The Book of Delights

“What I love most about these delights is how Ross Gay is able to use as little language as possible to populate a world where his memories are your memories, intertwined, reaching out of the pages. There is, indeed, a great pleasure to be unearthed.”

— HANIF ABDURRAQIH, author of They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us

“The Book of Delights is a joy explosion . . . There is no other book on the planet I’d rather read right now, no other writing that can make me believe in the future—and us—again.”

—LIDIA YUKNAVITCH, author of The Misfit’s Manifesto

“Ross Gay is a writer perfectly suited to find delight. 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.”

—LUIS ALBERTO URREA, bestselling author of The House of Broken Angels

“The most beautiful thing about this book is the way it insists that delight is serious business, and that love can be our teacher, and that if we pay strict and openhearted attention we can learn. Ross Gay is a secular blessing, a possibility-expander; his work is a free box of realizable light.”

—PAM HOUSTON, author of Contents May Have Shifted

“Ross Gay is back to remind us, in a voice raspily festooned with bank shots and flowers and candy and garlands of diamond-sharp sanctities, that delight is always lit from within. This is an illuminating and necessary meditation that unravels masculinity, race, tenderness, strength . . . all that is extraordinary yet hidden between the ordinary creases of life.”

—TYEHIMBA JESS, author of Olio, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

“Ross Gay is truly a free black man. His liberated words open our minds and hearts to speak.”

—ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, bestselling author of The Light of the World

“What I love most about this book, and what I love about so much of Ross Gay’s work, is that it gently nudges us to take note of those small things that might otherwise elude our attention. 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.”

—CLINT SMITH, National Poetry Slam champion, TED speaker, and author of Counting Descent

“Each essay in Ross Gay's collection is a gem, depicting the fruits of mindfulness, of intensely living in and gazing at the present moments of life. Reading The Book of Delights brings you right to our profound connection to the world and to each other.”

—SHARON SALZBERG, bestselling author of Real Love

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