The Book of (More) Delights: Essays | 
pickRoss Gay took a year to chronicle the small joys in his life, and it is, well, delightful. While he doesn‘t shy away from those things in this world that are definitely not good, among those he finds countless delights that made me smile and laugh and look for the good around me. He narrates the audio, and his narration makes it even better.
pick#Read2025
Finished earlier in the week. Sometimes the soul needs a little Ross Gay poem or essay to ground it again. 💛🧡💚
The first Saturday #Chatterday of the month means the local makers market by my house where I spent a while this morning spending money supporting local artists. (BTW you know you have become a vendor regular when she tells you to pick out 3 more cards, free, for the “Deb Discount” 😆) Maybe I‘ll share my haul, later.
Now I‘m at the coffee shop relaxing from the week & self-soothing with my new magazines & a little Ross Gay balm for the soul. 💛
pickWhile these further delights did not move me quite as much as Gay's first collection, I am still so enamored of them. As the author settles further into this project (the daily chronicling of a delight in his life), the delights seem to come not in spite of or even in tandem with disappointments but it is almost as though they are in communication with each other (a dance, if I want to be poetic). As with all things, light and shadow.
pickA marvelous mindset, a beautiful writer. Not having picked up The Book of Delights, or, tragically, any other works by this author, I was a little leery of how fluffy this might turn out to be, but there's very much a balance shown in observing the world as it is, and taking delight both because of and despite this. 1/?
pickGreat book to listen to while walking the dog, riding a bike, or mowing the lawn. This one has a slightly rougher edge than the first one. Gay even says that it is sort of a book of “despites”. Well worth the time.
pickAnother lovely essay collection from Ross Gay. Makes the perfect audiobook with Ross narrating. 🌻 🌿
From left to right
Row 1: It has given me such pleasure to watch my little hummingbirds feed.My son all dress up on his last day of his internship.Fun with following clouds.
Row 2: met with my sister who is recovering from a knee replacement for coffee at a local coffee shop staffed by people with disabilities.Last night met a close HS friend for Happy Hour.Today I visited my former student teaching supervisor,mentor, & family friend.
I‘m listening to this every so often and really enjoying it. I just finished listening to his comments about Weebles toys. And I heard the theme song in my head so clearly. “Weebles wobble but they don‘t fall down.” Indeed.
pickThis past year, I have been reminded of the joy that can be found in small, seemingly inconsequential, daily delights. Life gave me a wake up call, so to speak, and I appreciate more than ever the joy in simple things like walks, a cup of coffee on my patio, my tomato plants, and lightening bugs. This book of essays was a pleasure to read and spoke to me of the importance of being mindful and purposeful about recognizing the random, simple joys.
pick📖The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
A breathe of fresh air, and rather…delightful. I enjoyed his daily “insights” and seeing his world during the year he wrote his essays. Book #31 in 2024
pick#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
1️⃣ Fave Female Character: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Because: a letter received today from a friend thanked me for sending her a copy - I knew she would appreciate ❤️ OK is rough at the edges with a heart of gold.
2️⃣ Going with narrator of tagged-in-comments because he was an idealist
3️⃣ Ross Gay might have been my choice for Fave Male Character since his words have fed my 🧠 DELIGHTFUL
#BookSpin #DoubleSpin #BookSpinBingo Feb2024
I am freakin‘ delighted with the mind of Ross Gay and very delighted by how many books he has released to the wild.
In essay #21 “(Foot- End- Etc.) Notes”: “I love few things as much as I love a weird book.” So I tbr‘d Katherine McKittrick‘s DEAR SCIENCE AND OTHER STORIES. He also references Diaz‘ Oscar Wao, “where the author pokes his head through the curtains of the novel” 😃 I thought that novel a wonder. DELIGHTS!
Day 1 New Year
Rouge and Wellness for #LitsyToB24
The Bee 🐝 Sting for #ToB2024
The Book of (More) Delights for me 😊
Litfluence 37k, Happy New Year! Happy Reading 📚
pickJust delightful! And now starting volume 2, tho maybe Inciting Joy was in between? Anyway, I will read that third.
Prof Ross Gay has such wonderful joie de vivre and his writing puts me in a good mood. I keep writing letters to him in my head - maybe one day, I will put pen to paper. 📝📬
Pic selection random from Gallery; Eggnog Pie with Fig #CaresPieShow
pickGet in, loser, we‘re getting delighted! In this second collection of micro essays on what delights poet Ross Gay in a day, you‘ll find all the hope and humor, the awkward and the oddness of being human, touched on here with such a grand tenderness that you can‘t help but leave a little more open-hearted to the world lying in wait, ready to delight you, all around.
pickThis was a book club pick and I found this authors writing to be beautiful and eloquent even when his daily delight seems not so delightful. A very thought provoking collection of essays.
This is Esther, hiding in the guest room, putting up with me placing books on her and taking photos.
