I promise that I won't comment on every story I read, but there were a few things I found interesting in the last two stories I read.
In the "Boscombe Valley Mystery", I found amusing the conversation between Holmes and Watson on the train. Holmes is demonstrating how he notices small things and says [I'm paraphrasing] "that, for example, he knew which side of the room the window in Watson's room was because Watson did such a terrible job shaving on the left side of his face." As rather an afterthought, he adds that he this was just an illustration- he wasn't really commenting on Watson's shave job. I find that very amusing and think it shows how little Holmes considers Watson's feelings. He is much more interested in showing his ability to figure things out than paying attention to his friend. Typical man. :-)
Then, what I really liked in "Man with the Twisted Lip" was that the wife of the missing man gets Holmes. She makes him admit that he thinks her husband is dead and then shows him the letter she received and basically says [I paraphrase again], "HA. You're wrong. How can he be dead when he sent me this letter?" I thought it showed some spirit on her part. All in all, SACD portrayed her as a strong, intelligent woman, at least as little of her as we see in this story.
I'm still waiting for the 3 cases when Sherlock is outwitted by a man. Have you found one or more of them yet?
I finished my "other" book and am back to reading SACD again.
I've finished "The Adventures" and have now started "The Memoirs," buve I haven't found any of the other bested cases yet.
I very much enjoyed the Beryl Coronet, mostly because I figured out the perp very early on (though not the entire motive) and had a good time watching Holmes come to my same conclusion. This is much the same feeling I get while watching Monk.
If Ken shares Harold's fascination with severed body parts, I recommend he read The Adventure of the Cardboard Box... which ends with this wonderful question from Holmes: "What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly, as he laid down the paper. "What object is served by this circle of mystery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? Here is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever."
Also meant to tell you that I really like the Jigs and Reels so far. I started with the 3 you mentioned - Hope and Faith made me cry at the end, which makes me think it would make an excellent made-for-tv movie, perhaps on Lifetime.
RE your observation that Holmes thinks little of other poeple's feelings, I think this passage from Copper Beeches goes far to explain Holmes' psyche: [on a train, observing the countyside] "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried, with all the entusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. But Holmes shook his head gravely. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my ow special subject. You look at the scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, ad the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of isolation, and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."
How depressing to have to walk through life with such an outlook. No wonder he leans on cocaine from time to time.
I don't think he treats Watson and differently than he treats every other person who crosses his path, though I'm not sure if that speaks well or ill of his character...
I wonder if cocaine allows Holmes to see the world without the analytical crime lens? That might partly describe his dependence.
I'm glad you are enjoying Jigs and Reels, though I warn you, some of them are a bit... odd.
While Ken likes missing body parts, I've given up suggesting books for him to read. It's like he assumes that if I enjoyed it, he won't. Maybe in a few years he'll read it. I suggested a book to him several years ago and he just read it this summer. He was shocked at how much he liked it. He just read "The Rainmaker" by Grisham (off my shelves, but I haven't actually read it yet) and really enjoyed that. Though, again, he seemed very surprised since it was one of my books.
Are you going to go see the new Harry Potter movie in the theater?
While I don't think that Holmes was bested in "Yellow Face," he certainly came to all the wrong conclusions.
I watched "Blue Carbuncle" on PBS last night, and was not at all impressed with the depiction of Holmes. Not at all how I pictured him. The television version was much to harsh, IMO. Watson, however, was a dead ringer for my mental image. I don't think I'll watch any more of the miniseries - the little movies in my head are just way better (no over-acting).
RE Jigs and Reels, I really liked Fule's Gold and Ugly Stepsister. I've read about half of them so far, but Hope and Faith is still my favorite.
RE Harry Potter, will probably wait for it to come out on video, if I see it. I don't think I've seen the last one in its entirety yet. While the movies are very very well done, there's just no wy they can incorporare all of the detail and subplots of the longer books.
"Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"- and that just goes to show why you shouldn't shove your valuables down a goose's throat.
"Adventure of the Copper Beeches"- I thought the governess was one of the strongest and most independent female characters so far. However, I was not very satisfied with the conclusion of the story. IT seemed rushed and underdevelopped to me.
"Silver Blaze"- Yeah! They didn't kill the horse! After two dead dogs, I was very concerned that this story would turn out badly for the horse.
So, I too am into the Memoirs.
Just found at yesterday that they have delayed the release of this HP movie until July of 2009. Oh well. Gives me time to read the books again so that I can point out to Ken everything the movie misses.
I don't think Watson is counting Yellow Face as one of the defeats of Holmes. So, we still have 3 defeats to come.
