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Friday, February 12, 2016

Daily Herald Tribune has selected the best romantic novels of all time, including
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: This apparent love mismatch between a "poor, obscure, plain and little" governess and a tortured Byronic hero with a dark past is one of the most memorable love stories in modern literature. While Jane seems reserved and insecure, she is a strong and passionate woman that will settle for nothing less than a man that loves her and treats her as an equal.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë: Heathcliff is a foster child who develops an unconditional love for his foster sister, Catherine, and are forced by circumstance and prejudice to live their lives apart. (Maureen Curry)
San Francisco Chronicle thinks that, 'there’s nothing sexier or more romantic than being well read' and adds Jane Eyre to not-your-typical list of romantic reads.
Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Brontë (Penguin Classics, 624 pages): For those unfamiliar with Brontë’s title heroine and her complicated beau, Mr. Rochester, you’re in for a treat. Jane is no damsel in distress — read how she goes from abused orphan to mistress of her own fate. (Tony Bravo)
Wuthering Heights makes it onto the list compiled by Trendencias (Spain)
Cumbres borrascosas’, de Emily Brontë
La mediana de las hermanas Brontë (las escritoras, se entiende; había tres hermanos más) solo escribió esta novela que, para colmo, no fue muy bien recibida en su momento, aunque el tiempo la ha puesto donde se merece. El amor aquí es enfermizo y oscuro, teñido de venganza y envidia. La historia entre Heathcliff (un muchacho acogido por el cabeza de familia de los Earnshaw) y Catherine dista mucho de ser romántica; se crían juntos desde pequeños y, aunque en teoría Heathcliff es un hijo más, la realidad demuestra que no todos los miembros de la familia lo tratan así. Para corazones con coraza (#perdón). (Puri Ruiz) (Translation)
And no Brontë novel is included on Coast Weekend's list.
Also not included here are the great romantic classics of authors like Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier, the Brontë sisters, and the like — proof certainly that there are plenty of literary romances out there. However, it’s doubtful that most readers don’t already know about these authors’ works. (Kate Giese)
Oxford University Press Blog has a quiz on romantic quotes which includes a couple of Brontë-related questions.

Apart from Valentine's Day, it's also Lent and Bustle has selected '20 Short Books To Read For Lent', one of which is
17. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Wide Sargasso Sea is Jean Rhys' prequel to Jane Eyre. This is the story of Rochester's first wife, the woman he demanded answer to "Bertha," whom he locked away in an attic. (Kristian Wilson)
The Independent reviews the novel Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift.
Graham Swift's Mothering Sunday is about one such defining moment. It is set in 1924, the year of Conrad's death, and its housemaid heroine, Jane Fairchild, reads the news of his passing in the morning paper before putting it on her master's breakfast table. Jane, plain Jane, that good Brontë name, is 22 years old, an orphan and an outsider, but not so plain as to be unattractive to the neighbouring posh boy: Paul Sheringham. (James Runcie)
The Independent also finds a Brontëite in writer and broadcaster Joan Bakewell.
Chose [sic] a favourite author and say why you admire him/her.
Too many to select one: Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, none better than any other. Each draws you into a world of their own making, and I like being steeped in their worlds.
Republican American reviews the play The Moors.
There are times when one can't help but think of "Jane Eyre," when Jane, the governess, fell head over heels in love with Mr. Rochester, only to learn that his insane wife, hidden away in the attic, is still alive. (Joanne Greco Rochman)
New York Racked features photographer and 'professional proposal planner' Ash Fox, who tells about a proposal for a Jane Eyre fan.
. . . and, a personal favorite, a proposal in the Nomad hotel bar The Library.
"That one was super cute," she said. Because the fiancée-to-be's favorite book was Jane Eyre, Fox helped her client incorporate the 19th-century novel into his proposal: They bought a copy, carved a heart shape in its center, an [sic] placed the ring inside. Fox strategically positioned it on a bookshelf at eye level by the bar. When the girlfriend arrived, she made a beeline for the book. As she opened it and glimpsed the ring, her boyfriend dropped to one knee.
"He knew her so well. He knew she was going to pick up that book!" Fox said. "That's the nice thing about a proposal where you're making it about the girl, not about yourself." (Laura E. Entis)
Keighley News has an article on the reopening of the Brontë Parsonage Museum a couple of weeks ago and some of the highlights of the Brontë 200 year. La Nueva España (Spain) features Ángeles Caso's Brontë-related novel Todo ese fuego. Miranda Seymour in the Times Literary Supplement reviews Helen MacEwan's biography of Winifred Gérin:
Biographers – from the irrepressible James Boswell until relatively recently – were not always a quiet lot. How impartial was the biographer of Byron (Doris Levy Langley) when she insisted that her marriage (to Mr Moore) must take place within stepping distance of her favourite subject’s coffin? How necessary was it for the indomitable Richard Holmes to retrace, on foot (albeit without a donkey companion), the actual route of R. L. Stevenson's pilgrimage through  the Cévennes?

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