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cleolindaSo, since some folks asked me to elaborate: the last section of The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes that I am snuggling reading is "The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes," which, not to put too fine a point on it, kind of sucks. Let's discuss a few of the stories, shall we? Warning: spoilers. In no particular order:
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
I think this is the one where Holmes is a wisecracking asshole; I've blocked much of it from my memory. All I remember is a wax dummy that Conan Doyle self-plagiarized from "The Empty House." Also, there's hardly any Watson and it's in third person. I don't care if it was adapted from a play; it must have been a really, really sucky play.
The Adventure of the Three Gables
God, this is hideous. Holmes is a wisecracking asshole AND he's just brimming with racist remarks about "Black Steve." I very nearly just put the book down and called it a day, if the rest of the volume was going to be like this.
Fortunately, it wasn't.
The Adventure of the Creeping Man
You know, I actually really liked this one. I know it verges on "risible science-fiction," and I know it's kind of silly that Presbury kind of turns into a monkey after drinking Bohemian langur juice, but the early part when Presbury's young secretary is telling Holmes the setup, and I'm reading this at two in the morning, and he's talking about Presbury half-crawling through the dark hall in the middle of the night? AUGH. Fantastic.
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, Which Has No Actual Vampires, or Even Pretend Vampires
I was kind of disappointed in this one, although "disappointed" is a relative term after "The Three Gables" and the third-person Holmes stories. It hangs together pretty well, although it's got another Passionate Latina with a "Tropical Nature," but as a plus, it's got a uniquely disturbing family dynamic. I think my problem was that I wanted The Hound of the Baskervilles--the moors! the mists! the neighbors with secrets!--only with a vampire (who of course would turn out to not really be a vampire). Fortunately, The Hound just came in the mail today, so I'll just read that again.
The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, Which Was Totally Ripped Off, Like, Two Other Stories
I'd say "Just go read 'The Red-Headed League' again," except that this is, quite memorably, the zenith of Holmes/Watson slashiness:
The Problem of Thor Bridge (What, Not an Adventure?)
Pretty good, except that we have another Fiery Tropical Latina. You know, it's not even that Conan Doyle uses a particular stereotype; it's that he uses the same one, like, five different times, with the exact same wording every time. Come on, you haven't used the Fiery Passionate Italian since "The Adventure of the Red Circle." Make it work!
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger, In Which There Is No Detecting
MRS. MERRILOW: I have a lodger with no face! She gives me the wig!
THE VEILED LODGER: Let me tell you the story of how a lion tore my face off.
HOLMES: No suicide for you!
THE VEILED LODGER: *sob*
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
Well, at least here we have a Fiery Passionate Cockney.
The Adventure of the Lion's Mane
Holmes has retired to Sussex to keep bees (no, rly), except that a local schoolteacher ("coach," "tutor," whatever) turns up dead on the beach with red lashes on his back, obviously having been scourged to deathby a jellyfish. O noes, who could have killed him a jellyfish? Could someone have killed him with a hot wire mesh what? or a cat o'nine tails wielded by a jellyfish? O hay! Holmes totes remembers a book in his attic that could hold the answer! BEHOLD, GENTLEMENS, THE LION'S MANE JELLYFISH!!! JELLYFISH!!!! OH MY GOD YOU MORONS IT'S A JELLYFISH! Rocks fall, jellyfish dies. Also, we learn that the cure for jellyfish stings is 1) salad oil and 2) vast quantities of brandy, adminstered internally.
The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
Whoa, Jude Law was in the TV version? Seriously?
I have a couple more to read, and then I'm done with the original Conan Doyle short stories--fortunately, the annotated novels came today, as mentioned above, so I get to curl up with A Study in Scarlet tonight. Yay!
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
I think this is the one where Holmes is a wisecracking asshole; I've blocked much of it from my memory. All I remember is a wax dummy that Conan Doyle self-plagiarized from "The Empty House." Also, there's hardly any Watson and it's in third person. I don't care if it was adapted from a play; it must have been a really, really sucky play.
The Adventure of the Three Gables
God, this is hideous. Holmes is a wisecracking asshole AND he's just brimming with racist remarks about "Black Steve." I very nearly just put the book down and called it a day, if the rest of the volume was going to be like this.
Fortunately, it wasn't.
The Adventure of the Creeping Man
You know, I actually really liked this one. I know it verges on "risible science-fiction," and I know it's kind of silly that Presbury kind of turns into a monkey after drinking Bohemian langur juice, but the early part when Presbury's young secretary is telling Holmes the setup, and I'm reading this at two in the morning, and he's talking about Presbury half-crawling through the dark hall in the middle of the night? AUGH. Fantastic.
