The ultimate heroine

Bustle recommends '9 Big, Fat Books to Devour on Your Precious Days Off'.

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, or Winter Solstice, the holiday season has finally arrived. With any luck you’ll have a few precious days to finally sink your teeth into that novel you never have time to read (let’s be honest, you never got around to reading Jane Eyre in college) during the work week. [...]
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Many people are quick to assume they know the books of the Brontë sisters but in reality have never read their work. Do yourself a favor and read Jane Eyre, a compelling, empowering novel about self-reliance in the face of adversity. Jane is the ultimate heroine. In spite of her underdog status she refuses to be taken advantage of — a huge statement considering this novel was published in 1847 under a pseudonym. Oh, and there’s the love story — between Jane and Mr. Rochester — that pretty much tops all love stories in the history of English literature. (Jessica Ferri)

John Mullan discusses Bridget Jones in the Guardian and recalls a Brontë reference in the first book.

We know Bridget Jones's Diary is based on Pride and Prejudice, and Bridget half knows it, too. She latches on to the comedy of handsome, aloof Mark Darcy sharing a name with Jane Austen's paragon of pride. When she first encounters him, at Una and Geoffrey Alconbury's New Year's Day turkey curry buffet, she notes the parallel. Instead of mingling happily, he stands with his back to the room, scrutinising the Alconburys' bookshelves: "It struck me as pretty ridiculous to be called Mr Darcy and to stand on your own looking snooty at a party." As bad, she thinks, as being called Heathcliff and spending your evening in the garden "shouting 'Cathy' and banging your head against a tree". 

The Times Law Section quotes from Jane Eyre:

Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre observes that "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs. " That wisdowm can apply not only to outbursts such as that of Mr Higgins but also to those who use the law to settle a score after a long, smouldering lapse. (Gary Slapper)  

The Nation (Pakistan) mentions the poetry of Ayesha Zee Khan and thinks that

The reader can smell of Emily Dickinson and Charlotte Brontë. (Faizan Hussain)

Which we would consider two very different kinds of poetry.

The Republican Herald discusses books as gifts for children.

Tiffany Reedy, principal at Pottsville Area High School, likes that students read, but what they read could be better.
"Some of our students like to read, but I would think for most it would be a more popular series, like 'Hunger Games,' not a classic like 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Wuthering Heights,' unfortunately," she said. (Stephen J. Pytak)

We think that if they enjoy reading they will read them sooner or later. Get them reading now and they will find their way to those books.

Esquire's The Politics Blog promises the following for next week:

Next week -- why Charlotte Bronte would have painted her face and brought an octopus to a Red Wings game. (Charles P. Pierce)

That will keep us on the edge of our seat.

Via DeHavilland we have noticed this speech by Labour MP Nic Dakin at the House of Commons which is a bit misleading:

MPs debate Tuberculosis (diagnosis and treatment worldwide)
Tuberculosis [Jim Dobbin in the Chair] 2.30 pm Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab): Let me start in the past. In 1821, Maria Brontë died of consumption. Two of her daughters died of the disease in infancy and her four older children—Bramwell (sic) and his famous.siters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte—also died of it. According to the history books, they became
“ill from dampness and terrible living conditions”.

Maria Brontë didn't die of consumption. The most likely cause of her death was cancer, probably of the uterus. And when he says that her children died of consumption, that's wrong too, as Charlotte Brontë's probable cause of death was hyperemesis gravidarum.

Onirik (France) reviews a theatre production based on Marie-Aude Murail's novel Miss Charity.

Au moment de la sortie de son roman, Marie-Aude Murail expliquait : « J’ai écrit Miss Charity pour rendre hommage aux créatrices du 19e siècle, à la volonté de fer qui leur fut nécessaire pour se frayer un chemin dans un monde régenté par des hommes. J’ai hésité sur le modèle à suivre, Jane Austen, la comtesse de Ségur, Charlotte Brontë ou George Sand ? Puis je me suis souvenue d’une biographie qu’on m’avait offerte quelque vingt-cinq ans auparavant, Le petit monde animal de Beatrix Potter, par Margaret Lane. Je l’ai relue et j’ai été émerveillée. C’est une vraie vie d’héroïne dans cette Angleterre victorienne que j’aime tant. J’ai transformé cette vraie vie en une fausse autobiographie, celle de Charity Tiddler, une héroïne qui, au fond, me ressemble, petite fille enfermée dans un cercle magique, et qui, peu à peu, lentement, parvient à exister aux yeux des autres. Elle en dessinant, moi en écrivant ». (Claire) (Translation)

Aunt Branwell’s Japan dressing box can be seen on the Brontë Parsonage Facebook page.