Novels are More than Narrative

Diane Fare's Chapter & Verse in Keighley News reports the upcoming events at the Brontë Parsonage:

Ten poems of Emily Brontë have been set to music by composer and pianist Adrian McNally and recorded by The Unthanks. The songs were composed on Emily’s piano, and recorded in the historic rooms of the Parsonage late at night earlier this year.
The song cycle of ten poems is called Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee and offers visitors the chance to follow in Emily’s footsteps up on to nearby Penistone Hill. After looking round the museum, visitors can collect their audio sets and head off through the churchyard and up on the moors for a circular walk accompanied by the poetry of Emily Brontë and the music of The Unthanks.
This unique experience begins the week beginning December 17 and runs until March, and is free with entrance to the museum. Places on this special experience are limited so we advise visitors to reserve headsets via our website.
And turning to festivities, the museum will be dressed for the Christmas season for our Late Night Thursday on December 13, so join us for a glass of sherry and the opportunity to buy some last minute Christmas gifts. As always, on our late night Thursdays, after 5pm entry is free to visitors providing proof of residence in BD22, BD21, BD20 or Thornton.
We will be closed between January 2 and February 3 for our annual closed period, where we conduct an early spring clean, carry out any essential maintenance work, and change the exhibits to reflect our focus for 2019 (the father of the Brontës, Reverend Patrick Bronte – more on that next time!).
We have programmed some events for the depths of winter. On January 14 there is a film screening at West Lane Baptist Centre of the 1946 Hollywood film Devotion which retells the story of the Brontë family in true Hollywood style. Admission is free, and there’s no need to book, just come along for a start time of 1pm.
In January 19 at 11am and 2pm we have the return of ‘Parsonage Wrapped: Behind the Scenes at the Museum’, where visitors get the chance to see how we go about carrying out vital conservation and cleaning work and update our displays and exhibitions. Numbers are limited, so don’t delay in booking. Tickets cost £25/£22.50. Brontë fans of course!
We’ve also programmed our popular ‘Winter Wander’ walk on February 2. Join our Museum Guides at 11 am or 2pm to hear about the stories and secrets of the village Mr Brontë would have known. Tickets cost £6/£4 and are available via bronte.org.uk/whats-on or by calling 01535 640192.

The Unthanks will also present their Emily Brontë cycle in Leeds as The York Press reminds us of:

The Unthanks have turned ten Emily Brontë poems into song, and because the Brontë family home in Haworth is now a working museum, the writing and recording had to take place after nightfall.
McNally wrote the music for the whole record during his first evening at Emily’s piano, a rare example of a five-octave cabinet piano, probably made in London between 1810 and 1815.
The days of the residency were spent working on the songs on a beautiful German upright at nearby Ponden Hall – another house associated with the Brontë family – before testing his work in progress on Emily’s instrument at the museum each evening.
Several weeks later, McNally returned to the Parsonage with Rachel and Becky to record the songs late into the night.
The Unthanks selected the Emily Brontë poems that spoke to them most, such as Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee, High Waving Heather, Lines (The Soft Unclouded Blue Of Earth) and The Night Is Darkening Round Me. (...)
The Emily Brontë Song Cycle can be experienced in three different ways, firstly The Unthanks: Lines – Part Three, Emily Brontë, on ten-inch vinyl, CD and download: a "medium-play" release available exclusively from the-unthanks.com and the Brontë Parsonage Museum shop from today (December 7) and then through general release from February 22.
The Emily Brontë Song Cycle is the third part of Lines, a trilogy of records inspired by poetry, portraying female perspectives from different points in time. The lines in Part One, Lillian Bilocca, were written by actor and writer Maxine Peake and turned into song by McNally. (...)
The second format is Shall Earth No More Inspire Thee - Emily Brontë Song Cycle, the aforementioned audio experience on the moors with The Unthanks, which will run at The Brontë Parsonage Museum from December 17 to March 31 next year.
Visitors can pre-book to reserve headphones, online at bronte.org.uk, to experience the song cycle while treading in Emily's footsteps through the churchyard and over the Haworth moorland.
Taking in views of Top Withins, the ruined house location that many believe to have been Emily’s inspiration for Wuthering Heights, audiences will simultaneously journey through her poems and the landscape that inspired her, accompanied by The Unthanks' music.
Tickets for the third format, the December 21 concert, are on sale at leedstownhall.co.uk. (Charles Hutchinson)

Why re-reading books in Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Mary Feeney of Prior Lake attached a photo of a battered-looking “Jane Eyre” to her message. “I think I first read ‘Jane Eyre’ when I was about 15; this is my 1961 Signet edition. This is the book that showed me novels are more than just narrative. They have soul. They’re like guidebooks for life.” (Laurie Hertzel)

The Australian explores the beauty of fiction and quite accurately says:

Heathcliff really could have used some anger management sessions. (Catherine Struik)

Also, in The Australian, a review of All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison

Readers might be reminded of pastoral fictions by Thomas Hardy and DH Lawrence or, perhaps, Laurie Lee's memoir Cider with Rosie, but by the end of the book I was also thinking of Jean Rhys's dark masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea, with its feminist psychological penetration. (David Mason)

Caitlin Lovinger solves today's New York Times Crossword which includes a Sargasso mention (the actual Sea) but Jean Rhys's echoes are mentioned:

If you ever liked the gothic romances like Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre,” you would like “The Wide Sargasso Sea” by Jean Rhys, a very haunting short novel that expands on a tragic character in the Brontë book.

