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Book Review: The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

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The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes #9
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Read by Ben Werling, Kevin Theis, and Sara Nichols

My rating: 4.5 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I think this has been my favorite collection of short stories in this series so far. I almost didn’t read it, thinking to skip this and His Last Bow and just reading The Hound of the Baskervilles to finish up my foray into Sherlock Holmes. But then I found an audiobook version that intrigued me, and I really can’t say that it wasn’t the reason it was my favorite. But even outside of liking the narration (more on that later), I was more engaged throughout this book. Most of the mysteries were intriguing (except for the one where the woman literally just tells everything to Holmes; there’s nothing for him to solve at all—I did like the very end of that one though), and I particularly liked the villain Baron Gruner. I’m surprised we don’t hear of him at least as much as Moriarty; he’s in only one less story than Moriarty (who is only in two), but he has more “screen time” and is also clearly quite clever. I am not sure how I would have felt about the stories narrated by Holmes instead of Watson if I weren’t listening to them read by Kevin Theis, but overall, I enjoyed my time listening to this book.

Regarding the audiobook, this version was narrated by Ben Werling, who also voiced Watson, and Kevin Theis, who voiced Sherlock. They both also performed various other male characters, and Sara Nichols voiced any female or child roles. I wasn’t impressed by Ben Werling who was a little odd with some of his dialog tags. He commonly put full emphasis on both words in the tag, “said Holmes.” with more of an exclamation point than a period after them. It was strange. But Kevin Theis, who I have gotten used to as the voice of Bertie Wooster, was great as Holmes. I would go back and listen to every single Holmes book, even the ones I didn’t care for much, if he was narrating them. Sara Nichols I don’t really have anything to say about, but I didn’t have any issues with her.

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Book Review: Ramona and Her Father

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Ramona and Her Father
Ramona Quimby #4
by Beverly Cleary
Read by Stockard Channing

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

I so wish I had read these books when I was a child. I remember knowing about them. I may have read one, or maybe it was a different one set in the same world. But I really think I would have connected with Ramona. This book was my favorite so far, and that’s considering that I’ve really liked them all. Ramona gets to spend more time with her dad than usual, but it’s at the cost of him having lost his job and taking some time to find a new one. The scenes that stuck out to me the most are those related to her dad’s smoking habit. The scene where Beezus confronts him about it is relatively intense, and when her dad confesses his brief slip to Ramona, I teared up a little! This book is not just about the adventures of a young girl; it’s full of so much heart! Stockard Channing’s narration is pretty great, too, and I recommend it for anyone who might be interested, young or old.

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Book Review: These Happy Golden Years

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These Happy Golden Years
Little House #8
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
read by Cherry Jones

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Children’s historical classic

Of course I knew that Laura would grow up and this family that started in the Big Woods of Wisconsin would eventually change as some of them moved on, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a little sad when it happens. Still, most of it was enjoyable, as a few years go by with Laura teaching school and finding other ways to make money to help her family, as well as spending time with Almanzo Wilder, who isn’t dissuaded when Laura tells him there’s no future for them. Unlike another series I read with a young main character, it’s not really the change in Laura’s maturity, motivations, or even location that make this book slightly less enjoyable for me than the rest of the series. I think it had more to do with the somewhat shallowness of the writing, even though I’m used to it by now. In this particular book, with the progression from wanting to be an old maid so she doesn’t have to leave home to happily accepting Almanzo’s marriage proposal, it really would have been nice to get a little more in depth on Laura’s thoughts and feelings. Overall, though, I liked what is essentially the end to the series, since the last one is a departure from the rest of the series.

As before, my enjoyment of the book was greatly enhanced by the audiobook narrator, Cherry Jones, who does a fantastic job, and being able to hear Pa’s fiddle, thanks to Paul Woodiel. If you’ve ever considered reading this series, or have already read it and have occasion to listen to the audiobooks, I say do it!

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Book Review: Ralph S. Mouse

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Ralph S. Mouse
Ralph S. Mouse #3
by Beverly Cleary

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic, fantasy

I thought this book would be redundant, considering that Ralph runs away in this book like he did in the previous. And it did start out that way, with Ralph annoyed at his young relatives wanting to borrow his motorcycle and then leaving the hotel. But his experience at school was different enough from his experience at camp that it felt completely fresh. I really liked Miss K and the way she taught and that even Ralph learned some important things from her. The ending to the book, which is the ending to the series, went better than I expected it to. I again find myself wishing that I’d read these books to my kids when they were young, as I think it would have been a fun adventure series to read together.

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Book Review: Carry On, Jeeves

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Carry On, Jeeves
Jeeves #3
 by P.G. Wodehouse
Read by Kevin Theis

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic British humor

After getting past the stories in this collection that I’d already listened to (though with a different main character), I think I enjoyed this collection a little more than the other two so far. Though I have to admit that, while at first I thought it was great that one of the stories was written from Jeeves’s perspective, I found that I didn’t like that story as much. It was still interesting to get his perspective on the schemes he gets up to for Wooster and his friends.

I now wish I’d read this article sooner, as it recommended newer readers to skip My Man Jeeves, since the stories in that collection featuring Reggie Pepper as the narrator were re-written with Wooster and Jeeves in this collection. Because I didn’t want to listen to the same basic story again, I skipped them this time, but I do think I would have appreciated them more if I’d read them here for the first time. That’s just a little PSA to anyone else new to the series. If I do re-read any of these someday, I’ll definitely skip My Man Jeeves, or at least the Reggie Pepper stories. I will, however, probably stick with the Kevin Theis narration, because I’ve really been enjoying it!

