Discussed in this essay:

The Arrangement, by Ashley Warlick. Viking. 320 pages. $26.

The Theoretical Foot, by M.F.K. Fisher. Counterpoint. 304 pages. $25.

“I have eaten several strange things since I was twelve, and I shall be glad to taste broiled locusts and swallow a live fish. But unless I change very much, I shall never be able to eat a slug.” The only person who could have written these words was M.F.K. Fisher. There is a subtle energy to her writing, the atmosphere of which has never been replicated, though many have tried. Was…