Rory Gilmore teaches Jane Eyre

The Brontë Parsonage Facebook page shares some pictures from yesterday's launch of Reader, I Married Him.

We had a memorable evening last night at the UK launch of Reader I Married Him. A packed School Room heard readings from Helen Dunmore and Audrey Niffenegger and a discussion of Jane Eyre led by Tracy Chevalier before returning to the Museum for drinks and book signings.

What a treat that must have been!

The Telegraph and Argus highlights several local events that will be marking Charlotte Brontë's bicentenary.

A number of events celebrating the bicentenary of Charlotte Bronte's birth planned for the anniversary April 21.
Not surprisingly there are several events in Haworth, the town most associated with the sisters. The Old School Room, built by Charlotte's father and where here wedding celebration was held, will host a party for the author, with tea, birthday cake and "surprises." The event runs from 10am to 4pm.
The Brontë Parsonage Museum, where Charlotte lived for most of her life, is holding a Celebrating Charlotte event. There will be talks on different aspects of her life and collections manager Ann Dinsdale will show some of Charlotte's possessions, letters and manuscripts.
All activities take place between 10am and 8pm, and are free with admission to the museum.
An exhibition about the author, Charlotte Great and Small by Tracy Chevalier, started earlier this month and runs until the end of the year.
In Thornton, Charlotte's birthplace, the anniversary will be marked with a wreath laying ceremony at St James' Church, near the site of the church Partick Bronte preached in during his time in the village, and where Charlotte was baptised. It takes place between 11am and noon.
The church also hosts Tea With Charlotte between 2pm and 4pm. Former Look North presenter Christa Ackroyd will speak about the author at the event. Tickets cost £5.
Meanwhile, work continues on a replica Brontë Parsonage, being built on Penistone Hill by the BBC as the setting for drama Walk Invisible. Parish Councillors have said the temporary structure would likely become an attraction in its own right, and when the drama is broadcast in winter could bring a tourism boost to the area. (Chris Young)

Source

Entertainment Weekly shares a new look into the forthcoming new episodes of the Gilmore Girls and many sites comment on the fact that

The strangest photo in the bunch, however, is that of Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) standing in front of a class of Chilton students, apparently teaching Jane Eyre. (Lindsay MacDonald on Zap2It)

So, there's one more Gilmore-Brontë connection for the collection.

Two literary lists from Bustle today. 13 Beautifully Written Novels About First Love:

5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
I’m kind of a sucker for an unrequited first love story — probably because I’ve experienced my fair share of them myself (haven’t we all?) — and Wuthering Heights is the ultimate unrequited love story. It’s got the unrestrained and infuriating Catherine Earnshaw, the eager, brooding, and slightly dangerous Heathcliff, and a whole lot of blustering English countryside to go flailing about in. One grows up to be an independently wealthy, but unrefined woman; the other a vengeful, self-made man. Everything that can go wrong in a first love story does in this beautifully written classic. (E. Ce Miller)

And 7 Books Told From The Villains' Perspective:

6. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
If you read Jane Eyre and can't stop thinking about the secret madwoman in the attic, then Wide Sargasso Sea is the book you need. Jean Rhys tracks the story of a young Antoinette Cosway who is sold into marriage to Mr. Rochester and slowly descends into madness. (Caitlin White)

We must admit, though, to not being really comfortable with categorising Bertha/Antoinette as a villain.

This bookish confession from a columnist on My República has also made us gasp:

When I was younger, I also had this habit of going straight to the last page of a book, no matter the genre, to find out how it ends. This made me feel content while reading the book. But then I realized this was affecting my reading as there wasn’t the same thrill when I came to the end of the book and so I decided to quit doing it which wasn’t very easy. Actually, there are still some times when I can’t resist flipping to the last page to find out what happens.  For example, I’ve just  started reading Anne Brontë’s Agnes Grey and I peeked at the last page because I desperately wanted to know whether she gets married and has a family of her own or not. No, I didn’t think of going to Google with my questions.

Smile Politely describes Crimson Peak (apparently featuring one Mia Wachowski (sic)) as

a mix of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1846), the Bluebeard fairy tale, del Toro’s earlier The Devil’s Backbone (2001), and Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady (1881). 

The Guardian announces that Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped is being recreated in real life this summer and considers it

a step beyond the usual literary tourism of visiting the Keats house in Rome (although I did love that) or the Brontë parsonage in Haworth - and I find myself craving my own real literary adventure. (Alison Flood)

Ogma (in Dutch) posts mainly about Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights. MercysBookishMusings vlogs about Jane Eyre and Reader, I Married Him. This last book is also discussed on Random Things Through My Letterbox. The Brussels Brontë Blog speculates if Charlotte Brontë could have known the work of the mathematician and astronomer Adolphe Quetelet in Brussels.