Essential

Small World News Service shares the results of a recent survey intended to find out Britain's 100 essential books.

Literary experts today published a list of 100 ‘essential’ books – at least one of which can be found on every bookcase in Britain.
The catalogue of classics includes a diverse mix of literary genres including everything from Harry Potter to Jane Eyre to the saucy novel Fifty Shades of Grey.
Other titles featured include Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and The Man Who Thought Different, the late Steve Jobs’ biography.
Autobiographies from the likes of Frank Skinner, David Walliams, Miranda Hart and even Katie Price also feature on Britain’s bookshelves.
The research was commissioned by Bookmarkyourlibrary.org.uk, who trawled literary forums and websites to compile a the list of the best-loved books in Britain.
The book most people are likely to have gathering dust on the shelf is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling, followed by J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

The news is also featured by The Sun and Metro, which adds,

You might not think it deserves to be in the same breath as Wuthering Heights and Pride And Prejudice – but Fifty Shades Of Grey has gone from ‘mummy porn’ to full blown literary approval. (Fred Attewill)

The Huffington Post wonders if we need to identify with the protagonist to enjoy a novel.

And so we return to the question of whether fictional protagonists need to be relatable in order for readers to enjoy ourselves. If relatable merely means likable, then I think the answer is no: many classic fictional heroes and heroines, including Catherine Earnshaw in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights and Rodion Raskolnikov in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, are not particularly likable. But if we expand our definition of "relatable" to mean psychologically plausible, then I think the answer is yes. We may not always like, or even approve of, fictional protagonists like selfish Catherine and obsessive Raskolnikov. But I think we have much to gain from learning to recognize reflections of ourselves in them, even -- or perhaps especially -- when we want to deny any resemblances. There are, of course, many other good reasons to read literature: for entertainment, for instruction, for inspiration. But from the 18th century onward, novels have shown themselves to be remarkably effective, durable technologies for encouraging us to extend our understanding to others, no matter how different or unlikable they might initially appear. And if that isn't a good reason to pick up a good book, then I don't know what is. (Evan Gottlieb)

The Canberra Times on the connection between literature and music:

Up until a few years ago the only encounter I'd had with Wuthering Heights was Emily Brontë's classic text, a novel which I'd repeatedly started but never quite finished.
That all changed when a friend sat me down in front of YouTube to watch a young Kate Bush prancing throughout the English countryside in a red dress. Now, I can't think of the classic title without the accompanying dance routine.
Bush's 1978 single is by no means the first example of literature and music intertwining, nor is it the most significant, but it's always the one that comes to mind when I think about the relationship between the work of authors and musicians.
Literature has played a significant role in the work of many musicians, and vice versa, whether it's Nick Cave branding Charles Bukowski a jerk, The Antlers singing about Sylvia Plath or any of the musically obsessed novels by Nick Hornby. (Stephanie Anderson)

According to USA Today, the adaptation of The Crimson Petal and the White is a

 twisted (and quite explicit) miniseries variation on the Jane Eyre template (Susan Wloszczyna)

Generacción (Peru) reports that tomorrow, March 23rd, TVPerú will broadcast El placer de los ojos, which will feature a piece on book-to-film adaptations which will include a reference to Wuthering Heights (hopefully without the blunder):

Cumbres Borrascosas, publicada en 1947 por la inglesa Emyle (sic) Brontë. Ha tenido hasta siete adaptaciones. La más clásica ha sido la versión dirigida por Wylliam Wyler, que obtuvo hasta ocho nominaciones a los Premios Oscar en 1939, donde obtuvo el galardón a la Mejor Fotografía. (Jorge Luis Angobaldo Torres) (Translation)

The Telegraph and Argus does a follow-up on the 2014 Tour de France stages in Yorkshire:

Tourism group Welcome to Yorkshire is holding a number of roadshows across the county, and come to Haworth on Monday, April 22. This will be followed by similar events in Ilkley and Skipton in May.
The events will let businesses know what they can do to make the most of next June’s event, which will also pass through these three areas as well as Keighley, Oxenhope, Silsden and Stanbury.
It will also reveal more detailed plans for the 100 day cultural festival that will precede the race, and encourage towns and villages to think about how they could tie their annual summer events in with it.
Over 1,000 people from the area have volunteered to become “Le Tourmakers,” and hotels and B&Bs have already reported increased in business for next summer. [...]
Haworth B&B owner Mike Hutchinson says people have already booked rooms for the Tour, and feels it is the perfect opportunity for Haworth to show itself off for something other than the Brontë sisters.
He said: “Haworth is already famous throughout the world, but this might put us on the map for something else. It can only do good for the local area. It will cost a lot of money, but it will bring a lot of money into the economy too.”
The event in Haworth runs from 2pm to 4pm in the Old Hall Inn on Sun Street. (Chris Young)

Back to what Haworth is famous for with a selection of pictures from last night's private view of the Heaven is a Home exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage Museum on its Facebook page.

Kate Shrewsday posts about Charlotte Brontë's short holiday in Scotland with her publisher George Smith; Lily Harlem posts an excerpt from I.J. Miller's Wuthering Nights erotic retelling.