Is ‘To The Lighthouse’ a Top Ten Challenge? PW Posts Their Most Difficult Reads

August 6, 2012

By Tom Blunt

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Virginia Woolf/Photo courtesy of LOC.gov

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Okay, be honest with me: Did you go see “Total Recall” over the weekend, or were you scared off by reviews calling it “instantly forgettable” and so forth? Thank goodness nothing can tarnish our memories of the original. Case in point, last week I was lucky enough to exchange a few words with Lycia Naff, the actress who played the three-breasted prostitute in Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 version. When I asked if she had any advice for Kaitlyn Leeb, the newcomer who reprised the role, Naff said: “Be nice to your fans and keep your legs crossed. Blouse open. But legs crossed.” Were wiser words ever spoken?

If you’re starting to get a bit bored with your beach reads and feel up to something more challenging, check out Publishers Weekly‘s guide to the top ten most difficult books. I assume they’re talking about books that are totally worth the effort, considering Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood is riding at the top there. Finnegans Wake is hardly a surprise, but I’m certainly intrigued to see Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse thrown into the mix. I look forward to brushing up on these; it looks like the next couple of months are going to be … difficult.

Americans have a love/hate relationship with television: We know it’s bad for us, but we can’t stop watching. This has been articulated in pop culture via terrifying things literally coming out of the TV screen. Here are six of the most heinous cinematic examples. Of course, the popular alternative to this is getting sucked into the TV (here’s a good example from “Twilight Zone: The Movie”).

Here’s an adaptation you may not have seen — a short film based on the story “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut. Any Dystopian future that contains both Julie Hagerty and Patricia Clarkson is one I wanna end up in!

Tags: Djuna Barnes, Kurt Vonnegut, Lycia Naff, Paul Verhoeven, To the Lighthouse, Total Recall, Virginia Woolf