Kindle
$12.99
Available instantly
Audible Logo Audiobook
$0.00
with membership trial
Hardcover
$14.69
Paperback
$13.49
Buy new:
-29% $13.49
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$13.49 with 29 percent savings
List Price: $18.99

The List Price is the suggested retail price of a new product as provided by a manufacturer, supplier, or seller. Except for books, Amazon will display a List Price if the product was purchased by customers on Amazon or offered by other retailers at or above the List Price in at least the past 90 days. List prices may not necessarily reflect the product's prevailing market price.
Learn more
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Wednesday, May 15. Order within 17 hrs 3 mins
In Stock
$$13.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$13.49
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$10.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
The book is in acceptable condition. This book will show various signs of wear, which could include markings, ex library, water damage, folds, creases, missing dust jacket, cuts, etc. but will still be readable. The book is in acceptable condition. This book will show various signs of wear, which could include markings, ex library, water damage, folds, creases, missing dust jacket, cuts, etc. but will still be readable. See less
FREE delivery Thursday, May 16 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$13.49 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$13.49
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Ross Gay
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Book of Delights: Essays Paperback – August 16, 2022

by Ross Gay (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,803 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$13.49","priceAmount":13.49,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"13","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"49","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"mRWNPcTd3SgGSWlWpKgy1BmWfdhbTj3Z3xDgEOueJmuK7IZV5ilfKQ46XBzBuLgaTIqQjSzL9cGfoKg0qALxZs70b1I4kSO%2Bb7FrX2FuNo4J3xImJNyhYlkKkI5MSQOo2Y1MhLhce42OrDACTTwKEg%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$10.99","priceAmount":10.99,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"10","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"99","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"mRWNPcTd3SgGSWlWpKgy1BmWfdhbTj3Z3Lt48ca8NzCVlAcrVX6gpWBBfsDMtPRPO3%2FUxV8Lsfp46k%2FzbHegg3h6J364rHFcTqRY7P0v932IO8v%2FROB%2BT9TXePxTz98leREDYA4kEqQTjWbvG%2FevdPbtLo4ioXH0jl%2FUvRzXx0s6Ki8KhhWeX4T82XZRFkaf","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

As Heard on NPR's This American Life: The New York Times bestselling book that celebrates ordinary delights in the world around us by one of America's most original and observant writers and the author of Inciting Joy, 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 National Book Critics 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.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Algonquin Books
  4. Publication date
    August 16, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1643753282
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1643753287
  8. See all details
Next page
Amazon First Reads | Editors' picks at exclusive prices

Frequently bought together

The Book of Delights: Essays
$13.49
Get it as soon as Thursday, May 16
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Inciting Joy: Essays
$19.30
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
The Book of (More) Delights: Essays
$18.60
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

From the brand

Previous page
  2. The Book of (More) Delights: Essays
    The Book of Delights: Essays
    Inciting Joy: Essays
    The Book of Delights: Essays

    More from Ross Gay

    Visit the Store

  3. The Book of (More) Delights

    New from Ross Gay

Next page

From the Publisher

The Joy and Delight Library from New York Times Bestelling Author Ross Gay

"Ross Gay is back, better than ever." —Garden & Gun

"Ross Gay's eye lands upon wonder at every turn." --Tracy K. Smith

"Brilliant." —Ada Limon

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay The Book of (More) Delights by Ross Gay
Inciting Joy The Book of (More) Delights
Customer Reviews
4.5 out of 5 stars
188
4.4 out of 5 stars
44
Price $19.30 $18.60
Also by Ross Gay “Brilliant.” —Ada Limón, U.S. poet laureate A fresh new volume of lyrical mini-essays, available September 2023

