Heathcliff, eco-friendly

Justine Picardie's Charlotte Brontë's ring (check our review of My Mother's Wedding Dress) reappears in her latest article for The Telegraph:

Presumably it was a similar need to provide a recognisable signal that motivated the Victorian tradition of mourning jewellery, whether made of black jet or woven from the hair of a lost loved one. The latter might nowadays seem macabre, yet still retain a powerfully eerie quality, as will be evident to anyone who has examined the locks of hair at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, lovingly preserved in brooches after each of the three sisters died, living proof of the real women who once inhabited a near-mythic landscape.
Previous generations of my own family cherished a ring said to have belonged to Charlotte Brontë – a precious relic from a saint held holy by her admirers (subsequently stolen by a burglar who was possibly not as fervent a fan of Jane Eyre).

The Guardian's Book Blog is asking about your favourite underrated writers. Yep, Anne is mentioned:

After the gloomy vitriol of yesterday's discussion about the world's most overrated writers, today we're going to be celebrating the underrated, the overlooked, the writers who we think deserve a spotlight but for whatever reason aren't getting it.
belwebb came up with the idea, so let's start with some of her suggestions (of which, possibly because they are so very underrated, I have read none): The Solitude of Thomas Cave by Georgina Harding; Julius Winsome by Gerard Donovan; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë; Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell; The Assistant by Bernard Malamud; Disturbing the Peace by Richard Yates; and The Short Day Dying by Peter Hobbs. (Alison Flood)

Was Wuthering Heights, the house, eco-friendly? George Clarke in The Telegraph has made us doubt it:

Add thick curtains at windows or doors They may look cumbersome and, if you are not careful, your bedroom will end up looking like something from Wuthering Heights. But if you are serious about conserving energy, you should ditch blinds and buy something more substantial.

Pen names are discussed in the The Washington Post:

The reasons for hiding behind fake names are as varied as the writers who do it. Satirists such as François-Marie Arouet and Eric Arthur Blair (better known as Voltaire and George Orwell) used pseudonyms as a shield from critics and irritable sectors of society. Charlotte Brontë sidestepped the soft misogyny of the male-dominated publishing industry by first submitting the novel "Jane Eyre" under the pen name Currer Bell, though critics and readers were astounded at the feminine empathy of the novel's alleged gentleman author, according to Joyce Carol Oates in her essay "Pseudonymous Selves." (Tawny Tipples aka Dan Zak)

PopMatters interviews director/composer/singer/actor... Lonette McKee:

When you were growing up, what were the films and performances that most inspired you?
(...) I would say I watched mainly the classics: Marlon Brando, Bette Davis, I adore them. I can watch A Streetcar Named Desire every night. I could never tire of it! Same with Wuthering Heights or Sunset Boulevard and all of the great classic films, I’m a fan. (Matt Mazur)

Ben Price, Nick Tilsley in Coronation Street, talks about recent developments in Corry:

Ben said: "When Natasha tells him she's expecting, Nick feels like he's been pushed into a corner.
"He's never wanted to rush into things - she's his girlfriend, but not the love of his life. They go out for a drink, she makes his tea - it's hardly 'Wuthering Heights'. Except for her, it is like that." (Bang Showbiz quoting Inside Soap Magazine)

A nice story of four-leaf clovers found in an old edition of Jane Eyre can be read in Forbes:

The four leaf clovers were found in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Published by The American News Company, circa 1918. (Michael Popek)

CronkNews reports how the Dewey Decimal system is becoming obsolete and will be replaced by the more clear and intelectually stimulating NetFlix categories system. There is some debate about where to place some books:

“There has definitely been some healthy debate as to where some of our books will now live,” said Poleman, recounting a particularly heated debate about whether Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights belonged in the “Romantic Comedy” or “Cerebral Drama” section. (Brody Truce)

Just joking, of course. Of course? Well, for the moment it is... of course.

In The Oconee Leader there's a student who didn't like Jane Eyre, the Yorkshire Post interviews artist Ashley Jackson who says basically the same things about the Brontës he said some days ago; the Brontës featured in yesterday's Financial Times crossword (Bell-e); The Sassy Curmudgeon has Fun with Dick and Jane (Eyre); Books, Recipes and Life, OH MY! and raaga123 are not very enthusiastic about Wuthering Heights; A World of Science Fiction posts about Sharon Finn's Jenna Starborn; ItS mY StoRy has read one book by each of the three sisters (in Indonesian); A Few of my Favourite Books posts about Villette and Frances Towers's Tea with Mr Rochester; Julie is impressed with Jane Eyre (in Romanian) and Les Brontë à Paris talks about Constantin Heger's teaching methods (in French).

Finally, Libby's Books (the blog of Libby Sternberg, author of the upcoming Sloane Hall) posts an quiz (with answers) about Jane Eyre adaptations.

Categories: Anne Brontë, Books, Humour, Jane Eyre, References, Villette, Weirdo, Wuthering Heights