The Book of Delights: Essays

The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay

During a year, the author records his many "delights". These include many brief experiences as well as seeds for essays. Sometimes the "delight" is a contrary experience that then serves as the basis for the ways that things happen at other times. The anecdotes can get vulgar and at times deal with racism and other types of differing experiences.

Inciting Joy: Essays

There are a number of different essays that cover the interests of a black academic. In one, he looks at the advantage of just hanging around. Do we really need to always be doing something? Can we just hang out and socialize? Sometimes that recharging can be beneficial. 

There is also an interesting take on grading and classes. What if everybody knows they will get an A when going into the class? How will this help? Will those not interested just not show up, leaving those truly interested in learning to be able to focus on learning? This can get things out of the "is it on the test?" mentality? What good is it to make A's if you don't learn?