Heathcliff, not admirable but compelling

The Sydney Morning Herald publishes an extract from For God's Sake: An Atheist, a Jew, a Christian and a Muslim Debate Religion, by Jane Caro, Antony Loewenstein, Simon Smart and Rachel Woodlock

I have had flirtations with religious belief. I was a precocious reader and many of my favourite authors were profoundly religious Victorians (George Eliot, the Brontës, Mrs Gaskell). Heavily influenced by their spiritual world view, I used to try saying prayers secretly at night, waiting for some kind of momentous spiritual experience (I was also a horribly melodramatic and exceedingly morbid child). (Jane Caro)

Tanya Gold in The Sunday Times gives her two cents about the Austen bank notes affaire. Take care Austenites, because she is no Austen fan:

There is an emotional austerity and joylessness to Austen, which Charlotte Brontë described: "The passions are perfectly unknown to her; she rejects even a speaking acquaintance with that stormy sisterhood... Jane Austen was a complete and most sensible lady, but a very incomplete, and rather insensible (not senseless) woman; if this is heresy - I cannot help it." I like to paraphrase this as: what a great writer Jane Austen is; what a shame she had nothing better to write about. Austen is a banker's woman, tidy as coin, dull as rain, no banging. Some fondly call her "subversive" and she was, but only in the sense that women actually speak in her novels.

The Independent (Ireland) reviews Beatsploitation by Kevin Curran:

A book's main character doesn't have to be admirable, but if not, he must be compelling. Rob is no Raskolnikov or Heathcliff; he's basically a selfish, delusional clown, leaving a vacuum of sorts at the novel's heart. (Darragh McManus)

Dawn (Pakistan) makes a nostalgic reminder of the Lahore of the 60s:

We considered ourselves liberated (not in the sexual sense though) but America appeared downright promiscuous. Alongside the adult stuff, one still stuck to reading Barbara Cartland, Georgette Heyer, Daphne du Maurier’s haunting love story ‘Rebecca’, the Brontë sisters and of course Jane Austen. (Anjum Niaz)

A Wuthering mention on Libreriamo (Italy):

Diciamo che è uno di quei romanzi che non sfugge all' attenzione delle nuove generazioni di buoni lettori. Un vero e proprio cult. Questo è l' unico romanzo scritto dalla Mitchell e mi viene in mente la Brontë e il suo memorabile romanzo "Cime tempestose" (il mio primo romanzo del cuore, il secondo è proprio "Via col vento").

El Tiempo (Spain) is fascinated with the idea of Vending Books (Wuthering Heights in an underground machine!); Neverland Hikayeleri posts about Agnes Grey in Turkish; Bancrofts from Yorkshire devotes a post to the Bancroft records of Haworth Church, some of them related to Patrick Brontë; Theatre Gold has created an entry to Gordon & Caird's Jane Eyre. The Musical; Steve Swis has uploaded sobre Brontë moors pictures to Flickr; out-worn heart in a time out-worn posts a Wuthering Heights-inspired meme; another tumblr bear up, brave heart! we will be calm and strong has created some covers for Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights using 19th century paintings.