The Autumn bookshelf and other news

The Hillsboro Times-Gazette has an article on the 'Autumn bookshelf', a concept in which we also believe. One of the novels selected for this time of year is undoubtedly Wuthering Heights:

I still cannot smell mint cappuccino without feeling the cold wind of the moors.
"Wuthering Heights" is one of those books you sit down to read on a misty Sunday afternoon and find yourself suddenly a part of, far away and immersed in the lives of its characters. The first time I read it, I sat beside the Christmas Tree on a cold December afternoon, sipping mint chocolate cappuccino and completely oblivious to the world around me, while Emily Bronte's masterpiece took me through the mysterious lives entangled in two manors on the windblown moors of 19th-century England. When I was finished, I really felt like I had seen Cathy Linton's ghost moving down the neglected stone halls of Wuthering Heights!
While I am not the prolific reader of classic literature that I ought to be, these dark autumn nights and misty Sunday afternoons sometimes take me down cobblestone London streets and wide wet countryside, through ravaged battlefields and into dank French prisons. (Katie Wright)

Two other books are mentioned in the press today in connection to the Brontës. The California Literary Review discusses the already-mentioned Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius by Colin Dickey.

The 19th century science known as phrenology — which posited that the human skull conforms to the shape of the brain within, which in turn expresses in physical form one’s innate moral and intellectual faculties (crudely, that by feeling the shape of a person’s head you could tell whether he or she had great intellectual or creative powers, or was more likely a criminal) — had a brief but rich heyday. It influenced the thought and writings of the Brontë sisters, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and especially Walt Whitman, as well as scientists and physicians of the time. (David Loftus)

And The Miami Herald reviews Normal People Don't Live Like This, by Dylan Landis.

The Brontë sisters, Gustave Flaubert, Jane Austen -- their young women grew up with two paths: spinster or head of household, caged with or without dignity. But Leah could destroy herself in so many different ways. You hold your breath. What'll it be? (Susan Salter Reynolds)

We wouldn't just narrow it down to those two options - what about the (in)famous Fallen Woman, for instance?

The Columbus Telegram carries an article on the forthcoming production at Columbus High School: Jane Eyre, the Musical.

When Jenna Stecker first read Jane Eyre in middle school, she didn’t like the novel.
But when she found out the fall musical at Columbus High School would be that story, the senior decided to check out the book again.
“I fell in love with it,” Stecker said of her second reading.
Now Stecker finds herself playing the main character in the production of the 1847 novel written by Charlotte Bronte. The story focuses on Jane, who as a child is abused by her aunt and then sent to live in an orphanage. Eventually she is hired to be a governess by Edward Fairfax Rochester. She falls in love with him, but a secret prevents them from marrying.
Stecker said she thinks adults will be able to relate to the story because it is about being in a relationship and having difficulty making it work.
Much of the story is told through song. The score will be played by an orchestra and several professional musicians. (Julie Blum)

The Brontë side of the blogosphere is all about Jane Eyre today: A Certain Slant of Light, The Tin Angel and Women in Literature.

Categories: Books, Jane Eyre, Music, References, Theatre, Victorian Era, Wuthering Heights