Leslie Brenner is a contributing editor for Travel + Leisure and the author of several books. Her most recent is The Fourth Star (Crown, $25), published earlier this year.
Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac (Viking Penguin, $14). To my mind, satire is the truest kind of writing, and this satire of the Paris literary scene in the early- to mid-19th century is my favorite. Although it was written between 1837 and 1843, verbatim portions of it could be about contemporary New York City. The poet from Angoulème is one of literature’s great characters.
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