Editorial Reviews

Review

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

As Heard on NPR's This American Life

“The delights he extols here (music, laughter, generosity, poetry, lots of nature) are bulwarks against casual cruelties. As such they feel purposeful and imperative as well as contagious in their joy.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“These charming, digressive ‘essayettes,’ in the manner of Montaigne, surprise and challenge . . . Gay, an award-winning poet, knows the value of formal constraint: his experiences of ‘delight,’ recorded daily for a year, vary widely but yield revealing patterns through insights about everything from nature and the body to race and masculinity. The fruits of this experiment—for which gardens and gardening provide a frequent, apt metaphor—attest to an imagination cultivated in hostile conditions. Gay’s optimism is as easy as it is improbable, his ‘heart cooing like a pigeon nestled on a windowsill where the spikes rusted off.’”
—The New Yorker

"What emerges is not a ledger of delights passively logged but a radiant lens actively searching for and magnifying them, not just with the mind but with the body as an instrument of wonder-stricken presence.”
—Brain Pickings, Favorite Books of 2019

“Ross Gay’s poems are little celebrations of joy, and this book of mini-essays—each centering around a particular 'delight,’ from sleeping in your clothes to planting tomato seedlings to the nod of greeting between the only two black people in a room—is a pure balm for your soul. Savor one at a time every morning, this summer, or wolf them all down en masse on a gorgeous sunny day.”
—Celeste Ng for GoodMorningAmerica.com

"Delightfully snackable . . . Pick it up, read for ten minutes (start anywhere, really), put it down, and you’ll find that the delights of Gay’s world illuminate the delights of yours, that his wonder is contagious and has caused you to deepen your own."
—GQ

“The shock of Gay’s writing . . . is his seamless shift from breezy, affable observation to sober (and admittedly still affable) profundity . . .  I want to say that Gay’s writing is magical because that’s the way it feels when I read it. But . . . calling it magic undercuts Gay’s craft, the effort that goes into producing literature that feels as fluent and familiar as a chat with a close friend. His voice has integrity, in both senses of the word: a completeness or consistency, true to itself; and an honesty and compassion so frankly subjective that it produces an incorruptible vision. Gay’s loose-limbed sentences diagram his delight, partaking in numerous asides—some as paragraph-long parentheticals—and equally numerous asides within asides, as well as nested subordinate clauses that are the purview of intimate conversation, not written prose. They are clauses and asides in which, as Gay writes them, you feel his hand on your arm, you feel him lean in toward you, conspiratorially or simply to emphasize his meaning.”
—The New York Review of Books

“Everyone could use a bit more delight in their days . . . Gay, who is the winner of the NBCC Award for Poetry, is here to provide just that, with essays celebrating everything from air quotes to candy wrappers to pickup basketball games.”
—New York Post

“The Book of Delights is both practice and perfection in an unassuming package . . . These pieces reflect and examine the natural world, masculinity, racism, and other topics with vibrancy. Most essays are a few paragraphs, a page or two at maximum, but it’s not the width or length of the pieces that ultimately grabbed my attention. It was the heart and intelligence found within his daily introspections.”
—The Rumpus

"A reminder of what the personal essay is best at: finding the profound in the mundane . . . his delight is infectious. It’s hard to read Gay and not to be won over.”
—Seattle Times

“This collection proves is that delight is infectious and demands to be shared, and, most importantly, ‘our delight grows as we share it.’
—Washington Independent Review of Books

“It's the perfect read to inspire observing your corner of the world with a little more care and delight.” 
—NPR.org

“Sweet, powerful, funny, honest, moving. Gay has a new book on the way, too; I can’t wait for it.”
—Orange County Register

About the Author

In addition to The Book of Delights: Essays, Ross Gay is the author of three books of poetry, including Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Catalog was also a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Poetry, the Ohioana Book Award, the Balcones Poetry Prize, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call It Ballin’ and founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a nonprofit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. Gay has received fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches at Indiana University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Algonquin Books (August 16, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1643753282
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1643753287
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.75 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 1,803 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Ross Gay

Ross Gay

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Ross Gay is the author of The Book of Delights, a genre-defying book of essays, and three books of poetry: Against Which, Bringing the Shovel Down, and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. He is also the co-author, with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, of the chapbook "Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens," in addition to being co-author, with Richard Wehrenberg, Jr., of the chapbook, "River." He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin', in addition to being an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press. Ross is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. He has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Ross teaches at Indiana University.

