Yesterday I told you to read Jane Eyre, and undoubtedly you immediately ran out and did it, so now I implore you to watch the 2011 Focus Features adaptation. There are other movie version (I smell a blog post coming on...) but this one is restrained and moody, just like the book, and never feels the need to indulge in any over-dramatization or sexualization that didn't come directly from the page. Plus, this one has Fassbender so...
The Bookhive List: 'Jane Eyre' by Charlotte Bronte
This will quite possibly be the easiest blog post I ever write. This book is dope. It is essential. It benefits from re-examination throughout your life, and it only gets better with age.
No one is a bigger pusher of the wider Bronte canon than me (also here and here) but this one is widely considered to be the best, and it is by far the most popular, and for a reason.
The Bookhive List is a weekly recommendation of my all-time favorite, must-read books.
This Week in Books Jane and Elizabeth Have a Cage Match
Because The Toast is the most excellent source of original content and writing on the Internet, they've naturally begun a new series of "Literary Ladies Cage Fights," with the first face-off between Elizabeth Benett and Jane Eyre. Round One is division into Harry Potter houses, because of course it is. FYI, the new Sleater-Kinney album makes a good soundtrack while you read it.
The National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists for 2014 were just announced, and the list is incredibly solid. Is is just me or was 2014 a fantastic year for writing? I'm especially happy to see Saeed Jones' Prelude to Bruise on the list, as well as a lot of books from independent publishers.
Everyone is apparently hosting gigantic book clubs now, and NPR's Morning Edition is the latest to jump on the bandwagon, although I can already say they are doing it better than so many others. The first selection was made by author and bookstore owner Ann Patchett, and she chose (National Book Critics Circle Awards finalist1) Deep Dark Down by Hector Tobar, a true account of the 2010 rescue of 33 Chilean miners. David Green hosted Patchett and Tobar in a discussion that included audience questions from Twitter, and it was a really nice treat on my morning commute. I definitely want to read the book now, and to find out what they'll be reading next.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has a short story available on the Medium. This requires no further explanation.
Finally, Rachel Kushner, author of the excellent novel The Flamethrowers, has an essay over at the London Review of Books on the Costa Concordia wreck. Not particularly "literary," or newsworthy, just a great essay from a great writer
#ReadWomen2014: Mallory Ortberg
I have been recommending Mallory Ortberg's writing sneakily for many months now, mostly tucked away in 'This Week in Books' posts. Anything excellent and literary and funny via The Toast is written by Mallory, and reading through her backlog of content is a very good way to spend an afternoon, or two, or ten. She is one of those writers of the Internet Age who demonstrates the value of a medium like Twitter and whose fantastic body of work is largely archived and available for free at any time. I've added The Toast to my RSS reader and my quality of life has increased significantly.
For those who prefer their witty entertainments in book format, Mallory has a new book, out this week, that is the hard-copy version of her very popular 'Texts From Jane Eyre' series. She added tons of new content and includes texts from lots of literary characters, both fictional and non. I'm hopeful this is only the first of her many hilarious books.
#ReadWomen2014: The Bronte Sisters
Everyone has probably already read Jane Eyre and/or Wuthering Heights. If you haven't yet, I don't know what to do with you (Marie!). Even if you have, I recommend going back and giving them another go-round; both novels will likely read very differently to you now than they did in high school, when most people first encounter the Bronte ladies. I used to think Wuthering Heights was romantic, but now I find it to be utterly crazy, in a good way. There is a completely ridiculous BBC adaptation on Netflix starring Tom Hardy that deserves your time and attention. He cuddles with Kathy's skeleton at one point, which I most certainly had forgotten from the text.
Read moreWhat I'm Reading: 'An Untamed State' by Roxane Gay
An Untamed State by Roxane Gay is brutal, lush, and intense. I am an utterly amateur blogger, so I don't know much about how you transition to and from trigger warnings with grace, so I'll just say that the book features an extraordinary amount of graphic violence against its protagonist, and my review of it will naturally have to allude to this.
Read moreThis Week in Books: Hillary Clinton, Kindle Data, and Jane Eyre
It's Hillary Clinton week! I haven't finished her new memoir yet, but you can expect a full report when I do, and in the meantime, check out this NYTBR by Michiko Kakutani and then laugh aloud while you read the New Republic's non-sensical companion piece. I cannot tell if either of these people actually the book or not, so I'll be making up my own mind, thankyouverymuch.
I am not a Kindle user currently; I'm not against them, but I am both an avid book collector and a super library user, so I'm not sure yet how a Kindle would fit into my literary life BUT! that doesn't mean that I didn't find this really interesting/ mostly disheartening. Everyone needs to spend more time reading and/or highlighting modern novels, I guess.
The terrific Christy Childers, creator of Postcards to Authors (which you should be following) wrote a really nice blog post about her personal connections to Jane Eyre, as something of a response to Rebecca Mead's My Life in Middlemarch. I especially love this as someone who has also re-read Jane Eyre multiple times.
Finally, Mindy Kaling has announced her follow-up to the hugely successful Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) which I loved. Her announcement is surprisingly frank and detailed, and includes a strong hint that her feelings on the Elle cover controversy will be included.