First of all, the Brontë Society has now launched a Crowdfunder project towards the acquisition of Charlotte Brontë's little book. Do please consider donating towards it as there are also interesting 'rewards'.

BBC News wonders about the best first lines in fiction.

Consider, for instance, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre: “There was no possibility of taking a walk that day”. As sentences go, its charms are discreet to say the least. And yet those 10 words, as anyone who returns to them having reached the novel’s end, capture so much about its eponymous heroine’s character – her low expectations, her bottomless capacity for disappointment. (Hephzibah Anderson)

A couple of days ago, Daily Mail decreed - probably rightly - that the Royal Mint advisory committee was sexist due to the fact that they had refused to honour the Brontës with special coins. Today the same newspaper announces that Wallace&Gromit and The Gruffalo will be getting their own special coins. We can only conclude that the men in charge are a sexist bunch with the taste of small kids (great as Wallace&Gromit and The Gruffalo indisputably are).

Despite the excitement around the coin, it comes as The Mint's advisory committee on commemorative coins was accused of failing to 'take women seriously' after snubbing Emily and Charlotte Bronte. (Terri-Anne Williams)

A contributor to São Joaquim Online (Brazil) discusses the only sentence his father underlined in his edition of Wuthering Heights.

“Mas a traição e a violência são lanças de duas pontas. Ferem os que a elas recorrem mais gravemente do que a seus inimigos.”
Esta foi a única frase assinalada por meu pai, José Córdova, que encontrei no livro de Emily Brontë, a quem Harold Bloom, objetivo e sintético crítico literário, coloca entre os 100 gênios da literatura universal.
Inutilmente procurei outras em uma obra tão intensa e tão rica, a ponto de o crítico citado conhece-la quase decor, segundo ele mesmo declara. De certo modo, é a frase central do livro, pois nele todos os personagens que feriram a outrem, terminaram precocemente vitimados. Até mesmo Heathcliff que, com Catarina Earnshaw, viveu um romance irrealizado e parasita. Sua paixão seca e consome seu rude coração e o transforma na lança que fere, sem escrúpulos e arrependimentos, mas o derrota definitivamente.
Todos os personagens de Emily vivem pouco. Menos, quem sabe, o que dela viveu .
Sabia ela que viveria pouco?
Se sabia, seus eternos personagens seriam também breves para que dela, através deles, nos lembremos para sempre com uma pesada sensação de perda.
Aliás, será a boa lembrança algo diferente? (Henrique Córdova) (Translation)

France Culture reviews the novel Un dimanche à Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barbéris.

Explorant la poésie des noms de lieux, Dominique Barbéris en montre le potentiel romanesque : du Bois de Fausses-Reposes au Parc de Saint-Cloud, en passant par les étangs de Corot, les toponymes reflètent le désir sans visage de la protagoniste. Qu'attend-elle ? Un amour irréalisé, nourri de la fascination enfantine pour le Rochester de Charlotte Brontë. (Olivia Gesbert) (Translation)

According to The Scottish Sun,

It is impossible to imagine heroine Anastasia Steele falling in love with Christian Grey — a sort of crap Mr Rochester from Jane Eyre — if he wasn’t a needy billionaire who, though “kinky”, is ­completely in love with her. (Tanya Gold)

The Catalan edition of El País features the latest poetry collection by Joan Margarit, Una mujer mayor, inspired by the work of Paula Rego.

Mentre la seva història es va dient, els quadres de Paula Rego acompanyen el seu trajecte, fins a la taca final, fosca com una tomba sense consol, el retrat d'esquena de Jane Eyre. “Mor per res i per gaire poc viu”. Als 60 minuts, com si hagués fet música, el mestre Margarit guarda les seves pintures i saluda com si s'hagués quedat nu enmig d'una llibreria. (Juan Cruz) (Translation)

Inside Philanthropy features the Lisa Unger Baskin Collection which includes a couple of items of Charlotte Brontë's.