The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, Which Has No Actual Vampires, or Even Pretend Vampires
I was kind of disappointed in this one, although "disappointed" is a relative term after "The Three Gables" and the third-person Holmes stories. It hangs together pretty well, although it's got another Passionate Latina with a "Tropical Nature," but as a plus, it's got a uniquely disturbing family dynamic. I think my problem was that I wanted The Hound of the Baskervilles--the moors! the mists! the neighbors with secrets!--only with a vampire (who of course would turn out to not really be a vampire). Fortunately, The Hound just came in the mail today, so I'll just read that again.
The Adventure of the Three Garridebs, Which Was Totally Ripped Off, Like, Two Other Stories
I'd say "Just go read 'The Red-Headed League' again," except that this is, quite memorably, the zenith of Holmes/Watson slashiness:
In an instant [Killer Evans] had whisked out a revolver from his breast and had fired two shots. I felt a sudden hot sear as if a red-hot iron had been pressed to my thigh. There was a crash as Holmes's pistol came down on the man's head. I had a vision of [Evans] sprawling upon the floor with blood running down his face while Holmes rummaged him for weapons. Then my friend's wiry arms were round me, and he was leading me to a chair.Awwwww.
"You’re not hurt, Watson? For God's sake, say that you are not hurt!"
It was worth a wound--it was worth many wounds--to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of revelation.I'm pretty sure that if Jeremy Brett had been well enough to film this episode, there would be a fanvid on YouTube set to the strains of "I Will Always Love You" right now.
"It's nothing, Holmes. It's a mere scratch."
He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.Damn, Holmes, at least take the man to dinner first.
The Problem of Thor Bridge (What, Not an Adventure?)
Pretty good, except that we have another Fiery Tropical Latina. You know, it's not even that Conan Doyle uses a particular stereotype; it's that he uses the same one, like, five different times, with the exact same wording every time. Come on, you haven't used the Fiery Passionate Italian since "The Adventure of the Red Circle." Make it work!
The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger, In Which There Is No Detecting
MRS. MERRILOW: I have a lodger with no face! She gives me the wig!
THE VEILED LODGER: Let me tell you the story of how a lion tore my face off.
HOLMES: No suicide for you!
THE VEILED LODGER: *sob*
The Adventure of the Illustrious Client
Well, at least here we have a Fiery Passionate Cockney.
The Adventure of the Lion's Mane
Holmes has retired to Sussex to keep bees (no, rly), except that a local schoolteacher ("coach," "tutor," whatever) turns up dead on the beach with red lashes on his back, obviously having been scourged to death
The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place
Whoa, Jude Law was in the TV version? Seriously?
I have a couple more to read, and then I'm done with the original Conan Doyle short stories--fortunately, the annotated novels came today, as mentioned above, so I get to curl up with A Study in Scarlet tonight. Yay!
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 01:35 am (UTC)I randomly stumbled on that episode recently, right when Jude Law was on screen. He was so young! It was sort of like the time I stumbled on a Young Indiana Jones I'd never seen and Catherine Zeta Jones was in it.
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Date: 2008-04-04 01:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 01:39 am (UTC)What the hell can that not cure, I ask you?
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Date: 2008-04-04 01:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 02:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 02:31 am (UTC)Please do more of this! It's hilarious!
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Date: 2008-04-04 04:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 02:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 02:47 am (UTC)I have the whole SH collection as an ebook. Pity I broke my PDA or I could cuddle up with it. As is, I'd have to cuddle up with a computer.
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Date: 2008-04-04 11:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 02:59 am (UTC)I ♥ The Red-Headed League, Silver Blaze, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, and The Adventure of the Devil's Foot, among others. I can't remember the names of all of them right now. :)
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Date: 2008-04-04 03:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 03:22 am (UTC)Holmes/Watson all the way. Even more so in the series where Watson wife(wives?) were conveniently forgotten.
Also most of Holmes clients are idiots.
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Date: 2008-04-04 03:51 am (UTC)Hee!
Also most of Holmes clients are idiots.
Unless they're plucky governesses. He seems to get a lot of those.
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From:related book
Date: 2008-04-04 03:25 am (UTC)"Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell are at it again. Having just traveled to India in The Game (Bantam, 2004), they are stopping in San Francisco, Mary's hometown, before returning to England. It is 1930, 24 years after the great earthquake and 10 years since the death of Mary's brother and parents, and her removal to Anglia. Ostensibly, she is going to wrap up some business interests and sell her parents' house, but she soon becomes aware of strange goings-on there and what seem to be attempts on her life. ..."
apparently in this series, sherlock holmes and this mary russell are married...even though she is approximately 20 (give or take) years younger than him...
but it was a pretty good book, interesting to read but not too overly dramatic to have me rolling my eyes
Re: related book
Date: 2008-04-04 03:46 am (UTC)Re: related book
From:Re: related book
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Date: 2008-04-04 03:38 am (UTC)A lot of these were adapted, actually; I liked Thor Bridge a lot. They way show him figuring out the mystery is very clever.
