Little Things Means a Lot

Louisa Young in The Observer tries to discern why we value so much a thing like that the little book recently returned to the Brontë Parsonage Museum:

Measured by surface area, the little book of poems now back in Haworth is the most expensive book in the world. But there’s much more to its value than money. (...)
It’s hard to imagine anything more fragile. It was lost for a century, last seen in 1916 at auction in New York where it sold for $520. I had the honour of trying (and failing) to read it a few days ago, at a reception held for it at Maggs Bros, the antiquarian booksellers. I peered at the minuscule (two point maybe?) faded brown handwriting, marvelling at how £1m has been raised to buy this young girl’s work and send it back to where she made it. (...)
The things we protect prove who we are, or at least who we want to be seen as. Culture is simply how we pass down information about what mattered to us, what we loved or worried about. We want our descendants to be able to use this as a basis for their own thoughts, or a waymarker for comparison. We protect culture because nobody has a right to steal ancestral knowledge, or the things that represent it, from future generations. In a way this booklet does that.
When it was made, it had no financial or literary value. Tiny things that survive don’t have to, to be poignant. (...)
So what does this book’s story tell us? That we value what is both vulnerable and tough; things that survive against the odds. That we love a good story, and origins. That a girl’s voice from 1829 still matters – a girl who wrote her own name wrongly on the title page, and can’t spell “rhyme”.
The poems haven’t been released yet, but two were read at the reception, and they are beautiful. I hope Haworth Parsonage will arrange facsimiles to be made for the gift shop, so we can each have a tiny copy.

BuzzFeed lists classic books adaptations they would like to see, which are not Austen's:

6. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

Anne is the most overlooked of the Brontë sisters, but it's about time she got more attention. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is perhaps the most forward-thinking of all the sisters' novels, exploring the story of a woman named Helen who flees her alcoholic husband with her son and earns money for them to live on as an artist — defying not just social customs, but also the law. While there has been a couple of TV series based on The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, the last one was made in 1996 — a fresh take on the novel would be a wonderful thing to see on screen. 

7. Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Charlotte Brontë may be well-adapted thanks to Jane Eyre — which has a touch of the Jane Austen syndrome of being adapted over and over again — but weirdly, Charlotte Brontë's other works have barely been touched. Villette was a mini-series over 50 years ago, and since then there's only been a couple of radio serial adaptations. But the story of Lucy Snowe, a young woman who flees her tragic past in England to become an instructor at a French boarding school, deserves new life on screen.  (Jenna Guillaume) 

Limelight reviews a recent concert (last Friday) of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville, Queensland:

Artistic Director, Jack Liebeck, started with music that was both personal and close to his heart with extracts from the score of the 2011 film of Jane Eyre,composed by Dario Marianelli. Playing violin solo on the film, he regards it as one of the highlights of his career to date. Utilising an arrangement by Marianelli for violin and piano, Liebeck played six songs accompanied by Daniel de Borah. The haunting, ethereal piece, Wandering Jane,was followed by a nostalgic memory of place and time in The End of Childhood,both quite evocative. The Call Withinoffered some sweeping filmic piano solos, while Awaken gave us a throbbing violin across a pianissimo piano as love strikes. Passionate, heart-stopping emotion from the violin in Yes! was balanced with the gentle and tender My Edward and I. This was a fine rendition of this magical score and was a wonderful introduction to the silver screen theme.  (Suzannah Conway)

Daily Mail talks about adult literacy from personal experience:

He worked his way through sports biographies and then asked me to recommend a novel. I suggested Jane Eyre because I thought he’d respond to the tribulations of a fellow orphan.
But when I asked how he was getting on, he admitted it was too hard. I hadn’t thought to tell him he didn’t need to read the academic introduction. (Cathy Rentzenbrink)

El Español vindicates the singer-songwriter Lhasa de Sela:

Aunque nunca se le hizo mucho caso, hubo quien le reprochaba a Lhasa la innegable tristeza de sus canciones, mezcla de folklore mexicano, una intuición de góspel, unos toques de country y cierta sensibilidad gótica que habría interpelado a las hermanas Brontë. (Ramón de España) (Translation)

Arena (Korea) talks about listening to Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights:

하지만 B에게서 받은 파일 중 이해하지 못했던 것은 ‘Wuthering Heights’였다. 그건 내가 가진 감성과 음악적 경험으로는 이해할 수 있는 영역의 것이 아니었다. 처음에는 극단적인 뉴에이지 뮤지컬 넘버라고 생각했으니까. ‘Wuthering Heights’를 한 번만 들은 사람은 없을 것이다. 이 곡은 트릭이 아니라 마법이다. 도입부의 히스테릭하고 극단적인 고음은 맑고 기괴하다. 그리고 감정이 고조된 상태를 지속하며 듣는 이의 감정도 극단으로 몰고 간다. (Translation)

Sarah Miles has visited (and photographed) Top Withens. AnneBrontë.org publishes some reports from 1928, when the Parsonage opened 94 years ago.