5 Things You Should Know About

BOOKS

John Lennon: The Life By Philip Norman; out now More moving and less plausible than most fiction, Lennon's life is one of the great 20th century fables, and it's told here definitively by a major Beatles scholar. Even as Lennon went from young tough to global pop star to hippie prophet, he never ceased to be a shattered, motherless little boy. When have so many ever followed anyone so lost? A

MUSIC

To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story Nina Simone; RCA Legacy; out now In 1956 a nightclub boss told the Juilliard pianist he'd hire her if she'd also sing. Smart idea. As this must-buy-now four-disc career set proves, Simone's reedy, dramatic alto made her a peerless interpreter of Gershwin, Brel, Dylan, the Bee Gees and herself (the scathing Mississippi Goddam). Warning: Contents are emotionally draining. Also life-enhancing. A

MOVIES

Happy-Go-Lucky Written and directed by Mike Leigh; rated R; out now Sally Hawkins won the Berlin Film Festival's Best Actress award as a cockeyed-optimist schoolteacher in this larkish entry from the usually dour Brit auteur Leigh (Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake). Even if you don't find Hawkins as adorable as the movie does, you're likely to fall in love with Karina Fernandez, who plays an imperiously funny flamenco teacher. B

RockNRolla Written and directed by Guy Ritchie; rated R; out now As Anglo meanies battling Russian toughs over a real estate deal, Gerard Butler is the star, Tom Wilkinson has the star turn, and Mark Strong steals the show. Fans of early Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Snatch) won't find a lot new in Mr. Madonna's latest dredging of the London underworld, but it has the same high quotient of rude fun. B

TELEVISION

The Starter Wife USA, Fridays, 10 p.m. E.T.; two-hour premiere Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. E.T. At last, a Gossip Girl for the old people! Reprising her role from the smash miniseries, Debra Messing is author and recent divorcée Molly Kagan, trying to keep herself and her daughter afloat in a sea of affluence populated by smarmy L.A. sharks. Predictable but pithy, Wife takes itself no more seriously than the Hollywood-haves it skewers. B-