Doris Lessing among the classics

The Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden) mourns the death of Doris Lessing and considers that what she did for literature follows the footsteps of other great women writers.

Doris Lessing har dock inte enbart bidragit till kampen för jämställdhet mellan könen, berättar Ebba-Witt Brattström, utan även med hjälp av sitt författarskap varit med om att uppdatera kvinnoromansgenren, som blomstrade på 1800-talet, och placerat in sig själv i en tradition som utgjorts av författare som Jane Austen, systrarna Brontë, George Eliot, och Virginia Woolf. (Erik Paulsson Rönnbäck) (Translation)

ABC (Spain) writes along the same lines.

Perteneciente a una mítica marca de calidad literaria considerada hoy en día casi legendaria, la de las «novelistas británicas», que incluye a autoras como Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, las Brontë, George Eliot, Virginia Wolf [sic] o Jean Rhys, Doris Lessing, por su parte, pertenecería a una no menos espléndida pléyade o subclase de su tiempo, fascinada por las novelas de ideas y las tramas rebosantes de dilemas filosóficos, existenciales y morales, como también ha sucedido con otras grandes autoras británicas contemporáneas, de formación e intereses fuertemente intelectuales. (Mercedes Monmany) (Translation)

Vijesti Online (Montenegro) reviews John Sutherland's A Little History of Literature.

Posebna poglavlja biće izdvojena za Džejn Ostin ("dugo nam je trebalo da uvidimo da je Ostinova jedan od najvolšebnijih pisaca na engleskom jeziku") i sestre Brontë ("činjenica da su od svijeta vidjele vrlo malo može se naslutiti u njihovim romanima"). Dikens takođe dobija čitavo poglavlje, "Gigant" ("koji to pisac ima sliku na novčanici i na poštanskoj markici?... koji to viktorijanski pisac još uvijek prodaje milion primjeraka svojih knjiga godišnje?"). (Translation)

Messaggero Veneto reports the closing of a local bookshop.

Si guarda intorno, la libraia e mostra le edizioni patinate dei libri d’arte, turismo da “globe-trotter” e classici. «La mia “bancarella” ha un posto speciale per i classici – dice quello che l’appassiona alla lettura -. Ho un affetto materno per i libri, in particolare per i classici dell’Ottocento inglese: Jane Austin [sic], Emily Brontë e altri. (Translation)

Melville House shares the findings of an interesting study which we hope won't deter you from using your local library:

. . . two professors in Belgium recently undertook an investigation into exactly what grody items are crawling all over your favorite library books.
Jessica Roy writes for Time that the professors—experts in toxicology and bacteriology—found the ten most popular books at the Antwerp library and screened them for germs and other substances. All ten of the titles ended up testing positive for traces of cocaine, which suggests that Belgian library patrons are having just the BEST time when they borrow, say, Wuthering Heights or the latest offering from Sue Grafton. (Nick Davies)

The Ramblings of a Not So Epic Y-A Fanatic posts about Wuthering Heights. Kooblover writes about Wide Sargasso Sea.