Not enough Heathcliff

The Telegraph and Argus reviews Michael Baumber's A History of Haworth:

Many Haworth residents feel there's a lot more to their village than those famous writing sisters.
Michael Baumber certainly thinks agrees, and his comprehensive history of the area reflects this wider interest.
He gives as an exhausting [exhaustive?]-- and at times exhausting -- insight into religious, social and industrial life.
The Bronte name does appear several times, but this is mostly referring to father Patrick's activities.
While the girls were roaming the moors, scribbling in private or dying tragically, Rev Bronte was playing a leading role in Haworth life.
This was something Emily, Anne and Charlotte didn't appear to do: and as Baumber says, after their deaths "in the West Riding there was a distinct antipathy to the Brontes".
There are plenty of other books devoted to the life, work and influence of the Bronte siblings. What interests Baumber more is the nitty-gritty of life in a typical cluster of Pennine villages: Haworth, Stanbury and Oxenhope.
Over 318 pages -- illustrated with dozens of photographs -- he highlights the Worth Valley's history as never before.
The first third follows the area from the Ice Age, through feudalism, reclamation and Civil War, to the 18th century domination of Methodist pioneer William Grimshaw.
In many ways these chapters could be the early story of any Northern community as it grew in size and complexity.
At times the prose reads like an extended list of people and places but it's interesting to spot the first appearances of names still known locally: Heaton, Midgley, Emmott, Pighells.
The book becomes more readable -- and ultimately fascinating -- when Baumber moves into the last 250 years, the timescale contracting and the focus tightening.
Chapters are generally devoted to specific issues -- religion, local government, textiles, the railway, general village life and world wars.
A final chapter brings Haworth's story into the 21st century, mentioning Bronte tourism, traffic problems, school catchment areas and even car clamper Ted Evans.
Michael Baumber's A History of Haworth is equally definitive as Ian Dewhirst's History of Keighley, ideal both for Haworth residents with a deep interest in their village's past, and others with a more general interest in Northern rural or industrial history. (David Knights)

Mia Wasikowska is still being featured in a good many news outlets with plenty of references to her forthcoming role as Jane Eyre. Teen Vogue quotes:

On camera, she's about to take on one of the biggest love stories of all time, having won the title role in a new version of Jane Eyre (opposite Inglourious Basterds' Michael Fassbender). "I'm completely excited," she says, as if there were any room for doubt. (Lauren Waterman)

The Guardian also mentions it.

Another film is The Four-Faced Liar which includes references to Wuthering Heights. After Ellen reviews it:

We begin with introductions all around. Trip (Todd Kubrak) is a cool, New Jersey-bred literature major that lives in a fabulously grungy New York City apartment with Bridget (Marja Lewis Ryan), an equally cool, womanizing lesbian with a real thing for Emily Bronte. In fact, we meet our heroine as she sits on a toilet, smoking a cigarette, a copy of Wuthering Heights in hand. [...]
Molly and Bridget also get along well, forging a friendship over Wuthering Heights and study sessions that soon begin to drip with sexual tension. (Danielle Riendeau)

And there's yet another review of Tiffany Murray's Diamond Star Halo which quotes its Heathcliff mention. From the Financial Times:

Fred – welcomed by Halo’s mother as “part seal-pup, part bloody Heathcliff!”– fails to hold the limelight: too much seal-pup, not enough Heathcliff. With the action increasingly sentimental, the reader is left ruing the lack of Angela Carter’s darkness. (Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

This week's featured poem on The Reader Online is Charlotte Brontë's Pleasure. Consumer Traveler has an article about Nora Roberts's Inn Boonsboro.

Wuthering Heights 2009 is reviewed by Defenestration (quite negatively) and 变得坚强. Popped Density goes over the many, not-so-well-known adaptations of Wuthering Heights. Dan's Blog considers the novel a 'reading fail'. Home is where the Air Force sends us writes about The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë. The All About the Brontës Challenge continues generating interesting posts: Stephanie's Written Word and The Reading Life post about Jane Eyre the novel, Jane Eyre 2006 and Becoming Jane Eyre. Another challenge, Women Unbound, is the reason behind this also interesting post on Colonialism and Jane Eyre on Our Mutual Read.

Categories: Books, Haworth, Jane Eyre, Movies-DVD-TV, References, Wuthering Heights