Libro.fm for Business
Start a membership, get two free audiobooks
Audiobooks by Black Authors
Celebrate our 10th Anniversary with giveaways, merch, and more!
Learn more
Bookseller pick
Send as gift
Add to Wish List
Almost ready!
In order to save audiobooks to your Wish List you must be signed in to your account.
Log in Create account
This month only!
Become a member and shop our members-only, 10th anniversary buy-one-get-one sale in support of local bookstores.
Get startedThe Book of Delights
Narrator
Ross Gay
This audiobook uses AI narration.
We’re taking steps to make sure AI narration is transparent.
Learn more
Length
5 hours
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Ross Gay's Book of Delights is my lifeline to joy (delights!) during my commute. I may plan to chip away at work tasks, or read the newspaper, or scroll through Facebook, but Ross' voice calls to me and I click on The Book of Delights. Only one entry soothes my soul, but I usually can't stop at just one...”
— Cheryl • Book Passage
Bookseller recommendation
“This is one of my favorite books to recommend, especially for someone looking for a gift. Poet and avid gardener Ross Gay, who also is the fantastic narrator, reflects on what delights him over the course of a year. Lyrical, humorous, philosophical and sometimes heartbreaking, these essays may be bite-sized but they will fill you up. A great way to recalibrate and appreciate our own day to day pleasures and challenges.”
— Jennifer • East City Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“For those of you having a rough year, take comfort and inspiration from Ross Gay’s aptly titled The Book of Delights. After going through a bumpy patch himself, Gay tasked himself with a year’s worth of essays, each day focusing on something delightful. What resulted is a warm, thoughtful range of reflections on tomato plants, high fives, and airport security. The Book of Delights is a companion to keep with you, whether on your nightstand, in the bathtub, or on the subway, for a brief moment of emotional respite. Definitely one of my first delights of 2019.”
— Molly Gillespie • Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Summary
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 book 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.
