Brontë Sisters and Lessons in Love

The New York Post asks Anne Rice about her personal library:

Jane Eyre. After my mother died, my father sent my sisters and me to a boarding school where we slept in metal beds in the attic, with a nun on each corner. There was one bathtub and we’d line up for baths every night . . . When I read this book in high school, I ate it up, especially Jane’s courage as she went into the world. (Barbara Hoffman)

More preValentine articles. This one on Varsity talks about classic literature and love:

Even recent crazes like the dreaded Twilight series show us how the romantic mindset of the human race stays the same. That modern day unattainable hero Edward Cullen, the flawed man in need of saving, is just Heathcliff with fangs; moody, broody and very Byronic.
The Brontë sisters made a significant contribution to my lessons in love, with Emily telling me never to go off and marry someone I don’t love, like silly Cathy in Wuthering Heights, but also to avoid marrying men who’ll kill my dog and love other women – like Heathcliff does. From Jane Eyre I learned to never settle for being second best, not to become imprisoned by love or adhere to conventions, ‘I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being’. Oh, and to walk away from married men (or, on reflection, not – hopefully the crazy wife will soon jump off a burning building and he’ll become available). (Thea Hawlin)

Richmond Times-Dispatch reviews The Flight of Gemma Hardy:

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day."
With that spare sentence in the 19th century, Charlotte Brontë began "Jane Eyre," the classic and beloved story of a girl's tumultuous journey into adulthood while facing cruelty, deprivation and deception.
"We did not go for a walk on the first day of the year."
And with those words, Margot Livesey starts "The Flight of Gemma Hardy," a reimaging of "Jane Eyre" that includes elements of Livesey's life and a novel that transports the reader into a gripping, affecting and ultimately healing world. (...)
Inspired by "Jane Eyre" but never merely derivative, "The Flight of Gemma Hardy" will, of course, appeal to readers of the earlier work. But such is its power, stamped with Livesey's originality, that even those to whom "Jane Eyre" is a stranger are likely to find this a rewarding read.
Livesey, a native of Scotland who now teaches at Emerson College and lives near Boston, explains that she is "writing back" to Brontë and not simply retelling "Jane Eyre." In doing so, she succeeds greatly. Livesey has created a story of flight, but in that flight, Gemma not only flees but also eventually soars. And Livesey, the acclaimed author of seven previous novels, aims for and reaches the skies in this work of love. (Jay Strafford)

Movie City News Gurus o'Gold have made their final predictions for the Best Costume Design Oscar and it seems that Michael O'Connor's chances for Jane Eyre 2011 are not many. HitFix says:

Best Costume Design is also rather all over the place. Most are expecting "Hugo" to pull it out, but a few of us have doubts. Ellwood, Movieline's Stu VanAirsdale and I are currently picking "Anonymous" (though I am by no means locked in), Stone is picking "The Artist" and Karger and Poland are picking "Jane Eyre." (Kristopher Tapley)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interviews the actress and theatre director Karla Boos:

My favorite character in fiction is ... maybe the madwoman in the attic after reading "Wide Sargasso Sea" and in general falling in love with Jean Rhys.

The David Hockney exhibition at London's Royal Academy is described in Los Angeles Times:

Though some Britons dismiss East Yorkshire as drab by comparison with the romantic heather and moors of Brontë Country to the west, in Hockney's hands the area is a riot of color — deep reds, shocking purples, splashy yellows and multiple shades of green in the trees, fields, paths and hawthorn bushes. The paintings and poster-size prints from iPad drawings evoke Van Gogh, Seurat, Rousseau and even Hockney himself from his earlier, sun-drenched period. (Henry Chu)

The Albany Times Union praises the pleasures of re-reading:

I want to go back and reread those books that I claim are my favorite (including Jane Eyre, which I listened to my daughter's class discuss and realized that a good portion was lost to memory). (Donna Liquori)

Short Stories reviews Jane Eyre 2011 and LAMP discusses the original novel; Forgotten Pages (in Italian) reviews Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael. Finally, a couple of YouTube videos: jeana1001 reads The Night of Storms Has Past by Emily Brontë and NirvanaCarrick  uploads a series of pictures of the Haworth Parsonage surroundings.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/02/12/2065512/dont-just-read-slow-down-and-savor.html#storylink=cpy