Jack

The more you know about Emma Donoghue's ninth novel, "Room," the harder it is to assess. That's a tricky issue, since "Room" is one of the hot books of the moment: shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, with coverage everywhere. If you've heard about it, you know the setup: The novel is narrated by a 5-year-old boy named Jack, who was born and has spent his entire life in a room (a fortified garden shed, really) with his mother, imprisoned by the man who kidnapped her seven years before.

CANNES, France - Walter Salles carefully raises the fingers of his right hand and gently strokes the back of his left. "These are characters," he says, explaining the gesture, "who experience things not vicariously but on the flesh. Men and women in a quest for something they couldn't define yet, who are trying to amplify their knowledge of the world. " More than half a century after "On the Road" was published, 30-plus years since Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights in 1978, and nearly a decade after Salles began working on the film, Jack Kerouac's peerless anthem to the romance of youthful freedom and experience has finally made it to the screen with its virtues and spirit intact.

Like countless misunderstood mistresses, the title character of "The Other Woman" didn't set out to wreck an already busted home. Nor did she shy away from her love for a married man. Now, on the other side of the looking glass, she's ostracized by elementary-school mothers for being a "second wife" and for not conforming to the new-millennial, uptown Manhattan ideal of child-rearing. She's also grappling with capital-G grief over the death of a newborn, trying to forge a bond with her precocious stepson and struggling to save her marriage.

Is a hyper-curated playlist the new house-made charcuterie? Whether a restaurant's playing Lady Gaga or Langhorne Slim says as much about the place as its Mason jar drinking glasses or farm-to-table pickle plate. And in an era when even Facebook tracks one's music choices, restaurants are paying more attention than ever to what goes with the hickory-roasted carrots - not just the za'tar -laced crème fraîche but, say, also Lambchop (the band, not the meat). When a customer walks into a restaurant - even before Jack White's "Sixteen Saltines" becomes the soundtrack for the sunchoke soup - the music sets the tone for the dining experience, says Bill Chait, the restaurateur behind L.A.'s Short Order, Picca, Sotto, Rivera and Playa, among others.

BOOKS In a homage to the 1955 Six Gallery reading that put the San Francisco Renaissance on the map, Los Angeles-area poets will read their favorite poems at a one-night celebration of the Beat legacy, "Waiting for Jack. " Produced by Eve Brandstein, Michael C. Ford, Rex Weiner and John Densmore the readers will include John Harris, Bill Duke, Pegarty Long, Herbert T. Schmidt Jr., Doug Knott, Jerry Garcia, Sarah Maclay, Gail Wronsky, L.K. Thayer, Stephen J. Kalinich and S.A. Griffin, with works by Diane DiPrima, Gary Snyder, LeRoi Jones, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski and others.

'Casino Jack and the United States of Money' MPAA rating: R for some language Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes Playing: In selected theaters

My colleague, Jack Nelson, believed in old-fashioned virtues: Get your facts straight. Check them, and check them again. Don't be afraid to cross swords with the powerful. Above all, break news whenever you can. Jack, who died Wednesday at 80, played various roles during his 54-year career. He was a political analyst, a television pundit, a manager who led The Times' Washington bureau when it had more than 40 journalists. But he described himself first as a reporter, and that was the job he saw as most important to both the newspaper and the public it served.

American Airlines has found Jack the Cat , the pet that escaped its carrier at JFK Airport in August and became an overnight Facebook star, and reports that the pet is "healthy, safe and well. " "Jack was found in the customs room and was immediately taken by AA team members to the airport vet service, VetPort, where a microchip scan confirmed that the cat is indeed Jack," the airline announced Tuesday night on its Facebook page called AA's Search for Jack the Cat. The announcement was followed by this post on another Jack the Cat FB fan page with almost 16,000 followers: "The vet reported to Karen that he is dehydrated and has lost a good amount of weight, though she said that all things considered, he wasn't in bad shape.

Jack the Cat is back -- in the news. The ginger-colored cat found Tuesday at JFK Airport underwent surgery Thursday for a wound on his leg but remains fragile after weeks without regular food and water.  American Airlines, which lost the cat on Aug. 25, says it will pay Jack's veterinary bills and, if asked, transport for the cat and owner Karen Pascoe when Jack is able to travel. Spokesman Tim Smith says he doesn't know how much the care will cost. "We're just focusing now on helping to see that Jack gets back up to full health," he said.

Jack the Ripper's Secret Confession The Hidden Testimony of Britain's First Serial Killer David Monaghan and Nigel Cawthorne Skyhorse Publishing: 336 pp., $24.95

Nothing seems to stop "Jungle" Jack Hanna. Facing down dangerous animals and persnickety late-night hosts, the congenial wildlife expert and dedicated conservationist in the trademark khaki suit has been TV fixture for the last 30 years. Now, despite having just undergone a double knee replacement, Hanna is doing a national theater tour that comes to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach on Saturday. "As long as I don't have to run around too much after any animals I will be fine," he laughed by phone from his home in Montana, where he is recuperating.