Did you come to the correct conclusion before Holmes? I had guessed that it was the wife's child, but I wasn't sure why the child was being hidden. I assumed it was horribly disfigured by the disease and she was ashamed of it, or something along those lines.
Alas, I came to the same conclusion, more or less, as Holmes. I was sure that it was her husband, horribly disfigured, abusive, or with some other malady.
I concur that the governess in Beeches was a great female character - and very cunning with the mirror in the handkerchief trick! Also showed a very quick wit and the ability to think on her feet when the master caught her in the emtpy wing.
Parents plotting against their children seems to be kind of a prevalent theme for SACD. I wonder if he had a good relationship with his own?
I just finished Crooked Man and am amazed at how many people contract "brain fever" in these stories. Wikipedia says it is/was realted to meningitis.... but I never knew that could be "brought on" by some sort of stressful situation.
I wonder if it isn't similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Although I also wonder if people didn't occasionally fake it to get out of difficult situations. Ooh, I lost a very important naval treaty, why don't I fake brain fever so that I don't have to deal with the consequences...
I've made it through Memoirs and into The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Overall, I wasn't as impressed with the Memoirs as with the Adventures. While it offers more character development of Sherlock and Watson and introduces Sherlock's brother, the cases seemed less interesting. Hopefully the Return will offer more interesting cases.
Of course, it may be that I am just ODing on Sherlock Holmes...
And we return to whalers and harpoons in "The Adventures of Black Peter". :-)
I think I must be becoming Sherlock Holmes. I have been coming to the correct conclusions in the past few stories and even beat Sherlock Holmes to the conclusion in "The Adventure of Six Napoleons". It may be because the "Blue Carbuncle" made such an impression on me that it only seemed natural that there should be something hidden in the bust of Napoleon.
I did find it interesting that Holmes goes to the extent of getting engaged to be married in "Adventures of Charles Augustus Milverton" in order to solve a case. In fact, it wasn't even to solve a case, but rather to commit a crime. He did not seem too concerned about his fiancee's reaction when she found out he wasn't going to marry her. He makes a comment that there is a rival ready to step in and take his place- as though the girl just wanted to get married, no matter to whom. Very disappointing of Holmes and SACD.
I was reading some history on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the website sirconandoyle.com to get some idea as to his relationship to his parents, because of your theorizing about the reason why there are so many evil parents in his stories.
According to his website, his father was an epileptic and alcoholic and died in an insttitution. His mother was poor and ran a boarding house, where she apparently had an affair with one of the lodgers.
While it does not say how his parents were to him, it certainly does not paint a positive picture of his parents.
Harpoons. Sea chests. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh make the bad man stop!
=)
I'm rapidly nearing the end of my volume of SACD, and can't wait to get a new installment of books at Christmas. I'm thinking I'll finish tomorrow, and then continue with Jigs and Reels.
I'm getting better not only at thinking like Holmes, but also at picking out the clues that SACD offers. Finding them is almost an investigation in and of itself!
Of the dozen or so I've read in the last week I really liked the Musgrave Ritual and the Greek Interpreter.
"Musgrave Ritual" and "Greek Interopreter" where two of SACDs favorite stories as well (see posting "Favorite Sherlock Holmes Stories" for complete list). I wasn't a big fan of "Musgrave Ritual" but I did enjoy "Greek Ritual". I liked that the woman killed them in the end. Does that count as one of the villians that beat Watson?
I just read and enjoyed "The Three Students". I took a few days without any Sherlock and it must have taken a toll because I didn't catch any of the clues in "Three Students"!
In my volume, I still have the novelette "VAlley of Fear", and then two more sections of stories: "His Last Bow" and "Case Book of Sherlock Holmes". There are about 20 stories between the two of them. Since you don't have those stories (or novelette), I'll keep blog-silence, unless I find one where Sherlock is beaten.
I'll give you a hint on my next choice for the club (i.e. Xmas gifts). I recently read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" (very good book, if you get a chance) which is about a woman who teaches English literature in Tehran before, during, and for a while after the Iranian Revolution. The book is written on her experiences but is written through her analysis of the books she assigns for her class and how they reflect her life and life in Iran. I chose one of the books that she discusses at length and made a particular impact on her students. It is written by an American author. There is your hint. See if you can guess what it is by Christmas!
I'm almost finished with the Complete Works, and just wanted to point out how frequently Holmes lets the perpetrators get away with their crime, as long as they return the lost goods or explain their situation. He really is quite lenient- even to some of the regular crooks.
17 comments:
I promise that I won't comment on every story I read, but there were a few things I found interesting in the last two stories I read.
