The kids will never read Agnes Grey

The San Jose Mercury News publishes a curious story of a nowadays Guy Montag:

With the zeal of a soul-saver, Robert Wright has delved into garbage bins, filled up his minivan and made space in his Willow Glen basement, rescuing books once destined for oblivion.
This week, Wright, 57, rumpled in sweatpants and a T-shirt, rushed to Morrill Middle School after the Berryessa school board had declared 686 library books surplus. The teacher browsed through volumes laid out on tables. He filled boxes until the custodian turned out the lights and chased him out. He returned Friday morning, his triumph mixed with amazement and distress.
" Why get rid of 'The Yearling'? Or 'Leaves of Grass'! How could anybody say there just isn't room for 'Leaves of Grass'?" he asked. "If they were throwing out 'Captain Underpants' I'd understand, but not 'Leaves of Grass!' "
School libraries periodically cull worn, obsolete and sometimes underused books from their collection. In Berryessa, they're pulled from shelves and stamped: "Material is inaccurate. Does not meet district standards. Stereotypes gender or culture."
Sometimes, media technician Jeanne Palmer said, the library has five or six copies of a books - as was the case with "The Witch of Blackbird Pond." Other books, like Anne Bronte's "Agnes Grey," she said, "The kids will never read." She judges that in part by the dust accumulated on top. (Sharon Noguchi)

That's the way literature has to be judged, no doubt. What a shame.

Margot Livesey's The House on Fortune Street is reviewed in the Washington Times (where there can also be read online the first chapter):

But the book's hopefulness has an even deeper source: the continuity of the English literary tradition. All the characters have sincere attachments to canonical British authors, going so far as to travel to their houses to observe how they lived. Sean has his beloved Keats, of course, while Dara often compares herself with Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. (Donna Rifkind)

The Book Reporter reports the appearance of Meg Cabot's The Babble Queen Gets Hitched. We knew that the author was a Brontëite, but her new book actually begins with a Wuthering Heights quote:

Chapter One

Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same. --- Emily Brontë (1818-1848), British novelist and poet

On the blogosphere: Roxy the Killer offers an ineffable Wuthering Heights analysis in her latest installment of Because You Suck. More literary creation, poetry in this case, Anna E. Evans posts the following on Dreaming in Iambic Pentameter:

A couple of acceptances to report. “Emily Bronte Begins Wuthering Heights” finally found a home in The Delaware Valley Poets Anthology, which will be good for my local profile.

Le Blog de Lorelai (in French) recommends Villette. AnimeGirl's Book Blogging posts about Cara Lockwood's Wuthering High. Finally, if you are reading Jane Eyre right now you may be interested in sharing your thoughts in this Librarything forum.

Categories: Agnes Grey, Books, Jane Eyre, Poetry, References, Villette, Wuthering Heights