The New York Times recommends several 'new and noteworthy visual books' and this is one of them:
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, by Anne Brontë. (Folio, $67.95.) To celebrate Brontë’s 200th birthday, a new edition of her second novel — an instant hit when it was published in 1848 — with an introduction by Tracy Chevalier and illustrations by Valentina Catto.
Encore's Carpe Librum has discovered the wonders of Jasper Fforde's
The Eyre Affair.
“The Eyre Affair” really works because the world-building and story blend so perfectly. Without “Jane Eyre,” there is no mystery, no romance, no conclusion to an incredibly well-crafted suspense thriller. But mapped over each other, it’s an action-adventure story: “Jane Eyre” mixed with “James Bond” (but with a female protagonist), filled with literary allusions and jokes.
Unfortunately, this experience outed Jock as having never read “Jane Eyre.”
“So do I have to have read ‘Jane Eyre’ to like this story?” he asked as I was sputtering in disbelief. I mean one of us had a British Common Wealth Education.
“No, you don’t have to have read ‘Jane Eyre,’ but it certainly helps … and I mean, you’ know the story, right?”
He shook his head.
I took a deep breath and gave him the basic plot outline of “Jane Eyre,” overlaid with remarkably little commentary and correlations to the plot of Fforde’s book.
“I see why you like this so much,” Jock noted in self-defense at the end of my summons. “Did you say this is a series? There’s more joy to come?”
I nodded.
“Brace yourself, sweetheart—he even handled the authorship question with time travel.”
Needless to say, I am now a Thursday Next convert. (Gwenyfar Rohler)
The Sisters' Room features Paola Tonussi's biography of Emily Brontë.
Chris Neville-Smith's Blog on Theatre reviews Blackeyed Theatre's take on
Jane Eyre. And finally, an exciting tweet from the Brontë Parsonage:
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