What has happened to Bret Easton Ellis' ego? Why does Ferran Adria reject the gastronomy it's said he invented? Who was the poet that punched her husband in the face? Why is David Sedaris broken in the wrong way? When is it comforting to eat spleen? In Magical Narcissism, award-winning Canadian journalist and critic Shaun Smith investigates all these questions and many others as he pursues his two great loves: books and food.

In dozens of pieces, Smith tackles works by such luminaries as Steve Martin, Joan Didion, Douglas Coupland, Iain Banks, Christopher Hitchens, Heston Blumenthal, Susur Lee, Jennifer McLagan, Bonnie Stern, Jeffrey Steingarten, and A.A. Gill. He takes us to pig roasts in southern Ontario and northern Spain. He wonders why people want books defaced by author autographs. He sings the praises of invention. And he laments a dearth of donuts.

Sometimes caustic, sometimes celebratory, always entertaining, the works in this volume represent the best from fifteen years of writing for such outlets as The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, CBC.ca, Quill & Quire, and many others. ""Books and food are not really so disparate,"" writes Smith; ""both provide sustenance and, if you're lucky, gratification, and both can--and in my case usually do--elicit strong opinion.

Foreword by: Herve This