The book of delights

Resource Information

The work The book of delights represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Grosse Pointe Public Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The book of delights

Statement of responsibility

Ross Gay

Creator

• Gay, Ross, 1974-

Contributor

• hoopla digital

Author

• Gay, Ross, 1974-

Subject

• Gay, Ross, 1974-
• Joy
• Life
• Electronic books

Language

eng

Summary

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. Among Gay's funny, poetic, philosophical delights: the way Botan Rice Candy wrappers melt in your mouth, the volunteer crossing guard with a pronounced tremor whom he imagines as a kind of boat-woman escorting pedestrians across the River Styx, a friend's unabashed use of air quotes, pickup basketball games, the silent nod of acknowledgment between black people. And more than any other subject, Gay celebrates the beauty of the natural world-his garden, the flowers in the sidewalk, the birds, the bees, the mushrooms, the trees. This is not a book of how-to or inspiration, though it could be read that way. Fans of Roxane Gay, Maggie Nelson, and Kiese Laymon will revel in Gay's voice, and his insights. The Book of Delights is about our connection to the world, to each other, and the rewards that come from a life closely observed. Gay's pieces serve as a powerful and necessary reminder that we can, and should, stake out a space in our lives for delight

Member of

• Essays., Selections

Cataloging source

Midwest

Dewey number

814/.6

Index

no index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

dictionaries

Target audience

adult