02049cam a2200313 i 4500 561897579 TxAuBib 20220622120000.0 180319s2019||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2018012383 9781616207922 alkaline paper $23.95 1616207922 alkaline paper $23.95 TxAuBib rda Gay, Ross, 1974- Essays Selections. The book of delights / Ross Gay. Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, [2019] ©2019. xii, 274 pages ; 19 cm. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier "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 other subject, 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."-- Provided by publisher. 20220622. Gay, Ross, 1974- Life. Joy. Essays.