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Book Review: The Return of Sherlock Holmes

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The Return of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes #6
by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 3 / 5
Genre: Classic mystery

I wasn’t all that impressed by this collection of stories. Some of it just felt like it had been done before, others seemed like a bit of a stretch to get to the end. At least one was almost too obvious. I’m not a fan of the cavalier response to the murder of a man in one of the stories, criminal though he may have been. I didn’t even realize why Mary Watson was suddenly gone in this book until I read some other reviews (I thought maybe Holmes’s “death” and return must simply have taken place before Watson was married, since I’ve never really paid much attention to the dates), because it was so vaguely alluded to. I would really have hoped for at least a little more consideration for the loss of the woman whose relationship with Watson came about in a previous book. But I guess the weak ending to the relationship mirrors the weakly shown beginning to it. I’ve come this far, so I’m determined to finish out the entirety of these stories, but I hope to see a return to some of the more interesting and inventive stories of the earlier books.

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Book Review: Ramona the Brave

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Ramona the Brave
Ramona Quimby #3
by Beverly Cleary
Read by Stockard Channing

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s classic

Oh my goodness, the things this little girl does…I don’t know if Beverly Clearly followed a kid around for weeks, observed her own children, or remembered her own childhood for these books, but man, I’m constantly amazed by the real insight she puts into these stories. Ramona has such a rough time in first grade, I almost wish she was a real kid that I could put my arms around and tell that she is seen and she is understood. The owl episode, especially, made me wish for her sake that she could really explain her thoughts and decisions. I knew the moment that new room was announced, it would be a source of contention between sisters as to who would get it—it’s 100% accurate. And then Ramona’s unhappiness building up until she just had to get it out has hilarious, and then very touching, consequences.

Stockard Channing’s narration is pretty great, too, and I recommend it for anyone who might be interested, young or old.

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Book Review: Little Town on the Prairie

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Little Town on the Prairie
Little House #7
by Laura Ingalls Wilder
read by Cherry Jones

My rating: 5 / 5
Genre: Children’s historical classic

Though the Ingalls family lived in town during the long winter of the previous book, this one really brought out the character of the young town. Moving there for the winter again, just in case it were to turn out as harsh as the previous, Laura and Carrie deal with a school teacher who maybe needed a little training to know how to deal with kids (good, bad, any kind, really—she wasn’t great with kids), the townspeople come up with a variety of ways to entertain themselves through the winter, and Laura catches the eye of a certain farmer boy. Though there is still some focus on the Ingalls homestead and their work there, the book takes a turn as winter comes on, and it’s quite the change of pace after that. Also, thanks to much work and sacrifice by her loved ones, Mary goes off to college partway through this book, which adds to the different dynamic. It’s a good reminder that life keeps moving on and things change, sometimes for the worse, but even when it’s for the better, it can be bittersweet.

As before, my enjoyment of the book was greatly enhanced by the audiobook narrator, Cherry Jones, who does a fantastic job. If you’ve ever considered reading this series, or have already read it and have occasion to listen to the audiobooks, I say do it!

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Book Review: My Man Jeeves

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My Man Jeeves
Jeeves #1
 by P.G. Wodehouse
Read by Kevin Theis

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic British humor

I thought it was difficult to figure out a good order in which to read the Sherlock stories/books, but man, this seems more complicated. I had read in advance that some of the stories in this collection would have a completely different protagonist, but that didn’t make it less confusing when a story far into the collection was indeed focused on Reggie Pepper instead of Bertie Wooster. Perhaps the publisher could put in some kind of warning note, especially considering that it’s not clear that the narrator is different until a few pages into the story. Pepper is sort of like a combination of Wooster and Jeeves, yet not half as clever. He comes up with schemes himself, unlike Wooster, who relies on Jeeves, but Pepper’s schemes seem to fail more often than not. It was quite a return to the “old familiar” when I got to the last story, which brings us back to Wooster. 

Another comparison I can make to the Sherlock stories—it really might be wiser to read Wodehouse’s short story collections over a period of time, rather than all the way through, as they can start to all sound really similar. There is a sort of narrative thread running through the different stories in the other book I read (The Inimitable Jeeves), and there may have been a bit of that here too, but it certainly doesn’t help that it was broken up by the unrelated stories. Of course, I don’t follow my own advice and continue to read each Sherlock short story collection all in one go, so I’ll probably end up doing the same here. Maybe on a future read (of these, not the Sherlock books) I’ll spread it out more, because I do think I’ve enjoyed them enough to want to come back to them in the future. On the other hand, by the time I’ve read all there is to read, maybe I’ll have had my fill. Either way, I plan to continue with the Kevin Theis narrations if possible, as I read more about Jeeves and Wooster.

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Book Review: Pride and Prejudice (adapted for younger readers)

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Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen, adapted by Fern Siegel

My rating: 4 / 5
Genre: Classic children’s, romance

It’s difficult to know whether to rate books like this based on the story or on the adaptation. I gave the original book 4 stars and liked some aspects of this book better. It does a great job of cutting through the old-fashioned language and getting to the heart of the story. In this case, “telling” instead of “showing” both shortens the length of the story and explains what might otherwise be difficult for younger readers to comprehend or follow.

However, I had some issues with feeling like the book left something out now and then. A couple of times, the text seemed to refer to something that hadn’t been explained in the first place. I could remember it, if vaguely, from my reading of the original book, but it seemed to have been missing from the adaptation. For that reason, I gave the adaptation 4 stars. Overall, I like the idea of this story, but it just seems a little too…I don’t know, maybe bloated? for me. Still, I do think this adaptation more than adequately makes the classic accessible and would recommend this book for children around 8-12, with the extra note that with younger kids, it might be helpful (and enjoyable) to read it with a parent or older sibling/friend.

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