Food in exchange for reading and other news

We have a couple of Brontëites in today's newsround. The Stanford Daily interviews professor Claire Jarvis, who admits

Favorite book: “Wuthering Heights”

But she also tells a bit about a project she's currently working on:

Primary research interest/project: The manuscript I’m working on focuses on a character system prevalent in the 19th-century novel, the sexualized (but unmarried) dyad made up of a strong, imperious woman and an enthralled, submissive man. I suggest that the cultural currency of this pairing alters as woman’s status in the social and political world changes and, more, that it offers a useful formal lens through which we can see the centrality of the sexual to the novel’s marriage plot. In other words, by focusing on these pairings, we begin to see the importance of the sexual body in marriage plots that at first glance focus on less embodied personal characteristics (like character, temperament and complexity). This project focuses on the British novel, from Emily Brontë to D. H. Lawrence. I’m also interested in mid-20th-century British comic realism and its tendency to mine 19th-century British literature as a body of knowledge.

This columnist from the Gulf Daily News also seems to be - or to have been anyway - a Brontëite:

During my teens, these were replaced by drama and romance from the novels of Jane Austen, Wilkie Collins and the Brontë sisters, along with a host of English, Urdu and Arabic poets. (Seemi Saify)

And according to AccessNorthGa.com, local Brontëites might get to keep their beloved but library-owned copy of Wuthering Heights (or any other book really) a little longer and not get fined, not in money, anyway.

If you didn't return your copy of "Wuthering Heights" to the library on time, you might not have to shell out the cash to pay for that late fine.
Throughout November, the Lumpkin County and Dawson County libraries will accept food in exchange for library fine payments.
Chestatee Regional Library System officials said two cans or boxes of non-perishable food will serve as payment for one dollar worth of fines.
They said the food will then be distributed to local food pantries during the holiday season. (Katie Highsmith)

Which sounds like a truly great initiative.

There are rumours and question marks about who might be starring in the film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Obsessed with Film says that,

Pajiba have also heard that ‘Alice in Wonderland’ actress Mia Wasikowska (who is actually playing Jane Eyre in a forthcoming biopic, so that would be a crime of repeating herself surely?) is also in the mix. (Matt Holmes)

But would it?

EDIT: An alert from the Jane Austen's House Museum in Chawton:

Literature in Context: 9 October 2010 - Jane Austen’s House Museum
Mad Men: a comparison of select male characters from Austen and Brontë novels
Contact: Catherine Coleman: Catherine.coleman@jane-austens-house-museum.org.uk 01420 83262

Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover posts very interestingly about recent Brontë-related Oxford University Press releases, wonders whether Anne is underestimated and concludes that she is (with which we wholeheartedly agree). Queirosiana writes in Portuguese about Jane Eyre. And Flickr user stargirlphotography posts the first of her three forthcoming Brontë series, this one based on Wuthering Heights:

Brontë Series I: Wuthering Heights

Location: Hathersage Moor
Clothing Designers: Victorian Muse (mens jacket)
and Kindred Spirits Bridal-Originals aka Jema Hewitt (womens clothing)
Models: Wes Thomas & Elen Miao
MUA, Hair, Photography & PP: Myself

© Katherine Roberts/Stargirlphotography 2010

Categories: Alert, Anne Brontë, Brontëites, Movies-DVD-TV, Talks, Wuthering Heights