Grindhouse Heights

The House of Dead Maids continues accumulating good reviews. In the Buffalo News:

This beautifully written, dark tale is billed as “a chilling prelude” to Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights” and it combines Brontë family history with folklore of the Yorkshire moors in a most satisfactory way, in reimagining how such a man as Heathcliff might come to be. This is the tale of an orphan, young Tabby Aykroyd, who, though still a child herself, is brought to the crumbling mansion of Seldom House to serve as nanny to a young orphan boy whose wild behavior earns him the name “Heathen Git.” Tabby, who has been raised a Christian, is haunted by the ghost of the previous nursemaid, but even her darkest imaginings can’t conceive of the secret horror concealed by the house and its inhabitants. Those who have read “Wuthering Heights” will appreciate this brilliant, lyrically written tale, but it will engage even those who haven’t read Brontë’s masterpiece. Dunkle, author of the acclaimed Hollow Kingdom trilogy, notes that one Tabitha Aykroyd was the housekeeper to the Brontë family and little is known of her early life except that she told the young Brontës dark, otherworldly stories and young Emily was apparently entranced with them. (Jean Westmoore)

The Independent offers fashion advice for the autumn:

When it comes to footwear, the low-heeled Victoriana lace-up boots around right now are perfectly bluestocking, but if you want to keep things slightly more urban (and a little less Brontë), then opt for wedge ankle boots – either chic, smart and feminine styles at Gap or sci-fi, block heel, cut-outs at All Saints and Office – or update your wooden-soled summer sandals by pairing them with some enormous woollen socks. (Harriet Walker)

The Spoof makes fun about a (made-up) Wuthering Heights directed by Tarantino and with Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart as stars:

Quentin Tarantino is planning a movie of Emily Brontë's brooding vampire classic Wuthering Heights - with teen heartthrob Robert Pattinson as the orphan Heathcliff and Kristen Stewart as his doomed lover Cathy.
Taylor Lautner is set to play Cathy's husband Edgar. With Hugh Grant taking on a cameo role as old Mr Earnshaw.
"This is the greatest love story of all time", declared Tarantino. "Pattinson & Stewart will bring tears to the eyes and steam-up 3D lenses from Hollywood to Cannes".
Shooting will begin in the deserted uplands above England's famous Yorkshire Dales next autumn - when the mists on the moors will be at their most mysterious. (Colonel Juan)

Cincinnati Romance Novels Examiner interviews author Monica Burns:

Are there any authors who have influenced your work?
Dozens. I’ve been reading since I was four, and my tastes grew exponentially as I grew. Some of the influences on me were Victoria Holt, Baroness Ocrzy, Alexander Dumas, Charles Dickens, Charlotte Brontë, and many others when it comes to my historicals. (Interview by Renee Vincent)

TV.com EDIT: Premium Hollywood talks to Gemma Arterton about her role as Bathsheba in Tamara Drewe:

These characters are conundrums; we never really completely get them. Especially Bathsheba — she's promiscuous, she's petulant, she's spoiled, yet everybody loves her, yet she gets her own way. Why do we like her? We don't know, but there's something about her. She's a heroine. She's kind of like Cathy from 'Wuthering Heights.' (Bob Westal)

On the Brontë Parsonage Blog Richard Wilcocks posts about the recent Brontë Society Literary Luncheon talk by Jenny Uglow:

She is much in demand in the world of television when it comes to adaptations of the works of Elizabeth Gaskell for the simple reason that she is one of the world’s leading authorities on the novelist – and of course biographer of Charlotte Brontë. She was eloquently introduced by Patsy Stoneman, who emphasised her deep admiration and listed some of her works, like for example The Lunar Men (which won the James Tait Memorial Prize in 2002), A Life of Thomas Bewick and Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories.
The title of the address was ‘Wave-like hills’: Elizabeth Gaskell’s Brontë landscapes'.(Read more)

EDIT: An alert from Germany for today, October 11:

WDR Wissen
10.50 - 11.30 West.art: Bücher
Klassiker der Weltliteratur: Emily Brontës "Sturmhöhe" - Jörg Thadeusz im Gespräch mit Schauspielerin ChrisTIne Urspruch
Sie hatte ein Obsession: das Schreiben. Ein Jahr, bevor sie mit nur 30 Jahren an Tuberkulose starb, schrieb Emily Brontë unter einem männlichen Pseudonym ihren einzigen Roman "Sturmhöhe", der mit seinem Erscheinen 1847 einen Skandal auslöste. Im Gespräch mit Jörg Thadeusz erzählt ChrisTine Urspruch, warum sie die Welt der Emily Brontë bis heute so fasziniert. (Microsoft translation)

A teen who has read Wuthering Heights in The Saginaw News; The Telegraph & Argus promotes Hawortheen (next October 30 and 31 in Haworth); Sexuality & Love in the Arts talks about the Brontës; VBPL Recommends reviews April Lindner's Jane; A Taylor Made Life reviews Jane Eyre (in the audiobook version read by Wanda McCaddon); A Few of my Favourite Books compares Mr Rochester and Mr Thornton. Finally pjmimages uploads a Wycoller Hall picture to flickr.

Categories: Audio-Radio, Books, Elizabeth Gaskell, Humour, Jane Eyre, References, Wuthering Heights