The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Reviewed.

It must all have been said, of course. So, this review is likely to say more about me than about the author or his tales. In common with most people, I've witnessed the transfer of the written words onto the small screen in many versions and for many of the stories held in this collection. That connection naturally informs the reader. I enjoyed the reading, but, unusually for me, found the TV programs more entertaining and even more credible.

There are passages of fairly wooden dialogue and some of the descriptions of events leave a lot to be desired. The plots are, of course, wonderfully intricate, surprising and satisfying, as you'd expect. But there is a lot that the reader's expected to accept on trust. I suspect that much of the 'deduction' is open to question if analysed in any depth. Holmes expresses certainty about matters than can often only really be conjecture. But none of this detracts from the experience, of course.

Conan Doyle is as much a part of the English psyche as Dickens and Shakespeare and it's a brave man who would criticise such genius.

It took me rather longer to read this anthology than I'd expected; all sorts of interruptions took me away from the reading, but I also found I wasn't as compelled to read as I have been with many other books.

Gentle and often quite homely, apart from the more violent stories, the style is definitely of its time. I suspect many young readers will find some of the references so obscure as to be meaningless, but that's part of the charm. Like most readers, I approached this book fully aware that my previous exposure to the characters and some of the stories was bound to influence the experience.

One small technical niggle: whoever formatted the book for the Kindle, on which I read this, made a poor job of work on the symbols and the foreign punctuation. There's hardly a story that doesn't contain an odd set of characters either representing the £ sign or some of the French accents.

This was an interesting read without being astounding or particularly instructive for a writer. Would I read more? Probably not. Did I enjoy what I read? By and large, yes.

Edit, Close to Complete.

Cover of Brian CoxWell, the final chapter of the original typescript is now edited in pen and awaiting its turn, along with the other 14,  for the typing corrections to the file. Then begins the job of continuing the writing of book 2, which is what I really want to do.
So, today, I have written and posted a review for Stacey Danson's amazing 'Empty Chairs', sending the review to all the places where people should see it. We've had our usual Sunday walk. I've been in the loft to start on the process of sorting the stuff up there. A few more posts scheduled for the blog. The census form is now complete and ready to post. Have you done yours, if you're in the UK?
And, now I shall go and watch a couple of TV programmes I've been following. The one on Western Civilisation is quite interesting and the other, Brian Cox's 'Wonders of the Universe', is so full of breathtaking images, it's worth watching for the pictures alone.

Progressing more slowly than the editing deserves.

Image via WikipediaI've now completed 22 chapters and will start on chapter 23, page 209 tomorrow. The chapter is entitled 'Consequences' and I'm forced to consider that there have been consequences from my activities last night and today. Last night I was the taxi driver for my daughter and her friends as they attended a fancy dress party some distance from home. not only did this mean I couldn't have a drop of the red stuff during the evening, but the ending of the party resulted in me climbing into bed at 02.10 this morning. Knackered.
A late rise as a result and then the visit to my brother, who celebrates a birthday tomorrow, and for whom my wife and I wished to give a card and present. So, a social visit. We found his son, daughter and her boyfriend there and the short visit inevitably became a prolonged one in which, all of us being readers of one sort or another, books were discussed. Tomorrow the rain is promised, so today also became the designated day for our usual weekend walk.
The consequence of all this is that I have done so little of the edit. Sometimes, life gets in the way of writing.
And, this evening, I had to catch that TV programme of Sebastian Faulkes talking about the role of the lover in novels, of course. Not to be missed, by the way, and if you didn't catch it, have a look on the BBC iPlayer. Well worth the time spent in viewing. Add to that my attempt to finish Jane Eyre so I can discuss it with my daughter (studying it for A level) and the day is gone.
Ah, well, perhaps tomorrow will be more fruitful.