15 New Yorkers' Favorite Books

Liz Smith

"I grew up Texas-style, listening to Walter Winchell on the radio, yearning for bright lights or something undefinable. My education came largely from the local movie theater, which saved my life during the Great Depression. Having learned early on to read anything the Fort Worth Public Library would let me take out, at age 16 I stumbled onto two books that changed my life." —Liz Smith, author and gossip columnist

Here's how Liz Smith read her way out