Author website: http://www.rossgay.net

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
1,803 global ratings
Refreshing book for covid times
4 Stars
Refreshing book for covid times
“The Book of Delights” by Ross Gay - A collection of essayettes, part of a year-long project to write an essay a day to recount the delights of life that we so often overlook. The author is a poet and the language is reflective of that more clever approach to language. Often humorous in a sly way. Sometimes heavy. 4 ⭐️“It also required faith that delight will be with you daily, that you needn’t hoard it. No scarcity of delight.”
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Jenni C.
5.0 out of 5 stars Love really is all around.
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
Verified Purchase
I could not have picked a more delightful book (pun-intended) to read during such a difficult time. Ross Gay’s ability to find something of beauty and goodness every single day is beyond inspiring. In a world full of darkness, this book is a beacon of light. The preface alone made me fall in love with the book immediately. I just think his idea for this book, to hand-write about something positive every day is so impressive. His ability to turn the most simplistic of delights into wonderful, rich imagery is astounding. Because Gay is a poet, his prose continues with that poetic feel. His essays seem like longer poems with more elaboration and detail. I love how intimate this book felt as well. It was almost like you could tell all of these essays were hand-written, as there was a very journalistic vibe going on. It was very personal and intense look into the mind of a stranger. Another uplifting factor of this book was how nothing that Gay described was extremely significant. There were no accounts of crazy miracles, or unbelievable luck. Instead, Gay focused on finding the positives in the ordinary things that have been a part of his life for days, weeks, months, or even years. These ordinary things had significance because Gay chose to give them significance through his writing. This book has really opened my eyes to how much there is to be grateful for, and how if you really look for it, love IS all around.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Dario
5.0 out of 5 stars Ross Gay is a national treasure
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2024
Verified Purchase
I bought this slim volume for my wife for Christmas, 2023. She sets a personal context for herself every year on New Year's Day, and 2024's context is delight. Mr. Gay was already a favorite poet of ours, so this was a no-brainer. She was and is delighted with his "essayettes," informing and inspiring her first few days into this year's context for her life. Keep your eye on this poet, essayist, and marvelous all-around author. Already an award winner, a Pulitzer and more are almost inevitable in his future.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
BJO
4.0 out of 5 stars Delightful
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2021
Verified Purchase
This is a fun and thoughtful little book. Even though the essays seem spontaneous, I'm certain that the author edited and curated the selection. He supposedly wrote one short essay each day for a year but there are only about 100 essays in the book, so he left most of the year's essays out. I'm enjoying his white-bashing moments (even though I'm white) and small triumphs as they are gentle and seem well intentioned.
7 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
science reader
5.0 out of 5 stars poetic and profound
Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
I feel I have found a kindred spirit in the protagonist of this volume. I myself keep a diary of delights in which I tally mine and also attempt to justify a life devoted to delight, “Delight soothes sadness, calms fear, assuages anger, lessens the tenure of horror, compensates loss, ameliorates humiliation, kindles hope, inspires love of life, fulfills a day’s experience. What shall we do today? What we did yesterday: create delightful homes, tend their gardens, cook delightful food, delight in friends, in family, and in language.”

In his book, Gay delights also in nature, which should be in the list, for sure.

So, from my perspective, Ross Gay’s book is profound. It is also poetic, in keeping with its subject. Gay doesn’t have to record that he is delighting in the language he uses. It’s manifest.

This is the second book I have begun to reread as soon as I finished it. The other was Garrison Keillor’s Homegrown Democrat, another delight.

A reader who cultivates delight may learn from this book that delight may be defiantly employed as a poke in the eye of racism, for instance, in Gay’s case. Or, if the president of the beautiful country in which you reside is an anhedonic (David Brooks’ word) teetotaler, defiantly lift your glass of first-rate pinot noir a little higher and taste with deep attention. You’ll feel better. In the rural setting where I grew up in the middle of the last century, delight was a bulwark against poverty, not an even match but often sufficient. About fabulous farm food my dad crowed, “Now that’s what I call eating!” He was delighted by it.