It's been a long time since wearing sunglasses was just about shading the eyes from the glare of the sun. Just as often, that pair of Wayfarers, cat-eyes or aviators is used to create an air of inaccessibility and mystery. That's especially true among the celebrity set seeking a disguise and rock musicians trying to cultivate an anti-establishment vibe behind impenetrably inky or mirrored lenses. But, thanks to the latest celebri-trend - custom-made, lightly tinted lenses in light neutrals or pale pops of color - sunglasses are no longer an accessory that looks cool at the beach or behind the wheel but affected indoors and elsewhere.

"Bernie," a quirky tragi-comedy starring Jack Black as a meticulous mortician, a faithful Methodist, a good neighbor and an improbable murderer, is a true-life Texas tale so perfectly told it seems more like eavesdropping than moviegoing. This is writer-director Richard Linklater at his wry, whimsical best, and considering he was the filmmaker behind 1993's "Dazed and Confused," that makes the movie something of a milestone. Always an articulate voice for closely observed stories of ordinary lives and random encounters, the filmmaker has truly come home in"Bernie.

In Richard Raskind's "The Bridge Club," presented by Simon Productions at Deaf West Theatre, two strangers meet on the Golden Gate Bridge at the same time with the same suicidal intentions. Jack (Christopher Franciosa) has just learned that he's had a recurrence of cancer, in this case inoperable.  Sue (Nancy Dobbs Owen) is a scrappy former foster kid who has just been slapped with a lengthy prison term for check fraud and can't handle the thought of incarceration. In such a situation, the etiquette gets a bit sticky.  Should it be "Ladies first?"

Early in the movie "Bernie," a character describes the distinct regions of Texas with an on-screen map as a guide, noting that East Texas is "where the South begins. This is life behind the Pine Curtain. " It is against that specific regional identity that the film's darkly comic tale of murder amid the rhythms of small-town life takes place. "Having grown up there, that map is really the spiel I give people when they ask, 'What does East Texas look like?'" said filmmaker Richard Linklater, a lifelong Texas resident who has made films such as "Slacker" and "The Newton Boys" explicitly set in the state.

Looks as if Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne have some gifts to grab: Son Jack Osbourne and his sister Kelly are both celebrating new additions to the family this week. Jack, featured on the family's star-making MTV reality show, welcomed daughter Pearl on Tuesday with his fiancee, Lisa Stelly.  Already 8 pounds, 6 ounces, little Pearl should eventually have the upper hand on the other addition to the clan: Kelly Osbourne just adopted a Pomeranian named Story. "I got a new dog that i rescued she's a pom that was pretty much kept in a [cage]

Re "Jack Smith, Urbane and Wry Times Columnist, Dies," Jan. 10: Jack Smith was a gentle soul who wrote about life in an ever-changing city we know as Los Angeles. His humor and insightful look at our giant, little city was often the highlight of The Times. His philosophy about our town and our lives made me think of the Transcendentalist writers Emerson and Thoreau. Jack Smith was our transcendentalist. I will miss him. ESTHER J. BENJAMINS-GASS Los Angeles The Life & Style section on Mondays will be strangely vacant without Smith's column.

The Mostly True Story of Jack A Novel Kelly Barnhill Little, Brown: 323 pp., $16.99, ages 8 and up Fantastical middle-grade mysteries have long been populated with protagonists confronted with evildoing and tasked with righting wrongs. A negligent parent is par for the course, as are the usual archetypal go-tos of modern storytelling — witches and werewolves. But "The Mostly True Story of Jack" offers a unique opponent — a soul-snatching "Lady" who lives in a "world under the world," opening up chasms in Iowa cornfields and gobbling down kids.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Mark Trumbo knew there was a chance he could play five positions this season. The Angels utility player did not, however, expect to play all five within a five-game span. But there was Trumbo starting in right field against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night, capping a five-game string in which he started at designated hitter Thursday night, in left field Friday night, at third base Saturday night and at first base on Sunday. “It's fairly interesting,” said Trumbo, who was pushed off first base by the signing of Albert Pujols.

As liquor sales boom, Beam Inc. is expanding its spirits empire, paying $605 million in cash to buy the Pinnacle Vodka and Calico Jack rum brands from White Rock Distilleries. Beam's long list of products already include Jim Beam and Maker's Mark bourbon, Courvoisier cognac, Canadian Club whiskey and Skinnygirl Cocktails (which saw a 388% boom in volume sales last year, according to research group Technomic). What it doesn't have are vodka flavors such as Atomic Hots, Cake, Gummy and Whipped Cream.