All About the Brontes Challenge 2012?

In 2010, I hosted the All About the Brontes Challengewhere you could read a book, watch a movie, listen to an audiobook, or anything Bronte related in a celebration of the three very talented and interesting Bronte sisters. After having Penelope a year ago, I decided not to do the challenge in 2011 with limited time during her first year of life. Now that she is one, I’ve thought about bringing the challenge back for 2012.


Would you be interested in seeing the challenge return? What about the previous challenge did you like or dislike? Would you be interested in the challenge becoming more encompassing and becoming a “Women of Suspense,” “Gothic Fiction,” “Victorian Fiction,” or “19th Century Authors” Challenge? Or have you had your fill of challenges and would not like to see another one.

Please answer my poll on the right sidebar with your thoughts and leave a comment telling me what you think!

All About the Brontes Challenge End

All good things must come to an end and so too much the All About the Brontes Challenge. It has now officially ended, but feel free to post your final reviews and wrap-ups. I watched the 1970 Jane Eyre movie this past weekend, but haven't had a chance to write my review yet. I'll be out of town camping this weekend without a computer so my review and wrap-up posts will appear next week.

Also let me know - would you be interested in a 2011 All About the Brontes Challenge? If so, is there anything different you would like to see in a new challenge?

All About the Brontes Challenge Reviews

Happy New Year to Everyone! Tomorrow is the official start to the All About the Brontes Challenge. If you would like to sign up, please go here for Challenge details and sign-up.

Please post your reviews for your Bronte related items in Mr. Linky below. Please put your name or blog name followed by the item reviewed. For example if I was going to post a review of Jane Eyre, I would put, Laura's Reviews (Jane Eyre). If Mr. Linky goes down as it does often, post your review links in the comments section.

Thanks everyone - I can't wait to read the reviews and discuss!

All About the Brontes Challenge 2010

Do you enjoy a good gothic novel? Do you wonder what it would have been like to be a part of a trio of three gifted sisters living a lonely existence in the moors? Then you will enjoy the All About the Brontes Challenge!

I have greatly enjoyed being a part of Stephanie's Written Word Everything Austen Challenge. Over the past few months, I have been inspired by her challenge to host my own challenge aimed at the exploring the Bronte sisters; their works, their lives, and the spin-off novels of today.

I have loved the Bronte sisters since I first became obsessed with them in high school. I read all of their novels in short order, have watched every movie version I can get my hands on, read countless biographies, and also enjoy reading any spin-off novels I can find. It's interesting that most Bronte based spin-off novels use the sisters themselves as main characters rather than their fictional creations.

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte were three very talented sisters who lived in England during the Victorian age.

Charlotte Bronte was my first Bronte obssession. Her first novel, Jane Eyre, was a masterpiece. Bronte was able to take many of her real life experiences as a poor girl in a terrible school and later as a governess and bring them to life in this magnificent novel. The novel transcends just a tale of her personal trials by being a novel about a strong, independent, woman of the Victorian era who will not sacrifice her personal ideals for an easier road through life. Of course the gothic elements such as a Byronic hero in Edward Rochester and a mad woman in the attic make this a riveting tale. Her later novels (Shirley, Villette, and The Professor) are also good reads, although I must confess that Jane Eyre remains to me the best of the bunch.

I then discovered Emily Bronte. Emily only lived a short, brief live, but she was able to produce one fantastic novel of immense passion, Wuthering Heights. Poor Anne Bronte is often forgotten as the youngest sister, but I must admit that I love her novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall as well as Agnes Grey. I rate The Tenant of Wildfell Hall up there as a masterpiece with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

Challenge Details

1. The All About the Brontes challenge will run from January 1st to June 30, 2010. You can post a review before this date if you wish.

2. You can read a book, watch a movie, listen to an audiobook, anything Bronte related that you would like. Reading, watching, or listening to a favorite Bronte related item again for the second, third, or more time is also allowed.

3. The goal will be to read, watch, listen, to 3 to 6 (or beyond) anything Bronte items.

4. Please sign-up by posting your blog entry on the number of items and what items you would like to do for this challenge below in Mr. Linky (Don't just post your blog's URL). Don't worry, you can do different things than you have listed. I myself am not always good at sticking to lists!

