Brontë, Dickens and a Toyota Supra

Yahoo Entertainment discusses the latest episode of Top Gear:

So with all the pedigree of the Supra, many were disappointed that Toyota chose to heavily outsource components from BMW. “It's like finding out that Charles Dickens wants to write the best book ever, and he phones up Emily Brontë and says, ‘Can you do this and then just send me the manuscript afterwards?’ said Chris Harris, adding,”It's wrong.”
But Paddy McGuinness made a strong argument, saying, “Can you imagine Charles Dickens and Emily Brontë writing a book together? It's a best-seller, Chris.” Harris ultimately agreed that the car is good and worthy of the $50,000 starting price. But he also insists that it is not a proper Supra with all those BMW parts.

ScreenRant lists the best Melissa McCarthy's Sookie (from Gilmore Girls) quotes, including this one:

"I Can't Believe Rory's Turning 21. It seems like just yersterday she was crying because you told her Charlotte Brontë couldn't come to her sleepover because she's dead."

In the sixth season episode "Twenty-One Is the Loneliest Number," Rory has her 21st birthday and it's bittersweet she and her mom aren't on speaking terms. The mother/daughter duo had always had massive plans for this special day... but that isn't going to happen.
Sookie's statement is both funny and moving, which can describe a lot of the dialogue on Gilmore Girls. Sookie is such a wonderful character since she has such a cool, interesting way of viewing the world. She marches to the beat of her own drummer and instead of saying something cheesy about Rory's childhood, she shares this great memory. (Aya Tsintziras)

The Guardian and 'witcherature':

Rereading Jane Eyre recently, I was struck by how witchy it is. Not only is Jane referred to as such by Rochester (“How well you read me, you witch!” he says to her, also calling her an “imp”, a “sorceress”, a “sprite” and someone who “has the look of another world”), but she also has visions and premonitory dreams, consults what she thinks is a fortune teller, and paints strange symbolic paintings. These are fitting allusions when considering Charlotte Brontë’s depiction of the subtle power dynamics between Jane and Rochester. Jane is defiant and resisting of male control even in childhood, and as the novel develops, the balance of power shifts in her favour. (Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett)

Edinburgh49 interviews Michael Bascom, author of Cathy. A Retelling of Wuthering Heights:

Dan Lentell: Tell us about your show.
The show is a ‘retelling’ of Wuthering Heights; I wrote the music/lyrics and adapted the original novel into a script (who am I to change Emily Brontë’s own words?). It closely follows much of the original story, but I’ve altered the second half somewhat significantly to make it a bit more Shakespearean in its gesture, with the real-time events of the tragedy occurring all within a 24-hour period rather than over the course of 30-40 years. I first conceived the musical about 10 years ago when I was 17, being a young, closeted Mormon gay boy, and totally inspired by Heathcliff and Cathy’s tumultuous, passionate romance – putting each other above their own family, society, and even God – I knew I had to set it to music.

Slate looks for the 25 most important characters in books/tv/films in the past 25 years:

Edward Cullen, from the Twilight saga (2005)
Edward’s transformation into the dominating hero of E.L. James’ fan fiction–based blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey was testament to the power of fandom in the age of modern entertainment, but his reincarnation shouldn’t have been surprising; he already was Heathcliff, Mr. Darcy, Rhett Butler, and countless other, lesser fantasies of masculine strength and vulnerability conjured by women writers over the past 200 years. And a bit of a blank, too, sure. But how else could so many dreams be projected onto him? (Laura Miller)

Good advice from Patheos:

I had missed the communication lesson that pointed out that full grown Jane-Eyre-type-Christian women could ask for exactly what they wished. There need be no guessing. When she shares a problem, this is for sharing! No chalkboard, solution set, or saving is required. (John Mark N. Reynolds)

Literary Hub publishes an excerpt of The Blessing by Gregory Orr:

It was here I belonged—not with the small group around the pinball or the jukebox, but by myself in a booth, with a Coke and a package of Hostess Twinkies reading comics. Or dawdling at the comic rack as if trying to decide between the Classics Illustrated Jane Eyre and Archie while all the while I could see the titles of the pinup magazines spread out on the flat shelf below and wished only to yank one from its place and leaf through it quickly.

Women Writers, Women's Books offers advice to writers:

Write what you know is another well-known writing rule and it is true that experience can enhance a writer’s work. For example, Charlotte Brontë and Charles Dickens’ painful childhoods are put to good use in several of their books. However, Dickens created A Tale of Two Cities, despite not having lived through the French Revolution, and while the early parts of Jane Eyre are drawn from real life, Jane’s adulthood is purely drawn from Brontë’s imagination. And that’s the problem with ‘write what you know’, it’s too limiting. If writers stuck to it, fantasy and science fiction wouldn’t exist and most crime writers would be out of a job. (Virginia Moffatt)

Guillermo Del Toro publishes a post in Reforma (México) about Mary Shelley:

Siempre me ha impresionado de una manera similar a como lo hacen las hermanas Brontë: la mayoría de las personas querrían viajar en el tiempo para conocer a grandes hombres de Estado o exploradores. (Translation)

Die Küss (Germany) talks about the iamthermoning's album The Bell:

Vergleiche von “iamthemorning” mit irgendwem werden immer mehr oder weniger ungelenk ausfallen, allerdings mag man sich schon mal an Kate Bush erinnert fühlen. Die startete ihre Karriere 1978 mit der Literaturvertonung “Wuthering Heights”, ebenfalls sperrig und dadurch faszinierend. Übrigens: Im September und Oktober kommen “iamthemorning” für einige Konzerte nach Deutschland. (Roland Bernd) (Translation)

La Voz de Galicia (Spain) mentions Wuthering Heights:

El sector servicios llegó a la montaña, al borde del hermoso parque natural de O Invernadeiro, donde es fácil imaginarse a Cathy y a Heathcliff en Cumbres Borrascosas. (Pablo González) (Translation)

Velvet Magazine (Italy) recommends Annie Darling's Crazy in Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop:

Nina O’Kelly, con il suo stile da pin up, i suoi tatuaggi e i capelli che cambiano colorealmeno una volta a settimana, è l’anima chiassosa e caotica della piccola libreria Happy Ever After, nel cuore di Londra. Grande fan di Cime tempestose, il romanzo che le ha cambiato la vita e l’ha spinta a uscire dal suo guscio, Nina adora lanciarsi in un appuntamento dietro l’altro alla ricerca del suo personalissimo Heathcliff, l’uomo che le farà girare la testa, la trascinerà in un turbine di passione e le farà scoprire la forza del vero amore. (Domenico Coviello) (Translation)