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Book Discussion: The Book of Delights

  • Pearl Church 721 Northwest 9th Avenue Portland, OR, 97209 United States (map)

Throughout the Season of Lent you’re invited to wonder, along with Ross Gay, about the meaning and beauty of this world in the midst of the darkness. We’ll enjoy discussing this book together in the Season of Easter.

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 any 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 (Description from NPR’s This American Life).

Interested or have questions? Contact Pastor Mike.

Earlier Event: April 11
All Church Meeting on Reopening
Later Event: April 12
Pearl Babies Say Hello to Spring!