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Date: 2008-04-04 06:16 am (UTC)In the last series, Granada was hamstrung by Brett's failing health and the fact that, frankly, they'd used all the good stories.
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Date: 2008-04-04 03:49 am (UTC)*snerks* Because they're not (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgJ9juE2SCY) doing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZxA0V-Qplc&feature=related) it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGkxZb5Af6M&feature=related) already (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUZpaHgE4Ug&feature=related). (Er, last one is spoilerific for 'The Empty House'.)
Ah fangirls. ^^
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Date: 2008-04-04 03:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
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From:beeeeeeees
Date: 2008-04-04 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 04:37 am (UTC)Also hearken--FIND HIS HISTORICAL NOVELS. There's a fabulous pair on the Hundred Years' War (Sir Nigel and The White Company) but the book I will love and hold and call George, until my dying day, is The Refugees, which is worth it even if only for the first half, which is all sexy intrigue in the court of Louis XIV surrounding the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and duelling mistresses (Montespan and Maintenon) and jealous husbands and swashbuckling fun. SO AWESOME. The second half is in the New World and is also creditable Last-Mohican-style fun, but the first half is the BEST.
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Date: 2008-04-04 07:17 am (UTC)Fortunately, all four novels are in this third volume. : )
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Date: 2008-04-04 06:56 am (UTC)And now, I can't stop shipping Holmes and Watson, even though I don't actually want them to be together. Fandom has warped me.
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Date: 2008-04-04 08:29 am (UTC)I also love to read them to get a pretty good view of a typical British imperialist upper-middle-class man on so many issues of the day. It's fascinating, even when it's racist/sexist/ist-in-general.
My favorite canonical Holmes/Watson slash moment is in the "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot (http://www.authorama.com/adventure-of-the-devils-foot-1.html)," with a scene of reckless negligence on Holmes' part that goes like this:
HOLMES: Say, Watson! I have here some mysterious powder that is the link between two scenes of horrible and otherwise inexplicable death! Let's see what it does, unless you're chicken.
WATSON: Bring it!
HOLMES: Right, I think we've got to burn it. *sprinkles some on lamp*
WATSON: I wonder what sort of effect HOLY SHIT THE BATS WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE MY HEART IS GOING TO EXPLODE WITH HORROR! *looks at HOLMES, sees him in the same state, lifts him up and drags him outside, and they lie side by side on the lawn, panting*
HOLMES: Uh ... Sorry, about that, Watson. My god, you're my only friend! And you're so faithful and always follow me around no matter what! I guess it was kind of stupid of me to try to kill you.
WATSON: *chokes up* You know I would follow you to the grave. I love you, man.
IT'S ALL THERE, DAMMIT.
Conan Doyle dropped the ball toward the end, but I'm still a god damned Holmes fangirl. I would totally give him bees.
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Date: 2008-04-04 05:56 pm (UTC)gaying" (although, er, in Conan Doyle language), and she didn't quite believe I was actually reading from the book. :D(no subject)
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Date: 2008-04-04 08:38 am (UTC)Those Russian adaptations look interesting. If you can't get hold of them, might I suggest "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066249/)?
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Date: 2008-04-05 03:03 am (UTC)Not that I was at any time in my life reading these stories obsessively and I was absolutely not the one who read the Complete Sherlock Holmes until the books fell apart. Nope.
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Date: 2008-04-04 12:17 pm (UTC)Yes. Yes there would. (Did you see the Grenada version of "The Man with the Twisted Lip," in which Brett!Holmes decides it will be appropriate to wake Watson up in the morning by TICKLING? HIS? FOOT?)
He had ripped up my trousers with his pocket-knife.
Damn, Holmes, at least take the man to dinner first.
Okay, that made my morning at least 200% funnier.
And yes, Jude Law is in "Shoscombe Old Place," in which he CRIES like a GIRL.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 02:01 pm (UTC)Listen, little Missey, there's a reason Bohemian langur juice has been banned for the last century!
Splorfle!
Date: 2008-04-04 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 06:00 pm (UTC)I fail at describing these things, really, but allow me to express GIANT AMOUNTS OF ENTHUSIASM about this book. ♥
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Date: 2008-04-04 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 11:11 pm (UTC)i randomly found it at my local library awhile back, and considering these are my two favorite characters of all of literature, i couldn't resist, um, jacking it.
it's definitely fan fiction, but of the caliber of Susan Kay's Phantom.
i enjoyed it heartily, and recommend jacking it if you ever find it, cos it's out of print (at least it is here in the US).
go Erik and Sherlock!!!
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Date: 2008-04-05 02:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-05 02:50 am (UTC)