Past, Present and Future books

The Guardian asks some writers about their favourite Christmas reads in a very Dickensian way: the past, present and future Christmas books. And this is the selection of Monica Ali:

For Christmas past I would choose Jane Eyre (Penguin), because I was given it as a Christmas present when I was 13 and I certainly don't remember anything else I was given that year. For Christmas present, Cormac McCarthy's The Road (Picador), which is a barely endurable reminder of the fragility and beauty of life. For Christmas future, look out for Hanif Kureishi's Something to Tell You (Faber), which I read far too late into last night.

And Anne Enright's:

When I was still at school, a boyfriend gave me Wuthering Heights (Penguin) and The Complete English Poems of John Donne (Penguin) for Christmas. What a fabulous double blow that was to a young girl's heart. Who knew? Up to this point he had merely been good at rugby. I read them over the holiday, thinking that he had, somehow, written them himself - and not only that, but he had done so with me in mind. It made me feel a bit peculiar, this discovery that men have souls, too. Of course, I realised, when we met again, that he had not written them himself, so that was a bit of a letdown. It was not because he had soul, it was because he had such impeccable manners. I had no manners at all, but I was suddenly loopers about Donne. And the moral of the story is: kick it high, but not out of the park.

Jacques Tourneur's 1943 I Walked With a Zombie is one of the movies chosen by The Glittering Eye if he was TCM's guest programmer:

For your late night viewing pleasure how about this creepy, atmospheric gem? Besides the atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a knife it has several other attractions. It’s a great Val Lewton-Jacques Tourneur picture. It features a solid performance by the gorgeous Frances Dee, IMO one of the most beautiful movie actresses ever. And it shows how material can be adapted in weird and wonderful ways—it’s an adaptation of Jane Eyre.

Isn't it romantic? submits Anna L'Estrange's Return to Wuthering Heights to the judgement of their readers (in Italian). There's also a brief comment of this 1978 sequel.

Categories: Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, Sequels