Heathcliff and hardcore fitness

The Observer reviews the Villette (abridged) audiobook read by Mandy Weston released this summer:

Lucy Snowe, unhappy but of independent spirit, leaves England and (rather implausibly) finds work in a girls' school in the fictional town of Villette. She longs for comfort, but has to suffer the pain of watching the man she loves waste himself on unworthy women. But what about Monsieur Emanuel, the man who seems at first to Lucy that 'waspish little despot'? And, Listener, why is Lucy haunted by sightings of a spectral nun? Brontë's 19th-century syntax - and her heroine's mental turmoil - can weigh heavily, and Lucy seems decades older than her 23 years, but the narrator's young voice provides an appealing lightness which gives the story a necessary lift. (Rachel Redford)

We have today a couple of Heathcliff sightings in two Times's articles (1 and 2). The first one is the now almost stereotypical Gordon Brown reference:

Even Gordon Brown has been served up as Heathcliff/Stalin/Mr Bean/Superman/ Roosevelt, as if he has to be a different person every few weeks to deserve our interest. (Rachel Johnson)

And the second one appears in the Diet & Fitness section (!):

The UK may not have the climate for luxuriant fly-and-flop spa holidays, nor the natural resources for therapeutic thalassotherapy breaks, but it does have bracing elements, rugged coastline and dense woodland — a combination that suggests not so much a delicate Cathy in search of her Heathcliff as a modern-day Private Benjamin seeking hardcore fitness of the triumph-over-adversity kind. (Helen Brown)

On the blog's world: Bear Alley reviews the Classical Comics's adaptation of Jane Eyre:

Although the language is that used by Charlotte Bronte (the descriptions are abridged but the dialogue and captions are all from the original novel), there is no room for mistaking what the characters are saying or thinking thanks to the illustrations. The images bring the story to life with delightful clarity. (...)
Artistically, Jane Eyre is nothing short of superb and the book is an unexpected delight as poor Jane suffers one dreadful torment after another before she and her true love can finally be together. Classical Comics should be applauded for their efforts (indeed, they have been, with an IPPY award last May).

Meloukhia now posts about Wuthering Heights and The Classics and Antiquities Revisited posts about its author. Mog's Blog and More... briefly reviews Villette. Finally, I'm on my way, don't know where I'm goin'... visits Haworth and the Brontë country.

Categories: Audio-Radio, Comics, Haworth, Jane Eyre, References, Villette, Wuthering Heights