'Brontë gives the encounter more charge than the National Grid'

The Guardian has selected 'The sexiest moments in literature that aren't sex scenes' including a scene from Jane Eyre:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Jane first meets Rochester when he falls off his horse. As she approaches to help, she can’t help noticing his dark face, stern features and heavy brow. He just notices that she might be useful: “He laid a heavy hand on my shoulder, and leaning on me with some stress, limped to his horse.” After a small amount of grimacing Rochester commands: “Just hand me my whip.” The innuendo is inadvertent, but Brontë still gives the encounter more charge than the National Grid. (Sam Jordison)

Elle (France) has a joint interview with Siri Hustvedt and her daughter Sophie Auster.

ELLE. Quels sont les premiers livres que vous avez lus ensemble ?

Siri Hustvedt. Dès que Sophie est née, nous avons commencé à lire une heure tous les soirs. Et nous avons conservé cette habitude bien après que Sophie a su lire toute seule, jusqu’à ses 12 ou 13 ans. Au début, je sélectionnais des livres pour enfants bien sûr, mais assez vite on a choisi des auteurs plus difficiles, pas forcément destinés à son âge, tels que les sœurs Brontë, Jane Austen ou encore Charles Dickens.                

Sophie Auster. Je me souviens qu’on a lu « David Copperfield » quand j’avais 10 ans. Et aussi les poèmes d’Emily Dickinson. Je crois qu’il y a un lien entre cette tradition de lecture et le fait que je suis devenue musicienne. À l’école, j’apprenais mes cours en chantant. Encore aujourd’hui, j’aime qu’on me fasse la lecture ou écouter des livres audio, et cela a certainement développé mon oreille, ma sensibilité aux mélodies. (Flavie Philipon) (Translation)

Camden New Journal reviews the book Before Windrush: West Indians in Britain by Martin and Asher Hoyles.

Among the better known figures is the white Dominican novelist Jean Rhys, whose response to Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, depicts the suffocating racial and sexual divide of the Caribbean. . . (Angela Cobbinah)

The Independent reviews Taylor Swift's second album of 2020, Evermore.

Having expressed a new admiration for Charlotte Brontë’s “poor, obscure, plain” – but intensely passionate – Jane Eyre, the rich and glamorous Swift clearly enjoys imagining herself into quieter roles. (Helen Brown)

The Times interviews the actor Andrew Lincoln:

The book I’m ashamed I haven’t read
A lot of the classics like Moby-Dick, Middlemarch, Jane Eyre. My brother is a bookworm and has read everything, but there’s so much out there.

Cantonaut posts about Jane Eyre. The Musical.