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Sherlock Holmes Canon - Completed!

direstraits

direstraits

Well-Known Member
Finally, after decades of being a fan, I have finally finished everything in the Sherlock Holmes canon.

I've read quite a lot before, but never dug into the latter collections and the 2 other novels, Valley of Fear and The Sign of Four.

Now I know why Holmes is often referred to as a beekeeper, found out about the few stories that weren't narrated by Watson (but they sound alike despite the different perspective!). Of all the stories, I think there's only one female client who wasn't a beauty. And that happened to be the worse Holmes story ever too. :)
 
I was almost going to open up Photoshop and start working on a creative image involving my interpretation of what a Sherlock Holmes cannon might look like. Then I read the original post properly, and realised to do such a thing would be a waste of time, with possibly only semi-amusing conotations for myself and, well, myself.
 
I would be curious to see a Sherlock Holmes cannon. Go on, don't let the lack of an extra 'n' put a dampener on your creativity. :D
 
Direstraits, there is a website called Doc Watson crime scene.
Are you familiar with this site? If you are, can you tell me what it is? I am a little uncomfortable about the release of my book, as it could or will put me in danger. It showed up on this website and there are no other books on it. When I hit the keywords at the bottom, it goes to some things in my book, like investigating it.
 
I love Sherlock Holmes, although the language takes a bit of getting used to.
 
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I have just bought Sherlock Holmes Complete Collection Part 1, with two novels and 30+ short stories. I was feeling a bit stressed by its huge size. But, Direstraits accomplishment has given me confidence. If he can read the complete collection, I can hopefully manage the half.
 
Congrats, now there are a whole slew of books about Sherlock Holmes, written in the same style, but obviously not by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
 
Recently finished reading my first Sherlock Holmes novel A Study in Scarlet.

Loved the way Arthur C. Doyle introduced Holmes, holding a test tube, yelling at the success of blood stain test, even drawing his own blood. Crazy yet appealing. Though, my expectations were totally different. I had assumed Sherlock's first entry would be at a murder scene, as a man with overcoat, oversized goggles and magnifying glass making prodigious remarks. So, was quite surprised by the journalistic way Dr. Watson begins his memoir. Their first meeting where they size up each other as future lodging partners was equally entertaining.

Though, I found the story itself not so exciting, particularly the first part, where Arthur tries hard to present Holmes as the only logical one, who can understand how a man can be murdered without an injury mark on his body.

But, liked the second part, the action packed Desert in North America, the strange customs of Salt Lake and the final merger of two plots. So, my first experience with Holmes is 50-50. Would continue reading more, though at a later stage, right now I am enjoying Fall of Giants a bit too much to read anything else :)
 
Ah, that's interesting observation. I loved the first part of the novel, but the part where Doyle digresses into the other story (the desert story you mentioned), I forced myself along. Certainly not the best part of the novel for me.

The pure Sherlock Holmes experience is to be gotten from the short stories. His earlier collections are generally stronger than his latter ones, although there are several strong ones further along. If you're ready for a Sherlock Holmes extravaganza you have to read the Hound.
 
Direstraits, I am a very impulsive reader and not often spend too much time with one writer. But, in case of Holmes, I have heard so much about him that I want to give ACD my full attention. So, this time I am planning to read his books one by one especially the sequels and short story collections.

Following this method, I plan to read Sign of Four next. And, yes I am dying to read his famous short stories that as you said above are more genuine detective fiction. Though Hound of Basker is his most talked about one and I am tempted to read it ASAP. a little confused!
 
Warning: SPOILERS BELOW. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FINAL PROBLEM OR SEEN SHERLOCK (THE BBC SERIES) AND SHERLOCK HOLMES: GAME OF SHADOWS, DON'T READ ON.

One of the most interesting things to me, having read the cannon, is how the plot to The Final Problem forms the basis of the ending of quite a few recent Holmes adaptations. Every time I see Sherlock (be it Bennedict Cumbberbach or Robert Downey Jr.) head toward an edge when in a battle with Moriarity, you know what's coming. It's a bit of a bummer, actually. I wouldn't trade my reading of it, of course, but it makes me wish they'd do something different.

I know it's an awesome ending, but that feeling of "I know where this is going" gets old.
 
I like to see how they do it, even though I know what's going to happen. This is the primary reason I prefer to read the books first before seeing any movie adaptation of the same book.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Book And Reader mobile app
 
I have finished reading Sign of Four and this time really liked the story. It was complicated unlike Study though here as well I think the characters shine even more. But now I have become a fan of Holmes' pithy comments and witty one liners, enjoyed the novel immensely.

JGL I tried hard to stop reading your comment after the spoiler alert but just could not stop myself :) Can't wait to read it.
 
Nooooooo! You mean you read JGL's spoiler without knowing beforehand what would happen???? Oh no!

But then, when you did get to The Final Problem, wailed at what happens, but then realized that you were less than halfway through the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, you might have figured out that something isn't really what it seemed.

Btw, anu, I just downloaded the entire collected complete Sherlock Holmes story for free and put it on my Kindle. Bliss.

p.s. You're now in the short stories section now. Scandal in Bohemia is awesome. And just wait till you get to Speckled Band. Excited for you!
 
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