Painful To Read

The Professor is classic of the week in The Times. Fiona Wilson reviews it:

For anyone who has experienced heartbreak, the words written by Charlotte Brontë on November 18, 1845, to Professor Constantin Héger, the Belgian schoolmaster she had become infatuated with while studying in Brussels, are painful to read.

Tanya Gold in her Sunday Times column has something to say about the Brontës:

Female writers have always been aware of the gulf between male and female expectation. The Brontës all used male pseudonyms, as did Eliot; and Austen published anonymously in her lifetime.

Keighley News talks about a new article appearing on The Bradford Antiquary:

Two well-known Keighley figures have contributed to the latest issue of historical magazine the Bradford Antiquary.
Ian Dewhirst has written an essay entitled A Storehouse of Intellectual Pleasure and Profit detailing the early years of Keighley Public Library.
Ian, for many years the chief reference librarian in Keighley, covers the period 1904 to 1946 in his illustrated article.
Barbara Klempka, the founding secretary of Keighley and District Local History Society, has contributed and article about Keighley historian Clifford Whone.
Thwaites Brow man Mr Whone was renowned for revealing that the Brontë sisters borrowed books from Keighley Mechanics Library, but Mrs Klempka outlines his other achievements in writing, lecturing and teaching about local history.
The Bradford Antiquary, which has been documenting the history of the Bradford area since 1882, is the annual journal of the Bradford Historical and Antiquarian Society. (David Knights)

Limerick Leader talks about Ursula Leslie's latest book Hidden Kerry. The keys to the kingdom:

Anecdotes about US president Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, Charlotte Bronte and Dean Jonathan Swift pepper Breda’s account before she moves on to Tarbert’s Bridewell and a very different tale. (Norma Prendiville)

BBC News recommends an exhibition at the University of Bristol (17 November 2014 - 27 March 2015):

Theatre Roundabout produced mainly "two-person shows" featuring William Fry and his late wife Sylvia Read between 1961 and 2008.
The couple wrote plays especially for Christian groups but also adapted novels such as Jane Eyre so they could be performed by just two actors.
The archive can be seen as part of a university exhibition until 27 March.
It includes business papers, programmes, photographs, scripts, costumes, props and "other accessories". (...)
Jo Elsworth, from the University of Bristol's Theatre Collection said: "This exhibition tells the story of Theatre Roundabout and the extraordinary energy and commitment of the two dedicated individuals at its heart."

The Sunday Herald makes already its 2014 best books list:

Which brings me to the treasure that is The Moor by William Atkins (Faber, £18.99). As one thrilled by exposure on Dartmoor as a child and by fictional lives shaped by such places in Wuthering Heights and The Return Of The Native, this book - a journey across Britain's moors exploring history, topography, mythology, literature alongside the writer's experience of treading these fugitive places - reanimates that thrill with wonderful storytelling. (Val McDermid)

The Lancashire Telegraph recommends a Rochdale walk:

Another local connection is a Rochdale lad called James Kay.
He founded the first teacher training college in England, St Mark’s in Chelsea.
He married the heiress of the Shuttleworth family and the couple made their home in Padiham in Victorian times and Charlotte Brontë frequently visited them in Gawthorpe Hall. (Ron Freethy)

The Independent (Ireland) interviews Constance Cassidy, owner of Lissadell House:

"I love my books. I read anything, everything. I love old fashioned novels. I love my Jane Eyre, I love my Charlotte Brontë. The new Jane Eyre, Michael Fassbender he is fantastic! I used to think Colin Farrell was easy on the eye but my god, Fassbender. Woo. I'll tell you now." (Maggie Armstrong)

Kelly Epperson in The Journal-Standard (Freeport, IL) is a grateful person:

That entire time in the England, my first time out of the country, I was wearing a grin and a pinch me attitude. From landing tickets to the first Live Aid concert, to waving at Princess Diana, to walking the moors like a character in a Brontë novel, I was awash in sheer gratitude for the whole experience.

Guardian (Trinidad & Tobago) talks about the writer Vahni Capildeo:

One of the most distinctive things about Vahni Capildeo is her voice. It’s imperious yet slightly breathy at the same time; she puts dramatic emphasis on the syllable at the end of sentences and phrases. It’s easy to imagine that voice reading dark, Victorian-era novels like those of the Brontë sisters. (Erline Andrews)

Perfil (Argentina) describes the works of Juan Goytisolo, recent Cervantes Literary Award, with his anecdote:

El otro día en una librería de Barcelona compré una Biblia y el dependiente me preguntó: ¿Se la envuelvo para regalo? No, gracias, le dije, es para leer. Me acordé que Borges advierte que aunque Swift creyó que escribía para desprestigiar a la humanidad, terminó siendo leído por los niños. Charlotte Brontë no hubiera podido concebir que alguien llegaría a sostener que ella había animalizado a la esposa loca de su novela porque era una criolla jamaiquina. (...) Algunos autores de obra polémica, fronteriza o de ruptura, como Juan Goytisolo, novelizan esa violencia interpretativa. (Julio Ortega) (Translation)

jennys bücherecke (in German) reviews Wuthering Heights; Domowa kostiumologia (in Polish, but also via Les Soeurs Brontë, in French) you can read  and watch the story and the pictures of the visit of Marta, Karolina et Olga to Haworth with period costumes. Los Angeles Review of Books reviews Mallory Ortberg's Texts from Jane Eyre.