The
School Library Journal reviews - as a matter of fact summarises rather than reviews -
Brian James's The Heights:
Gr 9 Up–This bleak tale of star-crossed love will have little appeal for teens. Angry, orphaned Henry has been raised as a brother to sweet daydreamer Catherine, though their feelings for each other run much deeper than that of siblings. After her father dies at the beginning of the novel, her domineering brother, Hindley, drives the two apart. Catherine finds solace with Edgar, the preppy son of a wealthy neighbor, while Henry becomes caught up in violence at his new public high school. After another tragedy further widens the gap between Henry and Catherine, she resolves to make a clean break with him, but then yet another tragedy occurs. James is known for his unflinching novels about teens battling issues such as child abuse and depression. In The Heights, he cleverly alternates between Henry’s and Catherine’s points of view of the same incidents to show how their feelings for each other change over the course of the book. However, the angst is over-the-top even for a YA novel, and the attempts at profundity fall flat. Send readers to Wuthering Heights instead.–(Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD)
The
Toronto Star makes a list of the top 5 Sophomore Book Flops and Shirley appears on it:
Jane Eyre has entered the canon as one of the foremost examples of Romantic fiction in the English language; Shirley has not. This 1849 attempt at novelistic political commentary was not reprinted in her lifetime. (Bert Archer)
Well, not exactly, although Shirley was not the big success that Jane Eyre was, a second edition was published in 1852 (dated 1853), in Charlotte Brontë's lifetime.
Not the first time that Shirley has this doubtful honour.
Antonia Quark on
The New Statesman reviews a BBC Radio 4 programme:
The Grandfather of Self Help, 2 July, 11.30am, Radio 4) told the story of the journalist Samuel Smiles, whose book Self Help was published on the same day as The Origin of Species in 1859, and went on to sell more copies than the Bible that century.
And applies the self-help techniques of the book
He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys (Hardcover) by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo to Jane Eyre with hilarious results:
All self-help books are useless, of course. I mean, take, for instance, He’s Just Not That Into You, the American mega-seller that promotes hardline tactics for women in dead-end relationships, and apply its advice to some of the great romances of literature: “Dear HJNTIY, I am in love with my boss. He dressed as a gypsy to fool me into revealing my feelings but still fails to make a move. Please help.”
“Dear Jane, if a guy is happy to hang out with you wearing earrings and a petticoat then he’s definitely not that into you. Wake the fuck up.”
USA Today interviews Jack Murnighan, author of
Beowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits who makes the following (gender-oriented) recommendation:
Q:What would you recommend for people who think classics are too stuffy?
A: If you're a guy, read Beowulf. I call my book Beowulf on the Beach because I did catch myself reading Beowulf in a foldable chair in the Hamptons and really enjoying it. It's really short. It's only 70 pages and has a ton of action. So in some ways, it's a perfect beach read. It has a lot of violence and battle scenes, so typically men are going to like it more, although not exclusively.
Q: What else?
A: Wuthering Heights is a great book for women to go back to and read again. It's compelling, romantic, creepy, gripping and well-written. And if you know it was written by a woman who more or less was never allowed out of her house, you wonder, how did she came up with these crazy characters? How did she come up with all this drama and all this intensity? And you realize, wow, she must have been smoldering inside. (Carol Memmott)
Of course we like it when someone recommends Wuthering Heights but the great-book-for-women thing does get tiring.
Stephanie Harper on the
Denver Entertainment Examiner publishes a list of summer reads for the lover of literature, including Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea:
4. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys- This incredible novel, based on the infamous Bertha in Bronte’s Jane Eyre (Rochester’s supposedly crazy first wife), is not only set in the beautiful and tropic 1840’s Jamaica, but the sensuality of Antoinette Cosway, and the world she is a part of, makes this a perfect summer read. The plot brings to light several feminist issues with the inclusion of the signature Rhys woman in Antoinette, but also serves as a lovely and powerful critique of British colonialism, and capitalism in general. It is tragic, but engaging, and sure to be a fast read.
Gamasutra interviews Dan Pinchbeck, writer and producer of the single-player
mod for Valve Corporation's
Half-Life 2:
Dear Esther. The interviewer finds echoes of Wuthering Heights in this adaptation:
Comparisons between such works as Wuthering Heights and The Turn of the Screw are obvious, and not at all unjustified. How do you think Dear Esther can only work as a game, rather than a short story or novella?
Wow. Thanks again. I didn’t really imagine it would ever get much attention at all, to be honest, so the way it’s been picked up and talked about is still a massive surprise to me. (Phill Cameron)
Keighley News reports the recent charity walk at Haworth in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust lead by the actress Jenny Agutter (The Railway Children). The
Bennington Banner advises GOP's politicians tactics to reconcile with their voters:
The GOP understands that many of its pillars have worked tirelessly in the grueling arena of state and national politics to attain the high plateaus of accomplishment that they now enjoy. The bestowment of political celebrity upon some men oftentimes can lead to a delusional state wherein they recast themselves as great characters from romantic literature; Heathcliff, if you will, as dressed by Calvin Klein. (Alden Graves)
5-Squared posts about Agnes Grey,
Medb's Montage has a brief (and not very positive) review of
Jane Eyre. The Graphic Novel and
Study Abroad: English Adventure!! posts about an
epic trip to Top Withens.
Finally, the
Brussels Brontë Blog talks about a recent meeting and
the Brontë Sisters has added several additional posts.
Categories: Agnes Grey, Books, Brussels, Comics, Haworth, Jane Eyre, References, Shirley, Wide Sargasso Sea, Wuthering Heights
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