Reading Wednesday
May. 1st, 2019 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhThe Truffle Underground: A Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and Manipulation in the Shadowy Market of the World's Most Expensive Fungus by Ryan Jacobs. A nonfiction account of various illegal goings-on in the production and sale of truffles, from small-scale individual hunters and farmers to vast, multinational corporations. The main thing I learned from this book is that a) despite eating a lot of food labeled "truffle", I've probably never had a real truffle (either black, technically the Italian winter black truffle or Tuber melanosporum, or white, technically the Alba white truffle or Tuber magnatum) and b) there are way, way more species of truffle than I ever realized. Indeed, a great deal of the "mystery, mayhem, and manipulation" involves substituting a species worth less for one of the culinary greats. Which brings me to my main problem with Jacobs's writing: a desperate need for more background information. What does it mean, really, if you buy an Italian black winter truffle and get a Chinese truffle (Tuber indicum or Tuber himalayensis) instead? Is it more or less the same thing, just lacking a certain terroir and cache, like buying a sparkling white wine instead of authentic champagne? Is it good but noticeably lesser in quality? Is it straight-up poisonous or otherwise something no one would ever knowingly purchase? Based on Jacobs's book alone, I have no idea where Chinese truffles fall on this possible spectrum. (The internet suggests Chinese truffles would be the middle category, with maybe a very rare chance of the third, if certain chemicals have been used to enhance the flavor and scent.) The same question applies to desert truffles (grown in the Middle East and North Africa), black summer truffles (France and Italy), pecan truffles (USA), and truffles of various species grown in Eastern Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Croatia, Hungary, or Slovenia). I wanted to know more about the basics of truffles – what they are, how they differ – but Jacobs jumps straight to fairly complicated questions without laying out the groundwork.
However, substituting one truffle for another isn't the only kind of crime Jacobs covers. He talks to truffle farmers who see their orchards regularly hit by thieves, truffle hunters who have their dogs poisoned or kidnapped (there is a lot of dog harm in this book, for those who are sensitive to that), import companies that serve as fronts for the mob, crime syndicates that use young teenagers to carry out thefts,business innovators who retreat into isolated paranoia, million-dollar heists, and several murders. Which leads me to another problem: Jacobs talks to a lot of people, in multiple countries, involved with many companies, and as a result there are an abundance of names, many quite similar to one another. I had a great deal of trouble keeping everyone and every scheme straight. The Truffle Underground could really have benefited from one of those character lists you get at the front of epic fantasy novels.
Overall it's a fascinating topic, and Jacobs certainly kept me turning the pages. (And craving truffles.) But I think there's a much better book on the same topic waiting to be written, by someone who's better organized and more skillful.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Her Every Wish by Courtney Milan. A novella in Milan's Worth Saga, set between Once Upon a Marquess (which I ADORED) and After the Wedding (which I haven't yet read). Daisy Whitlaw is a poor woman in a working-class neighborhood of 1866 London, caring for her sickly mother and working in a flower shop. Crash is the son of a sex worker, mixed race (he doesn't actually know his exact origins, but probably African, South Asian, white, and Chinese), and bisexual. They have a romantic history together, which broke off due to a slightly contrived misunderstanding and Crash's desire to go to Paris to learn about his obsession: velocipedes. Now he's back, just in time to see Daisy join a competition for funds to start in a trade. She wants to open her own store, and after all, it doesn't technically say that women can't compete. Daisy has the numbers and connections to put together a solid business plan, but she is absolutely terrible at public speaking, so Crash, who has an abundance of confidence and charm, volunteers to give her the lessons she needs to win. Will all this close contact cause them to fall in love again?????
Yes, it is an actual historical romance with people of color! queer people! poor people! sex workers who don't have to reform! All of this is amazing. I also loved both Daisy and Crash's characters, the way their backgrounds had believably shaped their personalities and differing troubles, as well as their chemistry together. The scenes of Crash teaching Daisy to ride a velocipede were particular favorites; so adorable and unique, and with the power to make me want to cheer like the climax of a superhero movie.
On the other hand, as I said the earlier break between them felt like the classic "if you just talked to one another there wouldn't be a problem" contrivance, and novellas never have the space to dig as deeply into the emotions and world as full-length novels do. Still, Her Every Wish is incredibly charming and another reminder of why I'm such a huge fan of Milan.
However, substituting one truffle for another isn't the only kind of crime Jacobs covers. He talks to truffle farmers who see their orchards regularly hit by thieves, truffle hunters who have their dogs poisoned or kidnapped (there is a lot of dog harm in this book, for those who are sensitive to that), import companies that serve as fronts for the mob, crime syndicates that use young teenagers to carry out thefts,business innovators who retreat into isolated paranoia, million-dollar heists, and several murders. Which leads me to another problem: Jacobs talks to a lot of people, in multiple countries, involved with many companies, and as a result there are an abundance of names, many quite similar to one another. I had a great deal of trouble keeping everyone and every scheme straight. The Truffle Underground could really have benefited from one of those character lists you get at the front of epic fantasy novels.
Overall it's a fascinating topic, and Jacobs certainly kept me turning the pages. (And craving truffles.) But I think there's a much better book on the same topic waiting to be written, by someone who's better organized and more skillful.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Her Every Wish by Courtney Milan. A novella in Milan's Worth Saga, set between Once Upon a Marquess (which I ADORED) and After the Wedding (which I haven't yet read). Daisy Whitlaw is a poor woman in a working-class neighborhood of 1866 London, caring for her sickly mother and working in a flower shop. Crash is the son of a sex worker, mixed race (he doesn't actually know his exact origins, but probably African, South Asian, white, and Chinese), and bisexual. They have a romantic history together, which broke off due to a slightly contrived misunderstanding and Crash's desire to go to Paris to learn about his obsession: velocipedes. Now he's back, just in time to see Daisy join a competition for funds to start in a trade. She wants to open her own store, and after all, it doesn't technically say that women can't compete. Daisy has the numbers and connections to put together a solid business plan, but she is absolutely terrible at public speaking, so Crash, who has an abundance of confidence and charm, volunteers to give her the lessons she needs to win. Will all this close contact cause them to fall in love again?????
Yes, it is an actual historical romance with people of color! queer people! poor people! sex workers who don't have to reform! All of this is amazing. I also loved both Daisy and Crash's characters, the way their backgrounds had believably shaped their personalities and differing troubles, as well as their chemistry together. The scenes of Crash teaching Daisy to ride a velocipede were particular favorites; so adorable and unique, and with the power to make me want to cheer like the climax of a superhero movie.
On the other hand, as I said the earlier break between them felt like the classic "if you just talked to one another there wouldn't be a problem" contrivance, and novellas never have the space to dig as deeply into the emotions and world as full-length novels do. Still, Her Every Wish is incredibly charming and another reminder of why I'm such a huge fan of Milan.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 12:05 am (UTC)That's great.
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Date: 2019-05-02 03:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 02:27 am (UTC)I do find a lot of journalistic non-fiction kind of disorganised lately. I think there's something to be said for streamlining a work, or re-organising it in such a way that clumps of names/new terminology are easier to remember.
no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 03:14 am (UTC)