Twittering Heights

We wonder whether Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell is one her way to becoming a Brontëite. From an interview in The New York Times:

What books are currently on your night stand?
I have books piled up everywhere. In no particular order: “Jane Eyre”; Paul Auster’s “Report From the Interior”; “Hyperbole and a Half,” by Allie Brosh; “The Technologists,” by Matthew Pearl; “Let the Great World Spin,” by Colum McCann; “Evil Under the Sun,” by Agatha Christie; “Outline,” by Rachel Cusk; “The Good House,” by Ann Leary; “The Long Secret,” by Louise Fitzhugh; “Peyton Place”; “The Rumor,” by Elin Hilderbrand; and “A Sport and a Pastime,” by James Salter.

And El Punto Crítico (Mexico) features the book Divas by María E. Silanes and finds a Brontëite in the writer:

Silanes destacó el libro “Cumbres Borrascosas” (1847) de Emely [sic] Brontë (1818-1848), como el texto que marcó su vocación, “fue escrito en el siglo XIX y me parece que a la fecha al leerlo, con su estructura y sus personajes, te das cuenta que es una obra maestra”. (Translation)

Stuff's Reading is Bliss (New Zealand) discusses 'girls who like boy books'.

Romance novel heroes are the perfect example of the strong, silent, self-controlled male trope. From Heathcliff to Darcy, Hamlet to Christian Grey, men have been encouraged since time immemorial to be emotionally reserved, to shun the idea of icky feelings.
This cliché is repeated over and over again in all genres of fiction. The men who save the day, the one who wins the heart of the lady, are all flawed and/or broken with some hidden hurt in his past that has made him so. If he is redeemed at all, it is by the sweet, virginal woman, whose personality traits often make her seem like some sort of angel without wings.
There are certainly many, many authors and books out there that defy this convention. Like Hollywood blockbusters though, most mainstream fiction books conform to the stereotype. Dig deep enough into any bestselling novel, and you'll find the Disney fairytale. (Karen Tay)

Speaking of Christian Grey, The Guardian reminds us of some of the criticism EL James has had:

Critics have called her writing boring and clunky; Salman Rushdie said he had “never read anything so badly written that got published. It made Twilight look like War and Peace”. Writing in the New York Times, columnist Maureen Dowd called James “Brontë devoid of talent”. (Hannah Ellis-Petersen)

According to The Telegraph, though, one of the best lines of chapter four of Grey is

 "She's an incurable romantic who loves the English classics. But then so do I, for different reasons. I don't have any Jane Austen first editions, or Brontës, for that matter, but I do have two Thomas Hardys." (Kat Brown)

Books & Review selects 'Top 6 Classic Books for the Feminist Reader':

1. "Jane Eyre" (1847) by Charlotte Brontë
Jane Eyre undergoes five distinct stages: (1) her emotionally and physically abused childhood at Gateshead Hall; (2) her education at Lowood School where suffers cruelty; (3) as governess at Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with her employer, Edward Rochester; (4) her time with the Rivers family; and (5) her marriage to Rochester. She told Rochester at his face that she is talking to him as an equal, not as his servant. By this statement, she dumped all inequalities, whether it is age, class, experience or gender.

The Spectator has an article on the Shrewsbury School Hunt.

While staying with us Rory has been giving me lots of useful advice. What I do find a little off-putting is that he brings his iPhone along with him on our runs and reads out lists that he’s compiled for me on the best Shropshire pubs, crusader churches with alabaster tombs that survived the Reformation — and so on. He talks about his Oxford reading list, about Jane Eyre and Bleak House, all without any hint of getting out of breath, while I wheeze and cough and stumble, unable to talk at all. I did once manage to get my own back, though, when I saw a dark form in the long grass and yelled, ‘Rory, watch out — there’s a buffalo!’ (Aidan Hartley)

Let the American Poldark-Heathcliff mentions begin. Here's what Variety says:

Much in the vein of “Wuthering Heights,” the series mixes class distinctions and romance, offering the kind of classy soap that should help keep Anglophiles’ cockles happily warmed between now and more “Downton Abbey.” (Brian Lowry)

Something brilliant to end this post via Metro. A 'tribute' of sorts to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights called Twittering Heights: the 'lyrics' to the song made up of Twitter handles: