Going out

        Ernest Gaines: The On the Same Page citywide book club calls out the big guns: Ernest J. Gaines, author of A Lesson Before Dying, lectures and answers audience questions. 2:30 p.m. today, University of Cincinnati's Shoemaker Center, free. 556-6000. (Can't make it? See the TV item below.)

        "Swing': The national touring production of the hit Broadway musical high-steps its way into a two-week run at the Aronoff Center. Opens 8 p.m. today, Procter & Gamble Hall, presented by Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Cincinnati, $35-$53. 241-7469.

        Symphony singers: Chicago Symphony Singers, a 24-piece professional chamber choir launched from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra singers, tunes up with musical settings of Shakespearean texts, familiar classical works and a newly commissioned piece. 7:30 p.m. today, Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati, $16-$20. 556-4183.

        At Bogart's: Face to Faceheadlines a right raucous all-punk night with The Movie Life and Thrice. 7 p.m. today, 2621 Vine St., Corryville, $15. 562-4949.

Staying in

        TV picks: Tough choice: CIA agent Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) confronts nemesis Victor Drazen (Dennis Hopper) on 24 (9 p.m., Channels 19, 45), while Frasier is embarrassed on a teen talk show (9 p.m., Channels 5, 22).

        • TV Critic John Kiesewetter says viewers may call or e-mail comments about A Lesson Before Dying during On the Same Page: An Evening with Ernest J. Gaines (8 p.m., Channel 48). The lecture will also be webcast at Cincinnati.com.

The Goods

        Video picks

        Critic's Picks: Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman deliver fine performances in the newly released military thriller Behind Enemy Lines, says Enquirer film critic Margaret A. McGurk. New on DVD today is Francois Truffaut's classic French love triangle, Jules and Jim (1962).

Planning Ahead

        24 hours out: Geoffrey Martin, honorary keeper of the Monument Room at Christ's College, delivers the low-down on famous Egyptian archaeologist Lorenzo Dow Covington. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Cincinnati Art Museum, Eden Park, $7-$9. 721-2787.

        48 hours out: Best-selling author and crime queen Mary Higgins Clark introduces her new Daddy's Little Girl, noon-1:30 p.m. Thursday, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Rookwood Pavilion, Norwood. 396-8960.

        72 hours 'til Friday: The Main Public Library hosts a Genealogy Fair and Family History Night which includes, drum roll please, the first release of the 1930 Census of the Cincinnati Area. 5:30-9 p.m., 800 Vine St., downtown. 369-6905.

       Contact Jim Knippenberg by phone: 768-8513; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jknippenberg@enquirer.com

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Workplace wellness
Mary Higgins Clark grounded in reality
Page turners
Russo stays grim, gritty, yet hopeful
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