Critics' Choice: Jan. 2, 1989

BOOKS

THE LYRE OF ORPHEUS by Robertson Davies (Viking; $19.95). The third novel in a trilogy about the life and aftereffects of an eccentric millionaire. An engaging plot involving high finance, grand opera and a voice from Limbo.

( DICTIONARY OF THE KHAZARS: A LEXICON NOVEL by Milorad Pavic (Knopf; $19.95). A wacky, totally fabricated reference book, translated from Serbo-Croatian, about a people who vanished centuries ago. Sheer oddity mixed with eerie entertainment.

DEAR MILI by Wilhelm Grimm (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; $16.95). A newly discovered Grimm fairy tale relates a stark saga of childhood and the death of innocence, amplified by Maurice Sendak's floating vistas and romantic palette.

ART

PAINTING IN RENAISSANCE SIENA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City. The gentle, graceful 15th century fragments and miniatures in this scrupulous show offer a respite from the brutish realities of modern life. Through March 19.

RICHARD ARTSCHWAGER, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Formica and Celotex are among the odd materials employed by this enigmatic but important American painter and sculptor. Through Jan. 29.

THE ART OF PAOLO VERONESE: 1528-1588, National Gallery of Art, Washington. To see Veronese's glowingly colored, exquisitely textured works is to glimpse the splendor of Venice's Golden Age. Through Feb. 20.

TELEVISION

BOWL GAMES (Jan. 2). A day late this year, but a blitz of seven -- count 'em -- games will try to dispel those postholiday hangovers: the Cotton on CBS; Florida Citrus, Rose and Sugar on ABC; and Hall of Fame, Fiesta and Orange on NBC.

THE POWER GAME (PBS, Jan. 2-5, 8 p.m. on most stations). Former New York Times correspondent Hedrick Smith tries to explain who really wields the clout in Washington in this series based on his book.