Arthur Conan Doyle

Book Review: The Valley of Fear

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The Valley of Fear
Sherlock Holmes #4
by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

Like A Study in Scarlet, this novella is in two parts—the mystery being solved by Holmes and the backstory of the principle character in the mystery. Each part has a bit of a twist near the end. The mystery section is interesting enough, though doesn’t stand out much from the others I’ve read so far. I was spoiled on the twist (people seem to care a lot less about spoiler tags and warnings when leaving a low rating), so it’s difficult to say how I would have felt about it. It didn’t seem particularly inspired, that’s all I can really say. The backstory portion I found interesting and unnecessarily long in turns. It’s very difficult for me to get into the head of someone who is so brutal and uncaring. The twist, though, was probably one of the most surprising twists I’ve read. I did not see it coming and mentally applauded Doyle for the misdirect. I raised the story at least half a star, maybe a full star, just because of that twist.

I have to say that screen writers over the years have really done a number with Moriarty. I am sure I’m not the only person who has read these stories after seeing and hearing about Holmes over the years and imagining Moriarty as a dastardly foil for the great detective, only to realize that book Moriarty is nothing compared to his on-screen counterparts. This book had even less Moriarty than the short story in which he was introduced (“The Final Problem” in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes), and now that I’ve read both stories with the infamous villain in them, I really can’t believe how big of a deal the character became. We really only know he’s brilliant because we’re told he is. There’s no proof given; Sherlock says he’s a criminal mastermind, so that’s all we need to make up stories about his treachery. Anyway, all of that aside, this was a more memorable Holmes story for me, so that’s something (though it has nothing to do with Moriarty).

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Book Review: The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

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The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes #4
by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 3.5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

Part of me thinks that I need to make sure to start spreading out the shorter stories within one collection. But another part of me wonders if that would help. One of the things that’s starting to wear on me with these stories is the way most cases are presented the same way—a big info dump to explain the case to Holmes and/or Watson. Sometimes, the person telling the story will share dialog from someone else, and I often find myself asking how the person could be so precise in telling the story. And then there was at least one of these stories where the person telling the story related dialog from someone else who was also relating an event that included further dialog. There came a point where my mind was completely muddled and I couldn’t remember who was talking. When you’re 3+ deep in quotation marks (“‘”You astound me!”‘”) to get the story across, it’s getting a little ridiculous.

Some of the cases were still intriguing, while others were a bit more obvious. I think I’m starting to get the hang of Doyle’s pattern with these cases, though that doesn’t mean I can figure them all out before the end. I think what surprised me the most was the introduction of Professor Moriarty, whom everyone knows as Holmes’s arch-rival. But that story was more about Holmes trying to escape the man, with his brilliance and nefariousness only told to us, not really shown in any way. He’s dangerous and worthy of Holmes’s attention only because Holmes says so. I have no idea if the man will appear in any other stories, but to be honest, this one was kind of a dud for me. I did question partway through this book whether it was worth continuing. I think I will, as I don’t think I can really judge the entire character without reading everything Doyle wrote about him. But when I come to the next short story collection, I’ll probably take my time with it.

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Book Review: The Sign of Four

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The Sign of Four
Sherlock Holmes #2
 by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

This is going to be the shortest review I’ve ever written. I’m slowly making my way through the Sherlock Holmes stories for the first time. This was not my favorite. The mystery wasn’t nearly as interesting as others have been; in fact, it was a bit bizarre. It’s the book where Watson meets the woman he ends up marrying, but that relationship didn’t grow in any particularly interesting way either. Overall, the story just felt slow and not very memorable.

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Book Review: A Study in Scarlet

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A Study in Scarlet
Sherlock Holmes #1
 by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I almost feel like I should write two separate reviews for this book, considering how vastly different parts 1 and 2 are from each other. I can’t say that Doyle’s decision to leave England and go back in time several years to show the victim and murderer’s backstory in America up close is one that makes a lot of sense to me, but I didn’t hate it like some seem to. If this had been the first Holmes story I’d read, though, I could see where it might make my hesitate to pick up another. In the end, I think that, though the Utah diversion was interesting in its own right, it felt completely unnecessary to the mystery story.

Now, outside of the trip to Utah, it was great to see the original meeting between two characters who have been duplicated and imitated so many times since. Watson learning what Holmes does and seeing the first glimpses at his methods and madness is fun to read. I liked the introduction of Watson himself too. Overall, I’ve been enjoying my first time reading these stories.

