The meeting of mouths isn't only about sex and romance – it also conveys powerful cultural messages. So pucker up and lean in for a lesson in kissing.

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum

The past is a foreign country in more ways than one for the protagonists of Douglas Kennedy's novel. Largely set in Cold War Berlin, this hard-hitting love story tears down the dividing walls between past and present, showing how the course of history can turn in an instant. An author of consistently engaging and clever bestsellers, Kennedy has ranged from Stateside dramas to noirish thrillers. The Moment pulls together both strains in his fiction, marrying romantic tragedy with Le Carré-style espionage.

He was the best of men; he was the worst of men

Visit the beautiful backdrop for Spielberg's latest movie, before the crowds arrive. Mark Rowe sets a 'War Horse' course

Nothing succeeds quite like analysing success

Starring: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo

From the mum who thought it worse than a heroin addiction to the stern grandparent who wasn't bothered, coming out as gay can be easy or traumatic. Simon Callow, Stella Duffy, Ben Bradshaw and others tell Holly Williams about the ultimate moment of truth

Frank Capra's classic film It's a Wonderful Life has become as established  a landmark in the modern Christmas landscape as Dickens's story of Scrooge did in post-Victorian times.

The outspoken star, who died yesterday, played the game with style. By Tim Rich

By David Tremaynein new delhi

The summer after A-levels. I had promised myself that once all the cramming was over, I would buy 'Lolita'. I felt both furtive and outrageously adult as I purchased it in The Totnes Bookshop. I nurtured hazy notions of a racy read to ease my brain after all the Chaucer, imagining this was 'The Valley of the Dolls' with class.