In the "Boscombe Valley Mystery", I found amusing the conversation between Holmes and Watson on the train. Holmes is demonstrating how he notices small things and says [I'm paraphrasing] "that, for example, he knew which side of the room the window in Watson's room was because Watson did such a terrible job shaving on the left side of his face." As rather an afterthought, he adds that he this was just an illustration- he wasn't really commenting on Watson's shave job. I find that very amusing and think it shows how little Holmes considers Watson's feelings. He is much more interested in showing his ability to figure things out than paying attention to his friend. Typical man. :-)
Then, what I really liked in "Man with the Twisted Lip" was that the wife of the missing man gets Holmes. She makes him admit that he thinks her husband is dead and then shows him the letter she received and basically says [I paraphrase again], "HA. You're wrong. How can he be dead when he sent me this letter?" I thought it showed some spirit on her part. All in all, SACD portrayed her as a strong, intelligent woman, at least as little of her as we see in this story.
I'm still waiting for the 3 cases when Sherlock is outwitted by a man. Have you found one or more of them yet?
I finished my "other" book and am back to reading SACD again.
I've finished "The Adventures" and have now started "The Memoirs," buve I haven't found any of the other bested cases yet.
I very much enjoyed the Beryl Coronet, mostly because I figured out the perp very early on (though not the entire motive) and had a good time watching Holmes come to my same conclusion. This is much the same feeling I get while watching Monk.
If Ken shares Harold's fascination with severed body parts, I recommend he read The Adventure of the Cardboard Box... which ends with this wonderful question from Holmes:
"What is the meaning of it, Watson?" said Holmes solemnly, as he laid down the paper. "What object is served by this circle of mystery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable. But what end? Here is the great standing perennial problem to which human reason is as far from an answer as ever."
Also meant to tell you that I really like the Jigs and Reels so far. I started with the 3 you mentioned - Hope and Faith made me cry at the end, which makes me think it would make an excellent made-for-tv movie, perhaps on Lifetime.
RE your observation that Holmes thinks little of other poeple's feelings, I think this passage from Copper Beeches goes far to explain Holmes' psyche:
[on a train, observing the countyside]
"Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried, with all the entusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.
But Holmes shook his head gravely.
"Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my ow special subject. You look at the scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, ad the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of isolation, and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there."
How depressing to have to walk through life with such an outlook. No wonder he leans on cocaine from time to time.
I don't think he treats Watson and differently than he treats every other person who crosses his path, though I'm not sure if that speaks well or ill of his character...
I wonder if cocaine allows Holmes to see the world without the analytical crime lens? That might partly describe his dependence.
I'm glad you are enjoying Jigs and Reels, though I warn you, some of them are a bit... odd.
While Ken likes missing body parts, I've given up suggesting books for him to read. It's like he assumes that if I enjoyed it, he won't. Maybe in a few years he'll read it. I suggested a book to him several years ago and he just read it this summer. He was shocked at how much he liked it. He just read "The Rainmaker" by Grisham (off my shelves, but I haven't actually read it yet) and really enjoyed that. Though, again, he seemed very surprised since it was one of my books.
Are you going to go see the new Harry Potter movie in the theater?
While I don't think that Holmes was bested in "Yellow Face," he certainly came to all the wrong conclusions.
I watched "Blue Carbuncle" on PBS last night, and was not at all impressed with the depiction of Holmes. Not at all how I pictured him. The television version was much to harsh, IMO. Watson, however, was a dead ringer for my mental image. I don't think I'll watch any more of the miniseries - the little movies in my head are just way better (no over-acting).
RE Jigs and Reels, I really liked Fule's Gold and Ugly Stepsister. I've read about half of them so far, but Hope and Faith is still my favorite.
RE Harry Potter, will probably wait for it to come out on video, if I see it. I don't think I've seen the last one in its entirety yet. While the movies are very very well done, there's just no wy they can incorporare all of the detail and subplots of the longer books.
"Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle"- and that just goes to show why you shouldn't shove your valuables down a goose's throat.
"Adventure of the Copper Beeches"- I thought the governess was one of the strongest and most independent female characters so far. However, I was not very satisfied with the conclusion of the story. IT seemed rushed and underdevelopped to me.
"Silver Blaze"- Yeah! They didn't kill the horse! After two dead dogs, I was very concerned that this story would turn out badly for the horse.
So, I too am into the Memoirs.
Just found at yesterday that they have delayed the release of this HP movie until July of 2009. Oh well. Gives me time to read the books again so that I can point out to Ken everything the movie misses.
I don't think Watson is counting Yellow Face as one of the defeats of Holmes. So, we still have 3 defeats to come.
