The wild, windy Yorkshire Moors in a poky pub theatre in north London

The Guardian mourns the death - yesterday - of author Sue Townsend.

She could not read until she was eight. It was her mother who taught her with Richmal Crompton’s William books – the inspiration behind Adrian. After failing the 11-plus she went to a secondary modern, South Wigston high school. She left at 15 but kept reading. She devoured Woolworth’s Classics (Jane Eyre, Heidi and co) and moved on to Russian and American literature. (Kate Kellaway)

EDIT: The Telegraph adds:

Having started on Richmal Crompton’s Just William, she quickly graduated to Jane Eyre, and from there to Dostoevsky. “Jane Eyre was the first book I read right through, non-stop,” she said. “It was winter, freezing cold, and I remember seeing this thin light outside and realising it was dawn. I got dressed reading, walked to school reading and finished it in the cloakroom at lunchtime. It was riveting.”

Another writer, Emma Chase, is a fan of Wuthering Heights, as she says on USA Today's Happy Ever After.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. My go-to read for passion, drama and self-destructive main characters. I first read Wuthering Heights when I was 16, but to this day I'm still enthralled by this story that shows love has the power to heal or decimate. And that the person we love holds our happiness in the palm of their hand. (Joyce Lamb)

The Leader (Australia) tells about singer Sophie Hanlon's influences:

Her diverse musical influences have included Gershwin, Vera Lynn and Traffic, and her lyrics have been influenced by the prose of the Brontë sisters.

The Stage reviews the Rosemary Branch Theatre production of Wuthering Heights.

It’s quite a challenge to evoke the wild, windy Yorkshire Moors in a poky pub theatre in north London, but led by director/adaptor Helen Tennison, this production rises to the challenge in spectacular style.
The cast of six doesn’t just throw on a variety of random wigs to play multiple roles, the doubling up has a clear, well-executed structure, with George Haynes in particular demonstrating his skills of diversity, alternating between the gentlemanly Edgar Linton, the bullied Linton Heathcliff, the gruff Joseph and the gentle Hareton with ease. Although the cast members are all strong, his performance of a range of contrasting roles is a highlight - it really does feel as if there are a greater number of characters on stage, such is Haynes’ power to convince.
Jack Benjamin, in one of literature’s most powerful roles, manages to capture Heathcliff’s joy in the company of Cathy. His distress at their separation is both disturbing and poignant. As the object of his eternal devotion, Lucinda Lloyd projects both Cathy’s effervescence and her despair - the moments when she loses control of herself are an intense experience, particularly in such a small space, but Lloyd completely goes for it, exposing Cathy’s emotional fragility wonderfully.
Lastly, it’s good to see a few believable fight scenes. Heads bang against walls and jaws look like they could really be broken, so special mention must go to fight director Phillip D’Orleans for a job well done. (Catherine Usher)

Old Gold & Black looks at the hidden treasures to be found at Wake Forest University.

For those more interested in 19th century works, there is a first edition Jane Eyre written by Charlotte Brontë. Though, since it is the original, the pseudonym Currer Bell is used. The use of a pseudonym adds a whole new experience to the reader. (Lindsey Gallinek)

The Evening Standard has an article on TB and reminds us of some of the disease's most famous victims:

TB — aka consumption, scrofula or Pott’s disease — has plagued mankind for centuries. We tend to think of its victims as a dead poets’ society: Keats struck down at 25, the Brontës and their congested lungs, Chekhov carried off with a cough. It’s the disease of Les Mis, La Bohème and George Gissing’s New Grub Street. Yet a third of the world’s population is currently infected with it and London is western Europe’s TB capital. (Rosamund Urwin)

What Shall We Blog About Today? posts about Jane Eyre and CrashCourse reviews it. Crumpets and Marmalade links to her YouTube video review of Wuthering Heights while VVB32Reads is giving away a copy of the BabyLit edition of the novel. Reading Like I'm Feasting writes about Agnes Grey.