Art historian Woodward roams widely in search of the pleasures of ruins, traveling from Sicily and Rome to Turkey, around his native England and off to Zanzibar. "If I am lonely in a foreign country," he confesses at the outset of these thought-provoking essays, " I search for ruins." He's a wonderful writer. In this infectiously compelling book, he meditates on the allure, majesty and history of our fascination with antiquities, mixing his own observations with those of writers, painters and architects. He pays proper homage to Rose Macaulay and her wonderful Pleasure of Ruins.  (TVL37, $16.00)