The Proverbially Bad Boy

 Tullahoma News devotes its book corner to Jane Eyre:

(...)While Jane Eyre might be marketed as a nineteenth-century love story, it is far deeper and more complex than that. Throughout the course of the story, Jane is wronged continuously, even by those who claim to love her. People abuse her, lie to her, and use her; however, the more they wrong her, the better she becomes. She never settles for second best because she believes that there is always another opportunity, another place, another person, or another life waiting in the future. After all, good things come to those who wait.(...) (Sarah Raymond)

Delightful insights in letters of well-known historical figures in The Times of Malta: 

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)

The following letter was written by English writer Charlotte Brontë to professor Constantin Heger. However, there is no evidence that this love was ever returned by him.

January 8, 1845 

“Monsieur, the poor have not need of much to sustain them − they ask only for the crumbs that fall from the rich man’s table. But if they are refused the crumbs they die of hunger. Nor do I, either, need much affection from those I love. I should not know what to do with a friendship entire and complete ‒ I am not used to it.

“But you showed me of yore a little interest, when I was your pupil in Brussels, and I hold on to the maintenance of that little interest − I hold on to it as I would hold on to life….”

This reminds me somehow of Domenico Modugno’s Maestro di Violino! (Mary Attard)

The Megaphone recommends books to read 'if you're dead inside' (verbatim):

Wuthering Heights

I’m already biased when it comes to any book written by the Brontë sisters, because they just get me because, based on their writing, they’re just as angsty, temperamental, and existential as I am.

Emily Brontë tells a tale as old as time: the proverbially bad boy. Have you ever been torn between a guy who respects you, wants the best for you, and is just the overall correct choice for you, and a guy who is dark, brooding, and mysterious but is also an obviously bad idea? Wuthering Heights is like that, but the Victorian-era version. 

The interesting thing about this book is that it is a story within a story—storyception. The original narrator is a man named Lockwood who is currently renting and residing in a manor named Thrushcross Grange. After meeting the coarse landlord of the house, Heathcliff, Lockwood becomes exceedingly curious about this prickly character and how he came to preside over both Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, an impressive, but daunting manor some ways away from The Grange. Through accounts such as diary entries and narrations told by a servant who has served in both houses, you piece together the lives of the people who used to reside in the houses and how their existence became irreparably intertwined, damaged, or ended, all thanks to Heathcliff. This last part is my own opinion, as I happen to despise Heathcliff, but read the book yourself and come to your own conclusion. (Brooke Shattuck)

The Irish Sun lists novels that leave readers confused:

Wuthering Heights

This intense love story set on the Yorkshire Moors follows the mysterious Heathcliff from childhood to death.

It’s also a tale of bitterness, as he seeks revenge on those who wronged him.

But while the narrative is easy to follow, it prompts 22,060 monthly searches, with 600 people specifically wondering what it’s really about.

Jane Eyre

The original feminist’s bible, Jane Eyre tells of an orphaned girl’s quest for love while preserving her independence.

She gets what she’s looking for, only for the novel to take a dramatic twist.

With weighty, rich language to struggle through, it’s no wonder there are 18,340 monthly searches, including 90 from impatient people asking: “How does Jane Eyre end?” (Aoife Finneran)

Salon defends the use of creative costumes in period dramas, as in Bridgerton:

In addition, historian Anne Hollander notes that Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" (1847) — the second edition of which was dedicated to Thackeray — likewise plays with the presentation of historical fashion. Though not as overt as Thackeray, "Jane Eyre," which is supposedly set at the beginning of the century, also "evokes those same Romantic clothes contemporary with its authorship".

In this sense, just as costume dramas do today, some 19th-century novels adapted, idealised, and even sexed-up fictional fashions to suit public taste. (Danielle Dove)

We basically disagree with the Stylist here:

It’s quite romantic, actually. No, really. From Wuthering Heights to The Notebook, nothing quite colours matters of the heart like the shared sense of impending doom. But if we flip the script and clear the heavy fog that’s been circulating for a year, we’ll realise that it’s not just the disaster stories that unite us. There are the ever so slightly smaller stories of hope and heart that have been running along in parallel. (Jazmin Kopotsha)

The Telegraph presents the book The Crichel Boys by Simon Fenwick:

 Nancy Mitford, a regular visitor to Long Crichel, a Queen Anne rectory in Dorset, called the house “a prose factory” and its owners “the Brontës”. 

Also in The Telegraph, Lucasta Miller reviews the Elizabeth Barrett-Browning biography, Two-Way Mirror by Fiona Sampson:

Most importantly, Sampson makes one want to read Barrett Browning. If Aurora Leigh hasn’t remained on readers’ radars, it is partly down to the fact that it is written in verse not prose. But it’s basically a Victorian novel with a plot, set in Victorian times. If you like the Brontës, Elizabeth Gaskell or George Eliot, you should certainly give it a go.

Il Messaggero (Italy) interviews the writer Cristina Chiperi:

Ilaria Ravarino: Un consiglio di lettura?

C.C.: Quando attraverso un momento difficile, torno a sfogliare i miei libri preferiti. Amo la letteratura inglese: Orgoglio e pregiudizio e Cime tempestose, storie d’amore che arrivano a maschi e femmine. (Translation)

The Eyre Guide reviews The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins. AnneBrontë.org explores love in the Brontë novels.

Lompoc Record has a cryptogram with a famous quote by Emily Brontë. The Billings Gazette interviews a local business leader and Brontëite. A passing Brontë mention in a story published in Página 12 (Argentina). Urban Post (Italy) lists Valentine quotes. Finally, the OUPBlog has a Which-literary-heroine-are-you kind of quiz.