5. Please post your reviews here.

6. Enjoy!

What Bronte items can you read/watch/listen to? There are plenty! Here are a few suggestions.

The Original Works

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte*

Villette by Charlotte Bronte*

Shirley by Charlotte Bronte*

The Professor by Charlotte Bronte*

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte*

Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte*

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte*

Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Juvenilia by Charlotte Bronte

-The Secret

-Mina Laury

-Orgins of Angria

-Marian vs. Zenobia

-Mary

-Mina Laury

-Elizabeth

Biographical Works/Literary Criticism

The Life of Charlotte Bronte by Elizabeth Gaskell*

Charlotte Bronte: A Passionate Life by Lyndall Gordon*

The Art of the Brontes by Christine Alexander and Jane Sellars

Selected Letters of Charlotte Bronte edited by Margaret Smith
Charlotte Bronte: A Writer's Life by Rebecca Fraser

Charlotte Bronte: Unquiet Soul by Margot Peters

Bronte by Glyn Hughes

The Three Brontes by May Sinclair

The Brontes by Juliet Barker

The Brontes: A Beginner's Guide by Steve Eddy*

The Oxford Companion to the Brontes by Christine Alexander

The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller

In the Footsteps of the Brontes by Ellis Chadwick

Spin-offs/Modern Reworkings/Brontes as Fictional Characters/Etc.

Emma Brown: A Novel from the Unfinished Manuscript by Charlotte Bronte by Clare Boylan*

The Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fford*

Here on Earth by Alice Hoffman*

The Secret Adventures of Charlotte Bronte by Laura Joh Rowland*

The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte by Syrie James

Emily's Ghost: A Novel of the Bronte Sisters by Denise Giardina

Jane Eyre's Daughter by Elizabeth Newark

Jane Airhead by Kay Woodward

Jillian Dare by Melanie M. Jeschke

The Taste of Sorrow by Jude Morgan

The Heights by Brian James

Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler

The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte by Daphne Du Maurier

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (an original work inspired by Jane Eyre)*

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (an original work inspired by Wuthering Heights)*

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (definitely a gothic tale in the vein of Jane Eyre)*

The Brontes went to Woolworths by Rachel Ferguson

Coldwater by Mardi Mcconnochie*

Being Emily by Anne Donovan

The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte by James Tully*

Heathcliff: The Return to Wuthering Heights by Lin Haire-Sargeant

Thornfield Hall: Jane Eyre's Hidden Story by Emma Tennant

Return to Wuthering Heights by Anna L'Estrange*

Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn

Movies/Mini-series
Wuthering Heights (1939 - starring Laurence Oliver)*

Wuthering Heights (1970 - starring Timothy Dalton)

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (1992 - starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes)*

Wuthering Heights (Masterpiece Theatre 1998)

Wuthering Heights (2003 for MTV)

Wuthering Heights (Masterpiece Theatre 2009)*

Jane Eyre (1934)

Jane Eyre (1944)*

Jane Eyre (BBC - 1970)

Jane Eyre (1983 miniseries starring Timothy Dalton)*

Jane Eyre (1996)*

Jane Eyre (1997 A&E movie)*

Jane Eyre (2007 Masterpiece Theatre)*

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996 - Masterpiece Theatre starring Tara Fitzgerald and Toby Stephens)*

Villette (1970 BBC mini-series also adapted in 1999 as a BBC Radio production)

Rebecca (1940)*

Rebecca (2003 DVD - Masterpiece Theatre)*

Jamaica Inn (1939)*

Jamaica Inn (1983 TV Movie)

Devotion (1946 - highly fictionalized account of the Bronte sisters lives)

*Feel free to ask me questions. I have read or watched these items.

A couple of great blogs to check out for more information about the Brontes and related works are:

BronteBlog

Bronteana

Any more suggesions? Please comment below and I'll add to the list! Please don't feel limited by the list, think of it as a starting point.

Thank-you to Gricel for the wonderful new challenge logo!

Please sign-up by posting your blog entry on the number of items and what items you would like to do for this challenge below in Mr. Linky. Please do not just post your blog URL.