National Catholic Register recommends some novels:

I have to admit that I am embarrassed to include only one female author on this list. This is not a matter of sexism or misogyny, but my own reading style. Emily Brontë’s 1846 novel, Wuthering Heights, is not everyone’s “cup of tea,” and, having been forced to read it in high school, it did not get me too excited until I reread it many years later. This story of Heathcliff and Catherine is stark and gothic, but it offers one of the most inspiring descriptions of identifying with one’s beloved. [The 'I Am Heathcliff' quote] (Father John P. Cush)

New Jersey Advance Media interviews the writer Adriana Trigiani:

Jacqueline Cutler: Which authors do you reread?
Ben Hecht, and I love Charlotte Bronte.

Stray FM (also Velouk) uncovers the new edition of the Yorkshire Tour which includes again a stage passing through Haworth:

STAGE FOUR: 175km – The Yorkshire Classic- Halifax to Leeds. Sunday 5 May
The Piece Hall is a spectacular location for the start of this decisive stage before the riders head into Brontë Country. Haworth’s quaint cobbled Main Street features once again but the real climbing begins on the Côte de Goose Eye. Crossing into Craven, the next classified climb comes on the Côte de Barden Moor. Once that has been crested it’s into the Yorkshire Dales. (May Norman)

The Hindu on reading translated literature:

Long after 1947, Indian schoolgoers continued to get a strong dose of classics of English literature in abridged, simplified versions. The morbid aspects of 19th century classics like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Lorna Doone were carefully expunged and children of 12-14 put these books down with a sense of having experienced the firesides of English homes and the moors and meadows of its countryside. (Mini Krishnan)

Big Picture. Big Sound reviews the film Clara's Ghost:

As the Reynolds clan gathers at their big country house for the weekend and Clara's feeling left out as usual, her ghost taps on the window and pleads, like something out of Wuthering Heights, "You can see me! Let me in!" (Lora Grady)

The Bonus View lists favourite costume dramas:

Jane Eyre 1944:  As a fan of Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel, I’ve enjoyed the many adaptations of Jane Eyre, but one of my favorite versions is Robert Stevenson’s 1943 production starring Joan Fontaine and Orson Welles. Stevenson collaborated on the script with screen legend John Houseman and novelist Aldous Huxley, but as much as the performances and writing are absolutely top-notch, the film’s real beauty comes from its lush, distinguished photography of George Barnes. The cinematographer brilliantly tells the story with a moody, Gothic atmosphere that feels just as expressive and poignant as it is spooky and melancholic. The dazzling camerawork bathes the stage design with overwhelming, tenebrous shadows, which are symbolic of Jane’s feelings of oppression and spiritual imprisonment. Seventy years later, Stevenson’s film remains an astounding visual feat, which later adaptations have tried to imitate and aspire to. (M. Enois Duarte)

Publishers Weekly announces upcoming literary criticism publications:

Be with Me Always: Essays by Randon Billings Noble (Mar. 1, trade paper, $19.95, ISBN 978-1-4962-0504-9). Influenced by Wuthering Heights, Noble considers the theme of being haunted, whether by the death of an English queen, the gaze of a nude model, or a near-death experience. (Everett Jones)

The Times lists the best audiobooks of the year:

Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker, read by John Sackville
“A ruffled mind makes for a restless pillow,” wrote Charlotte Brontë. She was right, reveals Matthew Walker, who has spent half a lifetime researching sleep; seven hours of it a night is more vital than diet and exercise, whether we are young or old. He explains why we sleep badly (blame evening alcohol and caffeine, but also screens) and ways to sleep better (not pills). John Sackville has a beautifully modulated voice and reads with an unusual combination of intelligent inquiry and drama. (Christina Hardyment)

We are not really experts on Gaelic football, so this mention in The Times is kind of esoteric to us:

Jim Gavin’s reluctance to admit he needs Diarmuid Connolly: It started off like Wuthering Heights, it is ending up like Kramer vs Kramer. (Colin Sheridan)

Eroica Fenice (in Italian) quotes Emily Brontë; Hodderscape presents new members of the editorial staff, some of them Brontëites; Art and Soul reviews The Other Wife by Juliet Bell.