Let's talk Bronte...

I have a confession to make. I sometimes have a hard time getting through what we as society refer to as "the classics". Sometimes I find that I struggle through what apparently society has deemed timeless. I will be reading along and I think, "Who liked this?! Why are we STILL reading it?!" In high school I did/do have a mad love for Les Miserables because I had an amazing reading buddy that was reading it with me and loved to analyze it with me! I will never forget that one day I came to class and said, "So I cried for like an hour at the end of the book." and he said, "I understand. I just sat on my bed sobbing for like 10 minutes!" First high school boy who ever admitted to me that he wept while reading a book and I will forever respect him for it! :) As I have gotten older and wiser (bahaahaha don't buy that wiser stuff-crazier would be a better word!) I have come to respect the classics a lot more! I slowly wade through them and try to understand why they are amazing! Though I will admit that I will probably never truly get drunky Hemingway or Southern gothic Faulkner there are a few gems that I have found! These gems are the Bronte sisters! Want some fun trivia about the Brontes? Sometimes backstories are fascinating to me so maybe they will be to you! 
     The Bronte girls' father was a pastor. When their mother died they all began writing as an escape from the dreariness of life and the bleakness of school. They'd make up lands and all contributed to the fantasy stories. As they got older the girls discovered that they all had a talent for writing poetry. They decided to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1846, called Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. To evade prejudice against female writers, the Brontë sisters adopted androgynous first names. All three retained the first letter of their first names: Charlotte became Currer Bell, Anne became Acton Bell, and Emily became Ellis Bell. Charlotte Bronte later wrote: "Averse to personal publicity, we veiled our own names under those of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; the ambiguous choice being dictated by a sort of conscientious scruple at assuming Christian names positively masculine, while we did not like to declare ourselves women, because--without at that time suspecting that our mode of writing and thinking was not what is called 'feminine'--we had a vague impression that authoresses are liable to be looked on with prejudice." That my friends is why I love the Bronte sisters! They knew that the stories that they were publishing were on the scandalous side and even though they had to hide their identities because of it-they knew that they had stories in them worth telling! Feel free to start a slow clap or burn your bras for sisterhood! (I actually would advise not burning your bra because those things are EXPENSIVE! Maybe just paint your nails or buy some shoes in the name of womanhood! ;) ) Later in life, Emily Bronte had a second edition of her novel Wuthering Heights published which she was finally able to put her own name on. It put England in an uproar to know that the morally questionable book about unfaithful spouses and lovers meeting in the moors at night was actually written by a clergyman's daughter. England was "shocked" but ironically enough ever since then Wuthering Heights has never been out of print! All of these brilliant ladies died of poor health. I will admit that I haven't read Anne Bronte's book but I have read Emily's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte's Jane Eyre. I loved them both. After a long battle with myself I have decided that my all time favorite is....                                                                                                                                               

Charlotte wins this time!  This is my review of when I first read the book back in 2011-

I did it! I finally read Jane Eyre!! I have seen many different movie renditions of Jane Eyre but I just have never picked up the book! Thanks to Kindle offering it for free I downloaded the ebook! I loved it! I got so caught up in the language of it that sometimes when not reading I had to remind myself that we don't say things like "Are you in earnest?" anymore! I was also surprised on how much I really liked it! I went into it with pretty low expectations because I not much of a classics fan (gasp). But this is a beautiful gothic love story! The characters were lifelike and flawed but they had one heck of a love story! It's like sad happy sad happy sad then happy! It keeps you on your toes! Mr. Rochester beats Mr. Darcy in my classical men loving competition now! Even back then brooding men are just the way to go! One of my favorite Rochester paragraphs-

""Because," he said, "I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you--especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame. And if that boisterous Channel, and two hundred miles or so of land come broad between us, I am afraid that cord of communion will be snapt; and then I've a nervous notion I should take to bleeding inwardly." 

Dreamy definition of a soulmate right there!

Since 2011 I have read Jane Eyre thrice (that was me wanting us to bring the old language back) and I still get swept away by it! 
There are so many version of Jane Eyre on video (19 according to google) that I decided to post some of my favorite scenes from the different renditions! If you go to the library where I live to look for them they probably won't be there because I check them out and keep them for far longer than I should! I couldn't find one rendition I was looking for so I will get you at least three!  :)

Clip #1 Sigh...Michael Fassbender....sigh. I wouldn't have been cold that's for sure! Okay next!

Clip #2 "I want a wife." The crossing of the boots-perfection!

Clip #3 I just loved the above scene in the book for it's passion and thought that this portrayal was brilliant! Plus I always question- "Could I resist and say no to Michael Fassbender?" :)

And clip #4 the proposal with some of my favorite lines! Yep...I'm just a Jane girl at heart! I hope you can find your "Classic"! Until then feel free to share mine!  ;)