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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
nice. none of this one particularly stood out to me at all, especially given the overlap between this and the last in the series (the name completely slips my mind) though i adore sherlock as always
I enjoy listening to these stories, some of which are familiar from various Sherlock Holmes inspired TV shows and some which are not. I do find the character both fascinating and annoying at the same time, but still marvel at the impact that Doyle's writing has had on the mystery genre since flavors of Holmes exist in much of what we digest in this arena. That said, these stories, which are told as accounts of the adventures of Holmes and Watson by Watson are about 90% exposition and stand apart from action because of that. Sometimes it does make the story a bit wearying.
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A stellar collection, but I still prefer Adventures. Some of the stories just narrate an incident instead of an actual case, which is fine, but not exactly what I want coming into a Sherlock story.
This is a really compelling collection of Holmes stories- I really liked them.
As many people have already pointed out, The Memoirs offer a more human portrait of Holmes: he makes mistakes, shows fear, has a family, and, yes, he bleeds. Watson seems at some pains to explain this shift by having Holmes chide him for embellishing the previous adventures. Some readers may find this more human Holmes to be a bit of a turn off. I, on the other hand, do not. I find myself more intrigued.
Like [b:The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|3590|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1164045516s/3590.jpg|1222101], we have twelve cases...Well, the last one's not really a case, but I won't spoil that one for you. It is in this collection that we are first introduced to Sherlock's older, fat, lazy but more intelligent brother, Mycroft. Here, we also meet the "Napoleon of crime", Professor Moriarty--Holmes's arch-nemesis. It is also in the Memoirs that we get a better glimpse of the rooms at 221B Baker St. There is a great deal of iconic Holmesian (is that a word?) material that finds its source in this collection.
I thoroughly enjoyed each story.
I'll be back, Mr. Holmes. I'll be back.
Like [b:The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes|3590|The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes, #3)|Arthur Conan Doyle|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1164045516s/3590.jpg|1222101], we have twelve cases...Well, the last one's not really a case, but I won't spoil that one for you. It is in this collection that we are first introduced to Sherlock's older, fat, lazy but more intelligent brother, Mycroft. Here, we also meet the "Napoleon of crime", Professor Moriarty--Holmes's arch-nemesis. It is also in the Memoirs that we get a better glimpse of the rooms at 221B Baker St. There is a great deal of iconic Holmesian (is that a word?) material that finds its source in this collection.
I thoroughly enjoyed each story.
I'll be back, Mr. Holmes. I'll be back.
Brilliant narration by Fry as usual - stories where a mixed bag
--Silver Blaze
--The Yellow Face
--The Stockbroker's Clerk
--The 'Gloria Scott'
Especially interesting because i recently read [b:The Murder of Mary Russell|25177005|The Murder of Mary Russell (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #14)|Laurie R. King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441369046s/25177005.jpg|44883206] where Laurie Kind brilliantly weaves her novel into the narrative of Conan Doyle's
--The Musgrave Ritual
--The Reigate Squires
--The Crooked Man
--The Resident Patient
--The Greek Interpreter
--The Naval Treaty
--The Final Problem
detailed review to follow
--Silver Blaze
--The Yellow Face
--The Stockbroker's Clerk
--The 'Gloria Scott'
Especially interesting because i recently read [b:The Murder of Mary Russell|25177005|The Murder of Mary Russell (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes, #14)|Laurie R. King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441369046s/25177005.jpg|44883206] where Laurie Kind brilliantly weaves her novel into the narrative of Conan Doyle's
--The Musgrave Ritual
--The Reigate Squires
--The Crooked Man
--The Resident Patient
--The Greek Interpreter
--The Naval Treaty
--The Final Problem
detailed review to follow
“Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”
REREAD 2024. 4.5 stars. Yet again, I find myself raising my rating for one of these books, even though this is the... 8th time that I've reread it? (All of my rereads definitely haven't been logged on Goodreads.) Maybe I'm becoming more lenient in my ratings, or maybe something about these stories just hit harder as I grow older. I just get swept away by all this wonderful nostalgia when I read these books, and I'm so so enthralled by the main characters and their friendship. The actual mysteries aren't super amazing, but the stories that they tell... I just love them. This collection had a couple of my absolute favourites. "The Adventure of the Yellow Face" and "The Final Problem", of course, are so dear to my heart. No matter what, I always shed a tear.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Charlton Griffin. Excellent as always. His Holmes voice is THE Holmes voice to me.
--
Not Stephen Fry crying as he reads the final lines of 'The Final Problem'.
Doyle's short stories are so much better than his novels. I enjoyed reading this collection and found the frequent references to previous stories gratifying, so I recommend reading the adventures in order. I felt so immersed in these that I had trouble putting them down at times, and I did tear up during "The Final Problem" when Watson starts off referring to A Study in Scarlet and thinking about the journey to get here. Holmes is much warmer in the stories than he is often portrayed and so dramatic. Watson gives Col. Pickering energy in the best way. I am putting down the Holmes stories for a while, which is fitting as I can sit with the ending the way Doyle's original readers would have. I am looking forward to picking them up again this fall, however, and will miss them in the meantime!