This book is a delight! And a much appreciated antidote to the grief and heartache of world, national, local news.
pickLast year, I started using a 5 year journal, and noticed how it did make me happier. This is somewhat like that, and the essays are informal and loose. There‘s a lot to like in the book, and I think I liked the idea of a book of delights more than the essays. Good book, nonetheless.
pickHis first book of delights didn‘t work well for me in print, but I LOVED the concept. Audio was definitely the way to go for me, and I enjoyed the heck out of his second one!
Gay writes short essays of reflection each day for a year. The best are polished a bit by his editor. I love the window into his life. Some highs (fun trip to Vermont, sharing food with friends), some lows (his Nana‘s death), but all are captured with his poet‘s eye.
pickBook #20 of the year: “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay
I recommend this book for two main reasons: most importantly, it‘s about Black joy and Black joy matters so much. Second, it inspired me to be even more joyful and look for delight in new and unexpected places.
pickBook #20 of the year: “The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay
I recommend this book for two main reasons: most importantly, it‘s about Black joy and Black joy matters so much. Second, it inspired me to be even more joyful and look for delight in new and unexpected places.
Began my #titlesandtunes choice today and even the preface was a delight because the author wrote an essay about one delight each day beginning on his bday August 1!! Delightful! Pairing with a classic Louis Armstrong that also celebrates everyday delight. #theworldismyoyster
pickI‘ve been reading this one slowly, just an essay or 2 a day, for months. It‘s perfect in small bites. The author‘s poetic musings on small things that delight him make his joy infectious. He doesn‘t shy away from hard topics, like the racism he‘s experienced, but he is equally effusive about gardening or a song.
“There‘s an entomological connection between thinking & thanking.”
“The laughing snort: among the most emphatic evidences of delight.”
pickThis book was an absolute delight. Even when a day was really long, I would read a few journal entries before bed to give myself a little joy. He waxes eloquent on many things: bees, drinking tea, feeding birds, etc. Highly recommend to all.
March #doublespin @thearomaofbooks
pickI loved this book. The essays are lyrical, lovely, warm, funny, poetic, free form, beautiful, touching, surprising, yes, delightful, and I feel better for having read them. Although I read them straight through, you can pop into any essay and continue at random and not miss anything. It might be another delight to reread them that way. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickI loved this so much - almost brought me to tears in the first essay! The sweetest concept, the writing is lovely, the writer seems equally so (first time reading him for me). I love his humor and playfulness and how he doesn‘t shy away from dark and hard topics alongside his delights. It was just the most perfect last read of the year. Happy New Year, all! ❤️
pick"Uplifting" books are hit-and-miss with me: sometimes they're too sweet to stomach and make me miserable. This isn't all sunshine and lollipops, though. For one thing, RG's delights are celebrated in the face of systemic racism. He has a boundless capacity for being genuinely delighted by the little daily things. It's a book that piques a renewed appetite for life, regardless of all the deep shit and buttock-quaking chaos we're currently mired in.
1. The Book of Delights; Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin
#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain
Today's delight is reading this and watching my pup with his chewy stick 😊
I managed to read 13 books in January (a lot for me). Which isn't surprising I guess since January was 200 days long. 😑
There are no duds here! But After Leaving Mr MacKenzie & Goodbye Without Leaving were probably the highlights. Edited to add I just noticed both my faves have Leaving in the title. My unconscious talking perhaps. 🤔😜
Yay for February!
pickThis log of the author‘s daily delights recorded from one birthday to the next was, as promised, delightful! Read my full review here: https://debbybrauer.org/#the-book-of-delights
This was my July #bookspin which I #audiobooked. Read by the author, who is first and foremost a poet, the book was a perfect...delight. The concept is that the author wrote daily essays for one year about something that delighted him. Brilliantly executed, the essays are curated for publication here. Introspective, irreverent, kind, funny, thoughtful, thought-provoking. July held challenges for me and this book was good for my mental health.
pickAre you ever struck right in the soul by words on a page? These “delights”, which often dive deep into tangents (a delight for me!), are not the obvious delights of a day at the beach or the smell of a flower (though some are!). Sometimes the delights are actually the opposite of delightful but somehow the magnificent Ross Gay navigates a 180 manages a path for hope out of despair. This book inspires me. I want to notice and record the delights⬇️
pickI liked this collection of essays from the start, but somewhere midway I fell head over heels in love. It‘s like he invites us along as he trains his heart and sharpens his eyes to see the ever present delight around him every day. Gay‘s playfulness with language is just marvelous and makes his work so surprising and enjoyable to read. I‘m looking forward to checking out his other books.
so-soThis collection of essays starts and ends with the author‘s birthday over a year. Gay decides to find delights in the daily, mundane, routine life and this is his collection of ‘more than a hundred ‘essayettes‘. I enjoyed a few of the essays but not the overall anthology. I am sure others might enjoy but this was a so-so for me.
pickSome of Ross Gay‘s delights made me delight. Others made me cringe. Some made me sad. And still others made me think.
pickRoss Gay writes this collection of musings about everyday delights occurring in his life with humour, insight, and gentleness. I love that he regularly turns the reader‘s attention toward our joint humanity, and operates from the vantage point of presuming the best of others. Reading this was such a breath of fresh air. Highly recommend
