Soap Opera for the Ages

The Telegraph & Argus reports the upcoming Open Garden Day at the Brontë Parsonage Museum next weekend:

The Brontë Parsonage Museum will this weekend hold its first Open Garden Day.
Resident gardeners Jenny Whitehead and Geoff Taylor have been preparing for the event on Sunday.
Parsonage spokesman Hermione said the Parsonage gardens were full bloom.
She said: “You can enjoy the natural surroundings of the Parsonage, just as the Brontës did.
“We are busy potting-up the spare plants for a bring-and-buy stall. All you need to do is bring a plant from your garden and go away with one of our home grown plants.”
The event runs from 11am to 3pm. There will be home-made cakes and tea.

In the same journal we read about the initiative of a Bradford Literature Festival (scheduled for late September):

One of the founders, Oakenshaw mother-of-one Syima Aslam, said: "It will be everything from the Brontës right through, so there will be a focus on our heritage but at the same time it will be about modern literature.

The Huffington Post makes a list of 'beautiful friendships between classical authors'. Elizabeth Gaskell and Charlotte Brontë are on it:

The reclusive Brontë sisters generally shied away from social situations, but Charlotte found herself circulating in intellectual society after her novels’ critical and popular successes, and she befriended several thinkers of the time. Most notably, Brontë easily bonded with the famous novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, and they became fast friends. Brontë stayed at Gaskell’s home several times, though the constant merry-go-round of socializing proved uncomfortable for Brontë, who once hid behind the curtains to avoid speaking to Gaskell’s guests. Their relationship fortunately survived such setbacks. After Brontë’s untimely death, Gaskell wrote a somewhat controversial biography of her friend that has remained an important, if flawed, resource for readers. (Claire Fallon)

Interview Magazine (August 2014) publishes a Glenn Close interview to Mia Wasikowska:

As Charlotte Brontë's famous governess in Cary Joji Fukunaga's adaptation of Jane Eyre (2011), Mia Wasikowska is so ethereal as to seem almost translucent. But if we feel we can look through her and see clearly what she's feeling, her thoughts remain closed off from us, hidden behind dark, still eyes. It is no surprise, then, when Edward Rochester, played by Michael Fassbender, asks, mystified, "Do you never laugh, Miss Eyre?" They sit by a fire, but Wasikowska's Eyre seems to receive no warmth from it. "I can see in you the glance of a curious sort of bird through the close-set bars of a cage," Rochester says, "a vivid, restless, captive; were it but free, it would soar cloud-high." (...)
WASIKOWSKA: The first book I studied in school was Lord of the Flies and, as most teenagers probably are, I was kind of eye-roll-y about it. But as we started dissecting it, it was the most interesting thing ever. I love The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Jane Eyre, of course.

Another list appearing in The Huffington Post is about 'dark and stormy' books. Guess what Brontë novel fits in this category:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
A passionate, practically demonic love affair between Catherine Earnshaw and the infamous Heathcliff drives Brontë's masterpiece to the top of our list. Getting revenge on those whom you thought never loved you (but they did!)--can you say soap opera for the ages? (Oyster Books)

Uloop (and many tumblr and blog websites) attributes the following quote to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre:

“Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive.”

This is quote is NOT from Jane Eyre and as far as we know it is not by Charlotte Brontë either.

A reader of Tampa Bay Times hits the spot replying to those censors who enjoy banning modern books from schools and ask for returning to classics:

Some of the most revered novels — novels that have been treasured through many generations — are awash with violent passions: greed, hate and, yes, sex. They were never intended to preserve young readers' innocence. Instead, they mirrored all kinds of human problems. Think, for instance, of Treasure Island,Pride and Prejudice, The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, Jane Eyre. (Abigail Ann Martin)

Heatworld on the Kardashians novel:

Joyce. Austen. Dickens. Brontë. Pynchon. Kendall and Kylie Jenner from off of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Updike. In the cannon of literary greats, it’s only fair that Kendall and Kylie Jenner — twin authors of Rebels: City of Indra, or at least their names are on the cover so they probably came up with a character name or something — should be considered among the best. (Joel Golby)

When Women Talks lists several fictional heroines:

My number one, forever and always. Jane Eyre was so incredibly ahead of her time – written when women were considered inferior to men, Jane looked after herself. Refusing to settle for anything less than she deserved, Jane saved herself. And, in the end, she saved Mr Rochester, too.

ABC (Spain) reviews Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels:

Resulta impensable nombrar la vida y obra de una Mitford sin referirse a las demás Una puede escribir sobre Jane Eyre sin nombrar ni a Emily ni a Ann (sic), sólo a Charlotte Brontë . Pero resulta impensable nombrar la vida y obra de una Mitford sin referirse a las demás.  (Rosa Belmonte) (Translation)

This reviewer in AftonBladet (Sweden) cannot hide her Brontëiteness:

Jane Austen har aldrig varit någon favorit hos mig. Hon är för enögd, torr och stram. Systrarna Brontë har med sina romaner Svindlande höjder och Jane Eyre allt som Austen saknar; lidelse, gåtfullhet, själsligt mörker. (Anneli Jordahl) (Translation)

You Gotta Read Reviews interviews the writer Kelliea Ashley:

What books have most influenced your life? Jane Eyre. I like the tall, dark, brooding type of hero. 

A librarian and Brontëite in The Daily Tribune News; Shelf Love reviews Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow; The Starving Artist posts about Jane Eyre; Vivrelivre (in French) reviews the Yann & Édith comic adaptation of Wuthering Heights; MagicofBooks reviews the webseries The Autobiography of Jane Eyre. Classic Chapters adapts Chapter 9 of Wuthering Heights on YouTube.

Finally, checking the Brontë Society's website we noticed we missed this event in the recent AGM. It's almost an off-AGM event:

Members gathered happily for the now traditional informal supper at The Old White Lion on AGM Sunday, June 15, 2014. Everyone looks forward to this evening of good food, good company and lots of Brontë chat. This year we were especially fortunate, as Gillian Stapleton had offered to talk to members about the making of a replica of Charlotte Brontë’s wedding dress. Gillian is a costume historian and many members will remember her excellent talk on ‘The Well-Dressed Governess.’

Gillian has painstakingly re-created Charlotte’s wedding dress by gathering all available comments, studying records of fabrics and styles of the period, and from an in-depth knowledge of Charlotte’s taste in clothes. The dress is featured in this photograph with Emily Evans. Emily, aged 10, our youngest member, and at four feet ten inches the same height as Charlotte. The dress is simply beautiful and challenges previous thinking.
It was a magical evening. For those who couldn’t attend on Sunday there’s good news: Gillian will soon be publishing a book on her research and the dress. Gillian will also be bringing the dress to the Museum before too long, so watch out for details. (Sally McDonald)