Reddit mentions of Life Stories: Profiles from The New Yorker (Modern Library (Paperback))

Since you said French or English and you've posted about Montreal, I'm assuming you're Canadian. In that case, I'd recommend Behind the Headlines: A History of Investigative Journalism in Canada. Dry, but will give you some great background into those that have come before you.

For more historical stuff, check out some anthologies of work by folks like Peter Gzowski or Pierre Berton.

Something else I'd recommend (not a book but still awesome) is the CBC's six-part series Spin Cycles about public relations. Incredibly in-depth, has a strong Canadian angle and demonstrates how closely linked the worlds of PR and journalism truly are.

If you're looking for great long-form writing, I enjoy the New Yorkers anthologies in topics like sports writing or profiles. If you're into music writing, a general best of music writing anthology is put out every year that includes work for a variety of publications.

And if you want some of the dark-side of Canadian journalism, you can check out Jan Wong's memoir Out of the Blue which documents her depression and how the Globe and Mail pretty much threw her out on the curb.