The Book of Delights Audiobook By Ross Gay cover art

The Book of Delights

Essays

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The Book of Delights

By: Ross Gay
Narrated by: Ross Gay
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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 collection 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.

©2019 Ross Gay (P)2018 Recorded Books
Heartfelt Nonfiction Essays Feel-Good Funny Black & African American Witty Specific Demographics Biographies & Memoirs Social Sciences African American Studies United States Americas

Featured Article: 13 Listens to Get Through the SAD-dest Time of Year


Have you ever felt stuck or lonely during winter months? This isn’t just a you problem. Something about those gray skies and short days really gets to us—and while the onset of winter brings its own challenges, these last few weeks of the season can feel interminable. Whether you hope to learn more about seasonal depression, embrace your feelings, or look for some escapism, these listens can power you through the end-of-winter blues.

Everyday Delights • Thought-provoking Reflections • Delightful Narration • Inspiring Perspective • Authentic Experiences

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A few crude parts which, for me, added to the delight. Easy funny moving read.

Truly a delight

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Yes, it is certainly cliché to call the book of delights absolutely delightful however, that is just what this book is.
If you like short prose, interesting words and authenticity, this book is for you.

Absolutely delightful

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I enjoy the Book of Delights and often give it as a gift. I got the audio book to listen to at work as a way squeeze in a few smiles and remind me to be delighted everyday. However, hearing Ross Gay read - the cadence of his voice along with the infections made the book even more delightful. #TotallyDelighted

Ross Gay Reading Makes It Better

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Loved it so much just downloaded the follow up book. The world can be dark but this book is a shining star in a gloomy night.

Lovely Listen

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I graduated from IU just a few years ago, so I knew of Ross Gay, though I never took his classes — too busy trying to cram two degrees into four years — but I regret that. When the world is full of more loss and sorrow than I can often bear, I turn to these delights. There is a particularly nostalgia, delight, here for me — reflecting on Darn Good Soup (lost to Covid-19) and the curious Protestantism of the dogwoods. Kin, kind, I love you, Book of Delights.

Will carry in my soul

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