I’ve been reading a short, smart, extremely well written book this week: Vegetables: A Biography.

Written by Evelyn Bloch-Dano, who’s also written bios of Proust’s mother, George Sand, and Madame Zola, this work, with a chapter on cardoons, notes the connections between culture and cuisine, the way vegetables were regarded historically, and the power of gardens to delight.

Most of all, it’s sly and well written.

Me?  I’ll read anything, the content matters far less than the genius of the writing, and at less than 115 pages, that’s an added bonus.

It some ways, the book makes me think of the Hugo translation of, “A Strange Virus of Unknown Origin,” and Kapuscinki’s book, “The Emperor.”  Brevity.  Wit.  A subject that illuminates larger subjects.