The Book of Delights

Incredibly sweet and moving at parts. At times I loved the prose, and at times it became a little self-indulgent, but I think that's what Gay was going for anyway. The best part of this book is that I started counting my delights more or less intentionally throughout my days reading it. Thanks, Ross Gay!

More a collection of amuse-bouches, some WTFs, and a few genuine delights, and I would expect nothing less from someone who acknowledges Montaigne within the first ten pages and concludes with a tip of the hat to Galeano. These are, after all, essais, and even the masters didn't putt 1000. It is, on the whole, an uplifting way to end this year. (Aside: Gay wrote the essays between August 1, 2016, and August 1, 2017. The careful reader may note some uncomfortable parallels between that timeline and today.)

This is a book to read slowly, and I did. Gay is obviously a poet first and foremost and second and third too. Even at a gentle pace, a good number of essays needed a reread: some because of Gay's circumloquaciousness, some because his cultural references are just too obscure for me. I found myself enjoying even the rereadings. And the delights, those were mostly simple reminders to observe and be present as we go about our days.

And with that, farewell 2024!

Lovely little musings. A great book to feel a kinship across humanity for the delights we may notice in the moment and not voice.

sometimes i felt the lyricism of these overshadowed the genius of what each essay was getting to. for instance, most people, when they see someone doing a moon walk in a coffee shop might think, “they really don't care what others think of them and i love that”. ross gay is able to take it so much farther and articulate it in the most beautiful way. i just felt that was clouded SOMETIMES by this desperate need to make everything sound like a poem. and i find that so funny because i never bought this expecting poetry (and still found it IMO). aside from that, i loved this. it really is just a nice gratitude journal for all of us to indulge in. i feel honored everytime i read gay's work, that he lets us into his brilliant big brain. it's just awesome.

also, i really don't know how there could possibly be this much joy and optimism in one body. i mean, this dude can find the small joys in everything. even in shit. literally. it's just really refreshing. poetry is often so tragic (not denying a lot of gay's poetry is tragic/sad) and is unable to find any light and happiness (is it really their fault?). i just always find myself coming back to ross gay to remind myself there is love and beauty and song absolutely everywhere and i don't have to look very hard. anyways.

I enjoyed this book. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I read only one or two entries each sitting. Instead, I essentially read it in two long sessions ... and since each entry is, more or less, unrelated except by theme, the experience is much like binge reading an entire blog.

Well written, often “Hmm” generating, I'd recommend this to anyone interested in reading something a bit more thought provoking. His writing I can already see influencing my own.

A wonderful election-week delight. I'm hoping to constantly remember Gay's hypothesis that “our delight grows as we share it.”

I love this book and I knew I would going in. Gay's writing is both enthusiastic and nuanced. Delights are contextual, and Ross Gay enumerates and contextualizes each pleasure. Some are heartwarming, some funny, and some delights are bittersweet— Still Processing gives me shivers every time.

The best part, though, is finding your own delights reflected in the essayettes. (Rothko Backboard made my partner cackle because he HAS burst into tears over a Rothko— and learning that was a delight itself.)