Did you come to the correct conclusion before Holmes? I had guessed that it was the wife's child, but I wasn't sure why the child was being hidden. I assumed it was horribly disfigured by the disease and she was ashamed of it, or something along those lines.
Alas, I came to the same conclusion, more or less, as Holmes. I was sure that it was her husband, horribly disfigured, abusive, or with some other malady.
I concur that the governess in Beeches was a great female character - and very cunning with the mirror in the handkerchief trick! Also showed a very quick wit and the ability to think on her feet when the master caught her in the emtpy wing.
Parents plotting against their children seems to be kind of a prevalent theme for SACD. I wonder if he had a good relationship with his own?
I just finished Crooked Man and am amazed at how many people contract "brain fever" in these stories. Wikipedia says it is/was realted to meningitis.... but I never knew that could be "brought on" by some sort of stressful situation.
What do you think?
I wonder if it isn't similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder? Although I also wonder if people didn't occasionally fake it to get out of difficult situations. Ooh, I lost a very important naval treaty, why don't I fake brain fever so that I don't have to deal with the consequences...
I've made it through Memoirs and into The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Overall, I wasn't as impressed with the Memoirs as with the Adventures. While it offers more character development of Sherlock and Watson and introduces Sherlock's brother, the cases seemed less interesting. Hopefully the Return will offer more interesting cases.
Of course, it may be that I am just ODing on Sherlock Holmes...
And we return to whalers and harpoons in "The Adventures of Black Peter". :-)
I think I must be becoming Sherlock Holmes. I have been coming to the correct conclusions in the past few stories and even beat Sherlock Holmes to the conclusion in "The Adventure of Six Napoleons". It may be because the "Blue Carbuncle" made such an impression on me that it only seemed natural that there should be something hidden in the bust of Napoleon.
I did find it interesting that Holmes goes to the extent of getting engaged to be married in "Adventures of Charles Augustus Milverton" in order to solve a case. In fact, it wasn't even to solve a case, but rather to commit a crime. He did not seem too concerned about his fiancee's reaction when she found out he wasn't going to marry her. He makes a comment that there is a rival ready to step in and take his place- as though the girl just wanted to get married, no matter to whom. Very disappointing of Holmes and SACD.
I was reading some history on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on the website sirconandoyle.com to get some idea as to his relationship to his parents, because of your theorizing about the reason why there are so many evil parents in his stories.
According to his website, his father was an epileptic and alcoholic and died in an insttitution. His mother was poor and ran a boarding house, where she apparently had an affair with one of the lodgers.
While it does not say how his parents were to him, it certainly does not paint a positive picture of his parents.
Harpoons. Sea chests. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh make the bad man stop!
=)
I'm rapidly nearing the end of my volume of SACD, and can't wait to get a new installment of books at Christmas. I'm thinking I'll finish tomorrow, and then continue with Jigs and Reels.
I'm getting better not only at thinking like Holmes, but also at picking out the clues that SACD offers. Finding them is almost an investigation in and of itself!
Of the dozen or so I've read in the last week I really liked the Musgrave Ritual and the Greek Interpreter.
More in depth comments to follow tomorrow.
"Musgrave Ritual" and "Greek Interopreter" where two of SACDs favorite stories as well (see posting "Favorite Sherlock Holmes Stories" for complete list). I wasn't a big fan of "Musgrave Ritual" but I did enjoy "Greek Ritual". I liked that the woman killed them in the end. Does that count as one of the villians that beat Watson?
I just read and enjoyed "The Three Students". I took a few days without any Sherlock and it must have taken a toll because I didn't catch any of the clues in "Three Students"!
In my volume, I still have the novelette "VAlley of Fear", and then two more sections of stories: "His Last Bow" and "Case Book of Sherlock Holmes". There are about 20 stories between the two of them. Since you don't have those stories (or novelette), I'll keep blog-silence, unless I find one where Sherlock is beaten.
I'll give you a hint on my next choice for the club (i.e. Xmas gifts). I recently read "Reading Lolita in Tehran" (very good book, if you get a chance) which is about a woman who teaches English literature in Tehran before, during, and for a while after the Iranian Revolution. The book is written on her experiences but is written through her analysis of the books she assigns for her class and how they reflect her life and life in Iran. I chose one of the books that she discusses at length and made a particular impact on her students. It is written by an American author. There is your hint. See if you can guess what it is by Christmas!
The Great Gatsby?
Nope, that is not the one. Though, as an aside, I just read The Great Gasby for the first time this summer. I was not particularly impressed.
I'm almost finished with the Complete Works, and just wanted to point out how frequently Holmes lets the perpetrators get away with their crime, as long as they return the lost goods or explain their situation. He really is quite lenient- even to some of the regular crooks.
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