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The Book of Delights
The Book of Delights | Ross Gay
"Author Ross Gay spent a year writing almost-daily essays about the things, large and small, that delight him"--
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BkClubCare
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Pickpick

#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

BkClubCare Tagged in comment!! 1mo
Eggs Thanks for playing 🩷📚💛 1mo
31 likes2 comments
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BkClubCare
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LeafingThroughLife Welcome back to the spin! 😄 2mo
BkClubCare @LeafingThroughLife - thanks! I admit, I am already nervous that I am putting too much pressure on myself. #sigh #ALLinFUN 🤩 2mo
AvidReader25 I‘m reading this one right now! 1mo
See All 6 Comments
BkClubCare @AvidReader25 - Sweeeeeeeet 🍬 I have Inciting Joy up next immediately. It‘s a Ross Gay trifecta. Then back to Poetry. Hey - have you read Beach Music? 1mo
AvidReader25 @BkClubCare Ross Gay is an Indiana gem! I have read Beach Music (Conroy, right?). 1mo
BkClubCare @AvidReader25 - yep. I need to read it. 1mo
33 likes6 comments
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BkClubCare
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BkClubCare
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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!

BkClubCare Posdnuos thinking? 3mo
38 likes1 comment
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BkClubCare
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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 📚

BkClubCare Goals: 100 books, better tracking 🤣, more commenting/sharing, thoughtful reviews (edited) 3mo
BarbaraBB What a great start of the year! 3mo
squirrelbrain Some great books to start with! 3mo
38 likes1 stack add3 comments
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BkClubCare
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Pickpick

Just 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

Megabooks Agree and looks yummy! 3mo
Flaneurette I‘m reading his most recent right now and can so relate re: writing him letters in my head! 3mo
42 likes2 comments
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underground_bks
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Pickpick

Get 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.

BkClubCare Yes yes yes 3mo
32 likes1 stack add1 comment
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KristiAhlers
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Pickpick

This 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.

50 likes1 stack add
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BkClubCare
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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.

dabbe Hello there, sweet Esther! 🖤🐾🖤 5mo
36 likes1 comment
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Floresj
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Pickpick

Last 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.

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Megabooks
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Pickpick

His 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.

BookNAround I thought I was the only one who was “meh” on the first book! I wonder if it was a format issue. Hmmmm. 6mo
Megabooks @BookNAround it was definitely a format issue for me. I struggled mightily in print. 6mo
Cinfhen I heard the first book was meh so I‘m glad to hear this one is better 💜still don‘t think it‘s for me 🤷🏼‍♀️ 6mo
Megabooks @Cinfhen fair enough 👍🏻👍🏻💜 6mo
74 likes3 stack adds4 comments
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Creme_de_la_them
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Pickpick

Book #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.

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Creme_de_la_them
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Pickpick

Book #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.

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Blaire
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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

Cinfhen Wow! How fortuitous and absolutely wonderful 😍 8mo
BarbaraBB A gorgeous combination 🩵 8mo
29 likes2 comments
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AvidReader25
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Pickpick

I‘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.”

mabell Love your photo! ❤️🐶 11mo
DivineDiana Thank you for posting this book! I completely forgot that I bought to copies of this book during the Christmas season! A gift for a friend and one for me! Now I must locate it! 😂 11mo
dabbe Da happiest, snowiest puppy! 💙🐾💙 11mo
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AvidReader25 @mabell @dabbe Nothing says complete delight like a puppy in the snow! 11mo
AvidReader25 @DivineDiana I hope you enjoy it! I highly recommend enjoying at a few essays at a time. It‘s not one to rush through. 11mo
DivineDiana Thank you for the advice! I found my copy! ❤️ 11mo
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Zuhkeeyah
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Pickpick

This 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

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!! 12mo
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Suelizbeth
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Pickpick

I 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. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Christine Agreed re: all of this! 13mo
Balibee146 Thanks for sharing.... Stacked and will be my treat purchase next month 👍 13mo
Suelizbeth @Christine 📚❤️ 13mo
Suelizbeth @Balibee146 You‘re welcome. A sweet treat to enjoy. 📚❤️ 13mo
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Christine
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Pickpick

I 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! ❤️

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Kimbono
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Definitely a delight.

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quietlycuriouskate
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Pickpick

"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.

Christine I love this review! And you‘ve eased my fears that this might be too sweet for me. 1y
quietlycuriouskate Thanks @Christine : glad to be of service. 🙂 1y
TrishB I love buttock quaking chaos. The best description of current events. 1y
squirrelbrain Sounds great - stacked! 1y
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Sparklemn
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Pickpick

I finished this book wishing I could be friends with the author. 😊
#librofm

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CuriousG
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1. The Book of Delights; Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Uncle Tom's Cabin

#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain

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CuriousG
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Today's delight is reading this and watching my pup with his chewy stick 😊

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merelybookish
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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!