I learned from Ross Gay that delight may be compounded by sharing. Thanks.
76 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Ali
5.0 out of 5 stars This book will change the way you look, and smile, at the world.
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2024
Verified Purchase
We all need more of this -- to notice, celebrate, and share the simple delights of life. I will be reading this book again...and again. It feels like medicine for the soul.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
susan schneider
3.0 out of 5 stars Delights are individual but good to be shared
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2023
Verified Purchase
I was delighted by the authors openess and delight in his delight while some of his delights would not be my delight. It was a wonderful project and calls me to idetify some of mt own.
Helpful
 Report
Eddie Merkel
5.0 out of 5 stars To have eyes like this!
Reviewed in the United States on October 23, 2022
Verified Purchase
Now that I have read this book, I am trying to recall how or where I came to know about it and what prompted me to read it in the first place. I care only because I would like to thank them. I love this book.

Gay's style here is not what you might expect. So many of his "essayettes" read like he was stream-of-conscious, journaling his delight of the day and doing very little revision. But, just listening to his voice and seeing the pictures he paints about the delights he wants to share is captivating.

Before I read anything about the author, it was apparent he was a poet. His words and thoughts sometimes seem to ebb and flow across the page. But they always get tied up in a beautiful bow at the end. In addition to how he writes, another clue to his poetic leaning is his power of observation. I suppose that if you are looking for a different delight every day, life being what it is and what it has been for all of us these past few years, some days you REALLY have to look hard. But he makes it seem effortless, and as you read, you realize that he appears to be surrounded by delight. I would love to cultivate vision and sensitivity like that.

Some reviewers seem to have been put off by the author's oversharing. I just feel he is being as honest about how he puts on coconut oil as he is about pulling weeds in his garden. To me, this makes him more believable and makes the act of finding delight more attainable for the rest of us.

The more I read, the more I loved Ross Gay and this book. I was less than halfway through before I bought copies of the book and sent them to my 3 kids and a friend. I also bought one for myself. I try and check books out at the library and only purchase what I know I will want to read again. This one will be on my reading table for a long time.
34 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Brie
5.0 out of 5 stars Like a hug
Reviewed in Canada on April 20, 2021
Verified Purchase
A beautiful compilation that made me smile and melt into sleep many nights. My favorite thing to pick up and start reading in the middle. Also a wonderful book to share and read aloud. Sharing in more delight. Thank you to Ross Gay for this beautifully collected set of stories and thoughts.
One person found this helpful
 Report
Senthil Arasu
1.0 out of 5 stars One of the worst books ..cant even continue few pages....so dumb
Reviewed in India on June 27, 2023
Verified Purchase
One of the worst books ..cant even continue few pages....so dumb..there is no such thing called delight
Report
Landgirl
5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing twee about these delights
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 30, 2021
Verified Purchase
If a friend had not sent me this book, I might well have overlooked it. I didnt want to be shivvied into a better mood with some light hearted look at the world. This is so much more substantive than that. I read it once and then again and then ordered his book of poetry. I began my own little collection of delights. Read it. I gurantee you'll be --delighted.
3 people found this helpful
 Report
Saskia Voss
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book
Reviewed in Germany on July 1, 2019
Verified Purchase
Be inspired to write a delight book
Report
Alice May
1.0 out of 5 stars Depressing book
Reviewed in Australia on January 31, 2021
Verified Purchase
It was not a book of delights but a diary of the author's daily encounters with people he knew. No reflections on these people. Most of then crude remarks about comments of his daily activities. A book of delights should have been what could have been a pleasant reflection of what joys he found in his encounters with a person he had just met. Or say a piece of joy he discovered around the next corner. There was no delight in his book. I threw it in the bin after being a quarter of the way through..
Report