A dialogue between Charlotte and Emily Brontë

The Epoch Times discusses books and suffering:

When a friend challenged me to a reading contest on Goodreads a couple of years ago, I was reluctant. Did I really want my reading selections broadcast on the internet for friends and strangers to see? Despite this qualm, my arm was twisted, and I began recording the books I read, often giving them a starred rating based on how much I liked the book.

Let me be clear: I’m rather stingy with my five-star ratings. A book really must speak to or move me before I will give it such high marks. Yet as I think back on the books that I have given a five-star ranking to, a common theme stands out: suffering.

Suffering may seem like a gloom and doom topic, especially during this time of year when everything is supposed to be joyous and bright. Yet during the holiday season is when many of us most struggle with suffering, whether it comes through the need that comes with the loss of a job, or the loneliness that results from a broken relationship or death, or the sadness of hurts and memories from past seasonal gatherings that rear their ugly heads. And how we deal with suffering in our own lives is what makes or breaks us as individuals.

Take just a moment to peer at my bookshelf of five-star favorites. Here, we see the suffering of “Jane Eyre,” in which Charlotte Bronte’s title character experiences painful loss and physical hardship because she believes it necessary to remain true to her principles. (Annie Holmquist)

The National looks back on the work of the first Scots Makar, Edwin Morgan.

One of Morgan’s earliest poems, The Whittrick (1961), is a series of eight dialogues between famous characters – James Joyce and Hugh MacDiarmid, Hieronymus Bosch and Johann Faust, Queen Shahrazad and King Shahriyar, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Marilyn Monroe and Galina Ulanova, The Brahan Seer and Lady Seaforth, Hakuin (the founder of modern Zen) and Chikamitsu (the “Japanese Shakespeare”), Dr Grey Walter of the Burden Neurological Institute, author of The Living Brain (1953) and Jean Cocteau.

Coruscating verbal wit, a sense of the speed of good repartee, and Morgan’s ventriloquist’s expertise all fuel the poem’s lively theatricality. Teachers looking for Scottish plays might start here: not only dramatic dialogues but fascinating characters engaged in them. (Alan Riach)

The Straits Times reports that actor James Sea has announced his engagement to influencer Nicole Chang Min on Instagram with a quote from Jane Eyre.

He also included a quote by English novelist Charlotte Brontë: "I ask you to pass through life at my side - to be my second self, and the best earthly companion." (Lim Ruey Yan)

RTVE (in Catalan) recommends a new Spanish edition of Wuthering Heights as a Christmas present.

5. Cims Borrascosos d'Emily Brontë 

Conté la quinta essència de la novel·la romàntica anglesa vuitcentista. En les seves pàgines se succeeixen els amors apassionats limítrofs amb l'incest, els odis agres que es prolonguen durant generacions, la gelosia, les aparicions espectrals i les tempestes, tot això narrat amb una força i un brillant retrat de personatges que l'han convertit en un clàssic obligatori per la vostra biblioteca personal. (Nadia Somoza and Marta Orquín) (Translation)

RTVE (Spain) also compares Laurie from Little Women to other famous fictional men.

Es cierto que Laurie es un héroe romántico impecable, a la altura de cualquier Heathcliff o Mr. Darcy o incluso mejor, porque la escucha, la admira y la respeta desde la primera vez que aparece en escena, y la transparencia y la bondad son sus atributos principales. (Noah Benalal) (Translation)