TrishB Only 200 days? 2y
merelybookish @TrishB Give or take. 😁 2y
batsy That's a great number and a good mix of books! I'm hoping to start the Rooney. Hoping to take a stab at TOB in February, which only has like 10 days 😳 2y
merelybookish @batsy I have read 4 of the TOB titles. I might try to fit in one or two more. Not sure. And the part of me that longs for spring really hopes February is 10 days long! 2y
64 likes4 comments
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Susanita
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A little stack of some “small” books on a short shelf. #beginswith #book

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Perfect 👍🏻 📚 2y
Eggs Nice 📚📚 2y
44 likes2 comments
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JoyBlue
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Pickpick

This 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

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TiminCalifornia
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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.

Riveted_Reader_Melissa That sounds delightful! Stacking!!! 3y
kspenmoll Lovely book! 3y
Chelsea.Poole I am in love with this book ♥️ 3y
TiminCalifornia @Chelsea.Poole Agree. Such joy and the author conveys a decency that‘s often missing in public discourse. It‘s refreshing. 3y
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Chelsea.Poole
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Pickpick

Are 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⬇️

Chelsea.Poole in my own life. Also, I want to have Ross Gay in my life. It‘s not often that I read a book that inspires me to want to know the author!! And almost never do I read a book and think I want to be an author myself. I read this slow and over several months when I could really soak in these musings. 3y
merelybookish Great review. I've had this on my TBR for a while and feel inspired to bump it up! 3y
Megabooks I own this and need to read it. Excellent review! 3y
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HeatherBookNerd Just finished this recently. Loved it! 3y
emtobiasz Love this one so so much ❤️ 3y
Kayla8 If you liked this then you may also like his poetry collection: A Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. I can‘t remember if I already told you about this. 3y
Chelsea.Poole @merelybookish @Megabooks I read it here and there as I read other books as well and I think that really enhanced my enjoyment. Reading it over time reinforced my own practice of finding delights in life. Might work for you all too! 😊 3y
Chelsea.Poole @HeatherBookNerd @emtobiasz isn‘t Ross Gay great!? I wish I had this man in my life!! 3y
Chelsea.Poole @Kayla8 Hold placed in the library catalog ✅ thanks!! 3y
Megabooks I keep saying I‘ll start it and read it slowly, but I am very bad a reading books slowly. I got it for my 39th birthday. I am now 41! 3y
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HeatherBookNerd
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Pickpick

I 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.

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HeatherBookNerd
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Tonight I just felt sad. And this book is making me feel better.

SW-T It‘s that kind of book. Made me think of a meandering walk on a summer day. Warm and peaceful. 🙂 3y
35 likes1 comment
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Chelsea.Poole
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Well, isn‘t this delightful. ☺️

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NeedsMoreBooks
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Mehso-so

This 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.

Megabooks I have this and have never been able to get into it. 3y
NeedsMoreBooks @Megabooks oh great ? Glad that I am not the only one 🤦🏻‍♀️ 3y
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Chelsea.Poole
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Read a few #essays in this collection while my husband had the boys at the park. Love the idea of delighting in the small occurrences of daily life. 🪲

Tamra I spy greenery! 3y
Kayla8 I just finished Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by him as well! If you haven‘t read it already, I think you‘ll enjoy it. 🙂 3y
Chelsea.Poole @Kayla8 I haven‘t heard of that one, thank you! I‘m going to look it up 😊 3y
Chelsea.Poole @Tamra yessss! Thank heavens we finally have some green 🌱 3y
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Pedrocamacho
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Pickpick

Some of Ross Gay‘s delights made me delight. Others made me cringe. Some made me sad. And still others made me think.

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Chelsea.Poole
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Kalalalatja Perfect Days was really good, but quite disturbing! 3y
Megabooks Loved Hey Kiddo and Aftershocks! 3y
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ReadingRachael
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Pickpick

Ross 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

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Susanita
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It‘s August, but I‘m including this book in my July #wrapup since I just finished it. I especially liked the story about the child who thought he was going on a trip to read palms instead of poems.
Also:
-White Nights 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
-Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit🍊
-Big Summer🌞
-The Fellowship of the Ring🪐
-An Unconditional Freedom 🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏾‍♂️
-Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions🦁
-Packing for Mars🧑‍🚀
Kili swiping my chair is a delight!

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 😽😽😽 4y
35 likes1 comment
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WanderingBookaneer
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Not from tagged book.

