"It was my Bible"

The Sheffield Telegraph remembers that this is the last weekend on which the Haddon Hall exhibition with Jane Eyre film costumes is opened:

It’s the last chance to catch the exhibition at Haddon Hall 
showing a selection of costumes from the three major film adaptations of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Visitors to the Derbyshire property can see costumes worn by Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester, along with other outfits and accessories in the films which all feature Haddon Hall as Thornfield Hall.

Precisely two recent Jane Eyres on the screen are on the newspapers today. Ruth Wilson (from Jane Eyre 2006) is interviewed by The Guardian:

"So, in Anna Karenina, what I'm doing with the character of Betsy is so different from what's in the book. Reading the novel helps, and it doesn't as well. For Jane Eyre, it was my bible. Small Island, I loved using it. It gives you loads of notes, all the feelings and the thought processes. So you can use it as a cheat."  (Emma Brockes) 

The Independent talks about Mia Wasikowska (from Jane Eyre 2011):

When Meryl Streep starts name-checking you in awards speeches, you must be doing something right. Accepting her Golden Globe for The Iron Lady this year, the legendary actress enthused, “How about Mia Wasikowska in Jane Eyre? Fantastic.” (...)
Then there’s another literary adaptation in the offing – Madame Bovary. “It’s still very early days,” she says, “but I can’t wait. I love the book so much. And the character. I can’t wait.” Jane Eyre, Alice and now Emma Bovary – that’s quite a collection of female literary icons. (James Mottram)

The Times reviews the new book by Jenny Uglow, The Pinecone. A biography of the architect and Romantic icon, Sarah Losh:

Rossetti and Pevsner were later both admirers of Losh’s style, and Simon Jenkins called her “a Charlotte Brontë in wood and stone”. (Ian Kelly)

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel talks about recent readings:

“I have just finished 'The Flight of Gemma Hardy,' by Margot Livesey. It is very good. I picked it up at the airport, and it really intrigued me. It's kind of a retelling of 'Jane Eyre,' but it's set in the '50s and '60s — and is a wonderful story. The beginning is kind of like Cinderella, with a cruel aunt and a rough time of it, but she is a great heroine. I really admired her: She is not a victim; she is very smart, very kind. The book is well written, and I recommend it." (Melanie Hall quoted by Betty E.Stein)

Margot Livesey by the way will be at the Reading Public Library (Reading, MA) next September 26.

CNN talks about Joe Paterno and how the hero falls off his pedestal:

Forgiveness, in fact, maybe the hardest act for the betrayed, as any divorced couple can tell you. But it is possible, and its appearance in literature has provided some of art's finest grace notes. Think Jane Eyre, who still marries Rochester despite his lies, or David Copperfield, who forgives his caddish friend Steerforth despite the latter having "ruined" Copperfield's beloved friend Emily.  (Todd Leopold)

The Australian reviews John Boyne's The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket:

Boyne's themes of parental expectations and difference create poignancy even though most characters eventually find some resolution and peace. He deliberately refers to some famous literature, including The Three Musketeers, Jane Eyre and David Copperfield, and acknowledges Roald Dahl in his caricatured and misunderstood characters, as well as in the fantastical adventure and humour. (Joy Lawn)

The Guardian makes a list with the best contemporary film directors. Including Andrea Arnold:

With her Oscar-winning short Wasp she drew a beautiful performance from Danny Dyer, with Red Road and Fish Tank she took Loach's improvisatory technique to new levels, and even with her one misfire, last year's Wuthering Heights, she proved herself radical in the face of traditional material. (Ali Catterall, Charlie Lyne, Gwilym Mumford & Damon Wise)

Felicia Nordin (in Swedish) doesn't agree at all with the misfire comment.

Post Noon talks about movies and films:

Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights were translated to screen and their appeal increased in a different way. But despite seeing the movie, I returned to the print version — that let my imagination soar high to create my Darcy and Bennett in my mind.  (Shraddha Jahagirdar-Saxena)

Books Blog (Italy) reviews Romancing Miss Brontë:

Ebbene, Juliet Gael, con il suo Romancing Miss Brontë (TEA), ne fa un ritratto umanissimo e ricostruisce il mito delle tre sorelle Brontë calandole nella loro quotidianità, in modo da descrivere come se la passavano tre ragazze dotate di una intelligente fuori del comune – che avrebbero scritto capolavori come Cime tempestose, Agnes Grey e Jane Eyre – nell’Inghilterra della prima metà dell’Ottocento. (Giammarco Raponi) (Translation)

Miroir.it also reviews the book.

Natasha Badhwar remembers her childhood in Mint-Wall Street Journal:

When it was time for college, both of us wanted to study literature, and that’s what she chose. Both of us needed to study psychology, and that became my subject. On the phone, through the nights, she introduced me to Brontë and Hardy’s characters. Her copy of Wuthering Heights still stands on my bookshelf. Notes scribbled on the margins in Sushmita’s handwriting.

El País (Spain) talks about the Spanish edition of Elizabeth Taylor's Palladian:

Tengo que aclarar que la señora Taylor (1912-1975) jamás escribió un libro con el título con el que Ático de los Libros ha rebautizado a Palladian (1946), su segunda novela, pero se ve que los editores han preferido el nombre y el tratamiento de su protagonista a la lacónica (e irónica) calificación de la mansión en que discurre la historia. Dashwood es también, por cierto, el apellido de las dos hermanas de caracteres opuestos de Sentido y sensibilidad (1811), de Jean Austen, que, junto con Jane Eyre (1847), de Charlotte Brontë, y Rebeca (1938), de Daphne du Maurier, constituyen las mayores influencias literarias de esta historia. Como la joven Jane Eyre, Cassandra Dashwood es una pobre huérfana que acepta un empleo de institutriz en la mansión paladiana (pero ya decadente y cuarteada) de los Vanbrugh, una familia cuyos miembros adolecen, en diferentes grados de gravedad, de la misma enfermedad que su casa: decadencia, incapacidad de regeneración, desintegración; empezando por su propietario, un irresoluto y perplejo viudo obsesionado por el recuerdo de su esposa fallecida (¿a qué les suena?). (Manuel Rodríguez Rivero) (Translation)

Laura Joh Rowland is interviewed on The Big Thrill. It seems that there will be no new installments of her Charlotte Brontë series:

You also write a series featuring Charlotte Brontë. How do you find the time to manage two demanding historical series?
Writing two series at once is rough. I wrote the first Charlotte Brontë book during a period of my life when I had more time and energy. I probably won’t write any more Charlotte books. I’m concentrating on Sano.

Poe's Deadly Daughters interviews Joanna Campbell Slan, author of Death of a Schoolgirl: The Jane Eyre Chronicles; Ivebeenreadinglately is reading Juliet Barker's The Brontës and talks about Branwell Brontë and drinking;  Love, Romances & More and tvcinemateatro―i protagonisti, wish, wink, wish!, Tikitaj (both in Spanish),  Recenzje książek (in Polish), Gruppo di Lettura Brice's House (both in Italian) post about Jane Eyre; Różności książkowe i nie tylko (in Polish) posts about Wuthering Heights; Daydreaming bookworm reviews Tina Connolly's Ironskin.

Finally, Match Factory Girl publishes a beautiful cinemagraph with images from Les Soeurs Brontë 1979 and Unputdownables is starting a Wuthering Heights readalong this September and October. You can check the rules and schedule here.