A little book of one's own

Time Out picks up the story of the British Library asking kids to make little books like the Brontës.

When author Charlotte Brontë was 12 years old, she self-published her first work by stitching together a miniature book of a short story written for her little sister, Anne. The Brontë children continued to make smallscale ‘novels’ out of salvaged sugar wrappers, designed for a collection of toy soldiers, each filled with their minuscule, spidery handwriting.
Now the British Library is encouraging people to do as the Brontës did, and start creating shrunken books from home. A full activity guide has been uploaded to the library website, offering ideas and advice for creating a book 57mm high and 47mm wide (‘around the same length as a mouse’s tail’). The idea is to share the handmade miniature books on Twitter (@BL_Learning using the hashtag #DiscoveringChildrensBooks). (Kmccabe)

Also on BBC Newsround.

The Spectator recommends 'Victorian novels to enjoy in lockdown'.

And if uncertain endings are your thing, open Charlotte Brontë’s Villette (1853), her loosely autobiographical novel about a shy English girl travelling to Belgium and falling complicatedly in love. Brontë wanted to end her novel one way, her father insisted she end it another, and she compromised with a deliberately ambiguous conclusion. Jane Eyre (1848) is more famous, but Villette is more Victorian. (Adam Roberts)

The Spinoff (New Zealand) reviews the memoir One Minute Crying Time, by Barbara Ewing.

What is most interesting about Ewing’s young life is not only that she chose a young Māori as a significant other (a relationship resembling Heathcliff and Cathy’s in its fitfulness) but that she also studied Māori at university. Understandably, this forms the backbone of the memoir. (Linda Burgess)

The Guardian features the fantasy novel Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng, who

credits the Brontë sisters and the Romantics in her acknowledgments (Samantha Shannon)

Entertainment Weekly asks writer Susan Choi about her favourite things.

My literary crush [Jane Eyre's] Mr. Rochester, which is pretty disturbing. He's really not the best guy. (David Canfield)

Book Riot recommends beautiful books such as the Penguin Clothbound Classics collection.

Penguin Clothbound Classics were my introduction to the world of pretty books. The first one I bought was Jane Eyre. If you Google “pretty books” chances are these are going to come up first. They’re very pretty and more affordable than some of the other ‘collectable’ options out there. There are more than 60 titles available in this collection including Pride and Prejudice (and all of the other Austen novels) and The Count of Monte Cristo. They look really nice all together on a shelf. I dare you to stop at just one. (Alex Luppens-Dale)

Finally, The Susanna Wesley Foundation has a guest post by Maria Branwell biographer Sharon Wright in which she discusses the impact of Methodism on the Brontës.