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Afzyaly
Pickpick

Sometimes thoughtful, Sometimes Funny. Great Read

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StaceGhost
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Pickpick

Perfect time for this #blacklitmatters #blacklivesmatter

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Susanita
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I‘ve been following along with the tagged book trying to read the essays on the same date. He had a little gap since mid May, but now he‘s back! So into the mix it goes.

The FOTR Facebook #readalong is scheduled to finish Book I and take a little break before we dive into Book II. We‘ll probably finish some time in August?

Meanwhile, the #bookspin selections are TBD, and I have seven ebooks on hold at two libraries.

#weeklyforecast

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Angitron
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Pickpick

I love Gay‘s writing, and considering current affairs it felt like the perfect time to settle down and read this book of tiny essays about simple delights! Even when writing about sadness, Gay seeks out joy. In one essay he writes: “What if we joined our sorrows, I‘m saying. I‘m saying: What if that is joy?” I love this book so much. It‘s a book I plan to return to again and again to remind myself of life‘s many gifts even in hard times.

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emtobiasz
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Pickpick

Poet Ross Gay took a year to discover and write about the small delights in his life: his garden, the touch of a stranger, the way a flight attendant uses pet names for him. Today, this feels like a celebration of and an elegy for a world that‘s gone right now, without forgetting the problems (racism, poverty) that world contained. I savored this over WEEKS (not how I usually read something I enjoy), and I could reread it already.

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emtobiasz
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I love Ross Gay. Even his prose is poetry.

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emtobiasz
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Poet Ross Gay wrote over 100 brief essays one year focusing on things he found small delight in. I started this book earlier this month on #hoopla and quickly decided that a) it is a perfect quarantine read, and b) I needed a print copy to be able to read it slowly and savor. My bookshop.org order came in earlier today and I can‘t wait to read it a few essays at a time before bed ❤️

Mitch Sounds a perfect way to end each day. ⭐️ 4y
Kenyazero this sounds like a very fun read, and it must have been a very fun project. 4y
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UnabridgedPod
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Pickpick

"I wonder if this impulse to share . . . is also among the qualities of delight? And further, . . . that our delight grows as we share it."⠀

"I think I am advocating for a kind of innovation, or an innovative spirit, which seems to be occasioned by deprivation, or being broke. . . . Which is also called figuring something out. Which is something we all go to school, some of us for years and years, to forget how to do." ⬇️

UnabridgedPod Ross Gay's The Book of Delights is the PERFECT book for right now. I've seen it mentioned around the internet, but I decided to pick it up after reading educator Dean Shareski's own take on Gay's project: writing an essay (he calls them "essayettes") each day about something that brings him delight. Gay did this for a year, and yes, he missed some days, but he ended up with 102 little meditations-- ⬇️ 4y
UnabridgedPod some are only a paragraph, and a couple of the longest are two or three pages-- on things that bring him delight. Sometimes these delights result from unpleasant experiences or musings about wrongs in the world. But Gay is always able--in the most gorgeous, poetic, yet blunt prose possible-- ⬇️ 4y
UnabridgedPod to bring those experiences or musings around until we can understand why he labels such things as "delights." This is a revelatory book, and I absolutely loved it.

What is bringing you delight today (even if that delight is complicated)? Has anyone else read this book?
4y
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Fdvgf I just started listening to your podcast this weekend and then I saw your name here - so excited!!!😁 After listening to that one episode I was hooked and subscribed immediately!!!☑️ I was a teacher for 24 years, so that makes listening to your post even more meaningful to me - thank you!!!🍎📙😍 4y
UnabridgedPod @Bookish.Best.Friend Thank you so much for listening!! That is wonderful to hear. ❤️ 4y
Fdvgf @UnabridgedPod Looking forward to the next one on Wednesday!!!👍🏻 4y
BookmarkTavern I love finding bookish podcasts! Just subscribed! ❤️ 4y
UnabridgedPod @Fdvgf Yay!! Thank you. 🙏 4y
UnabridgedPod @ozma.of.oz Wonderful!! Thanks in advance for listening. I hope you enjoy it. ❤️ 4y
26 likes9 comments
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SW-T
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Pickpick

This book was like a long walk in a new neighborhood on a gorgeous day. No particular destination in mind, but everywhere you looked there was something new to see and explore. Most essays were short, but a few covered a couple pages. Topics ranged from delight in reading poetry, to a good cup of coffee, to greeting strangers, to gardening, and just being alive and able to write about daily delights. Serious or light, these essays were delightful.

Aimeesue Sounds lovely! 4y
SW-T @Aimeesue Yes, it was. An unexpected surprise 😊 4y
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SW-T
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So of course after reading this I start thinking about public statues. And I feel the need to find Osman‘s book and read it for myself. This is why my TBR is huge 😁

#bookwormproblems #mounttbr