soup" books would've been in a much better, more intellectual world. There aren't any platitudes, no saccharine falseness, just an intelligent man's observations about the nature of the universe and our zany unpredictable place in it. It both is, and isn't, poetry. I've heard that authors expose their inner selves in their creative works, and if that's true - what a lovely person Dr. Gay must be.

This would make a superlative choice for public library acquisition, for gifting to discerning friends, and for the home library. There are books in most bibliophiles' libraries which come and go. I believe this one will be sticking around in mine, at least.

Five stars. Profound and intimately kind, philosophical and generous.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.