A walk through Paris

This is not a guidebook. At least, it's not the kind you hurriedly click-send to your niece en route to her junior year abroad. To walk through Paris with Hazan is to be accompanied by a wise octogenarian who has absorbed the great city not only through his eyes and soles but through a close study of its literature and history. He sees the beauty, of course, and sniffs at some recent attempts at "architecture," but he's most dedicated to uncovering the spots where revolutionary blood has been scrubbed from the cornerstones of pre- and post-Haussmannian buildings - the spirit of revolt the city's planners still try to keep at bay. Hazan meanders from fvry to St.-Denis, providing hand-drawn maps should one bravely attempt to follow. We are taken past such recognizable sights as the Jardín du Luxembourg but also asked to linger in shabby playgrounds and unfamiliar side streets. Even for those who know Paris well, this is an advanced and granular view. In Fernbach's translation, Hazan - a former surgeon, publisher and social critic who wrote "The Invention of Paris" - comes across as a highly cultured, bemusedly cranky old radical whose eloquence can change how you see. (He writes of signs on buildings commemorating historical occupants, "We should protest - at least I do - at the replacement of the old enamel plaques, with their fine Bodoni typeface, by tin plaques printed in wretched stick characters.") In short: Follow him. CHRISTINE MUHLKE is a contributing editor at Bon Appetit and the creator of the newsletter Xtinenyc.com.