D.H. Lawrence

Can a formidable actress redeem a pile of solemn erotic kitsch? Kate Winslet answers that one as honestly as she can in the film ve rsion of Bernhard Schlink's 1995 novel "The Reader," the tale of a 15-year-old West German boy who, in 1958, embarks on...

(2 1/2 STARS) (R) PLOT In postwar Germany, a young law student observing a Nazi trial recognizes a former lover. CAST Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, David Kross, Lena Olin LENGTH 2:03 PLAYING AT The Paris Theatre, Manhattan. BOTTOM LINE Strong acting...

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," "1984," "Gone with the Wind," "Hamlet"--all books that were once banned by various libraries and governments within the United States. Children's books, in fact, have been banned more than any other genre, and one of...

LA JOLLA -- Imagine Joan Crawford's stately glamour, Susan Hayward's tough-broad shtick and Carol Burnett's parodic flair all rolled into the same male actor. Yes, the one and only Charles Busch is back on stage, starring in your garden-variety science-...

By Richard Rayner "A good writer can make you believe time stands still. Yet the end of all stories, even if the writer forbears to mention it, is death," wrote the English writer Angela Carter, who died 16 years ago this month. At the time Carter was...

Even though the directors union has reached a deal with Hollywood studios and the writers guild is expected to follow, the impact of the strike is still being felt. This Sunday, ABC's "Desperate Housewives" will again be replaced by the reality home...

"Walking San Francisco," Wilderness Press, $17.95; ISBN: 978-0-89997-419-4 San Francisco is one of the world's great walking towns. Every part of the city is covered in this guide from the most tourist-saturated to neighborhoods that visitors usually...

"Europe on a Shoestring: Big Trips on Small Budgets" (Lonely Planet, $27.99) With the American dollar being as low as it is, many folks on this side of the ocean probably think that a trip to Europe seems out of the question. Not so, according to the...

By Richard Rayner "He had the build of a plunging halfback, with big shoulders and a neck like the stump of a Douglas fir," wrote Malcolm Cowley, who taught Ken Kesey in a writing class at Stanford in 1960. "Chapters of a novel were read aloud in a...

Whatever prejudices you may harbor about Lady Chatterley's Lover from the book, the sundry film versions or its colorful legacy as porn-lit for the high of brow, they gently smash to bits when Marina Hands steps onto the screen. As Constance Chatterley,...

Along the Amalfi Coast, dramatic panoramas of rocky cliffs hanging over the sea are everywhere. But the views from the town of Ravello - perched above the gulf of Salerno - seem like a shortcut to paradise. Getting to Ravello, which has a rich history...

Whatever prejudices you may harbor about "Lady Chatterley's Lover" from either the book, the sundry film versions or its colorful legacy as porn lit for the high of brow, they gently smash to bits when Marina Hands steps onto the screen. As Constance...