When Good TV and Good Books Meet

Despite being a voracious reader for as long as I can remember, I'm ashamed to admit that I was once a teenage girl and have never read "Wuthering Heights". While I've inferred the general story over the years (who hasn't heard of the stormy affair between Cathy and Heathcliff?), I've never gotten around to reading the Emily Bronte classic. It's apparently never been out of print, so I have zero excuses to have never picked it up. I have however, read every book by Stephen King (except his latest which I'll devour in the next few weeks) and the entire "Twilight" series (say what you want about those, but perhaps Bella's interest in Austen and Bronte novels will introduce teenage girls to their works as I never was at that age).

In fact, I seemed to have missed quite a few classics. All I know about Dickens is what I've seen on TV! Simply shameful, I know. And that leads me to the real subject of this post: Fall in love with Masterpiece Classic. It's on PBS, so I use "TV" loosely in the title.

They recently aired an adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" that I found simply incredible. It was dark and stormy and despite it being so distressing and tragic, I wanted to watch it over and over again. The soundtrack and the landscape of the film, actually shot on the moors of Yorkshire, added to the overall haunting tale. Currently on air is a selection of the works of Dickens, which for now, will still be all I know about him!

The Masterpiece website is an excellent companion for their Classic, Mystery, and Contemporary series. The Book & Film Club section is particularly engaging as it provides fantastic resources for discussion about the works, including comparing the books and the film. Not only does it provide a resource on creating and managing a club, there are also activities and period-specific recipes so that you can plan an entire event around a work!