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Book Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes #3
 by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

This is the first Sherlock Holmes I’ve ever read, though like many, I’ve seen various adaptations. I started with this book of short stories mostly because it was the one I owned. I’ve never been a huge fan of short stories, though, and while I wish now that I’d started by checking A Study in Scarlet out from the library, I’m still glad I’ve started reading Holmes in any form. The issue with reading this book of shorter mysteries, though, is that a lot of the clients start to blend together, as many of them talk and act similarly when they bring Holmes their case. I did spread the stories out, reading 3 at a time, then reading other books before coming back for more, and I think that helped some.

My view of Holmes and Watson, and even some of the other characters, started with an understanding based on some of the adaptations I’ve seen, and while Holmes was indeed standoffish and generally assumed he was the smartest one in the room, I didn’t think he was quite as cold as I’ve seen him portrayed. A few of the cases were really interesting, while there were a couple that I thought had a much less intriguing solution. The introduction of Irene Adler wasn’t at all what I expected, but I wonder if she’ll be back in a future story. Overall, I enjoyed reading these vignettes, and have a feeling I’ll appreciate even more the longer stories when I get to them.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent Book Gets

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It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl. The topic today is “Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf.” I posted 3 weeks ago about books I’d either gotten for Christmas or acquired shortly thereafter, and normally, I wouldn’t have much to add in this short of an amount of time. However, my husband and I went back to Half-Price books just yesterday, much sooner than normal, plus I do have a few more from right before Christmas I’d love to mention. So here are 8 of my most recent book gets:

1. Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally
Sadly, I had forgotten I got this until I started scanning my bookshelf for what should go on today’s list. I got it in the clearance section of HPB some time before Christmas (we go there a lot during the holidays). I “read” this in high school, but I’ll admit I didn’t read it very thoroughly. Though I did well in school, I was pretty lazy. I’d already seen the movie at the time that I read it for school, and basically read chunks of the book looking for scenes that were in the movie to write about. It’s definitely time to read it for real.

2. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
I got my sister some books for Christmas and found some great deals on what she wanted on eBay. One of the sellers had a promotion of buy 2, get 1 free, so after I looked for a 3rd book that she would want, I found this in their list of eligible books and decided I might as well get it for me. I’d been planning to read it anyway!

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
I have read maybe 1 Sherlock Holmes story ever, that I can think of, and I couldn’t even tell you for sure what it was (Hounds of the Baskerville, I think). Like many others, though, I’ve viewed various iterations of Holmes over the years. I spotted this high on a bookshelf in our own house, but I didn’t even remember having it. Turns out someone had given it to my husband several years ago. Technically we already owned it, but it is now sitting on my shelf, and I plan to start reading it soon.

Plus, reading it will make my novel journal a lot more relevant to me:

The lines are made up of the text from the stories!

4. The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek by Rhett McLaughlin & Link Neal
I’ve mentioned this book multiple times recently, but that’s just because of how good it is! I try not to buy books at full price if I can help it, because how do you sustain a habit if you spend that kind of money? So I passed on getting it when it was still on the “new releases” shelf. It was only marked down a few bucks when we went back to HPB yesterday, but my husband insisted that was good enough. (Read my review of this book.)

5. Unoffendable by Brant Hansen
Brant Hansen is my favorite radio personality. If you’re in the mood for a fun, clean, often random podcast that makes you think, check out the Brant & Sherri Oddcast. He also writes some books that combine faith and humor and make some interesting points. This is his first book, and I really enjoyed his second one, Blessed are the Misfits. I’ve been hoping to read this for a while, but my library doesn’t carry it. Though I’ve checked every time we’ve gone to HPB recently, imagine my surprise to see it sitting on the shelf yesterday!

6. 2 books from the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard
I enjoyed this series a lot when I was younger, and when my daughter got old enough, I read the first book in the series to her. I have kept my eye out for these book over the years, even before she was old enough, and have maybe 10-12 on my shelves (there are 40!). I spotted 3 in the clearance section, but only bought 2 of them, because I was certain I had one of them already. Sadly enough, it turns out that I don’t have the one I thought I had (the cover looked so familiar!), but I do have one of the two that I bought…so I only added 1. Ah well…it’s time to keep a list on my phone of which ones I have, since I never know when I might run across more.

What books are you excited about getting recently? Link your own list in the comments so I can check yours out too!