Scan barcode
Reviews
From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Bostrom
uncommonlybound's review against another edition
3.0
Read for Overdrive's Professional Book Nerds 2020 Reading Challenge, Task #5: Read two books on the same subject, one fiction & one non-fiction (paired with [b:The Hound of the Baskervilles|8921|The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes, #5)|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1355929358l/8921._SY75_.jpg|3311984] by [a:Arthur Conan Doyle|2448|Arthur Conan Doyle|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1495008883p2/2448.jpg])
tpanik's review against another edition
5.0
With over 100 chapters, this book is a commitment, and well worth the effort, as the meticulous research weaves a saga more complicated than the Holmes stories themselves! From inception to BBC reboot, this book covers the copyright scandals, family dramas, and perpetual appeal of the detective that everyone thinks they know so well.
herzleid's review against another edition
2.0
The bits about the actual books & Doyle's biography are very enjoyable, but at 40% my interest waned and I skipped large portions until the end. I wanted to know things about Sherlock Holmes. Not whom A.C. Doyle's sons married ...
booksandkittie's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
readingjohanna's review against another edition
5.0
Älskar den här boken så mycket. Tror allt man kan vilja veta om Arthur Conan Doyle och Sherlock Holmes finns i den. Vill just nu verkligen läsa originalberättelserna och sen de äldre tv-serierna/filmerna
booksuperpower's review against another edition
4.0
From Holmes to Sherlock: The Story of the Men and Women Who Created an Icon by Mattias Boström ( Michael Gallagher-translator)- is a 2017 Mysterious Press publication.
An extensive look at the many incarnations of Sherlock Holmes- from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s conception of the master detective- to his transformation into a major, enduring, and popular franchise!
This book is an almost encyclopedic exploration of the Sherlock Holmes enterprise. To be honest, it never really occurred to me to describe Sherlock Holmes as a ‘brand’, or franchise-but over a century after the public was first introduced to the observant detective, he has become a very profitable Icon.
In fact, Sherlock Holmes has been adapted more than any other fictional character. Ronald B. De Waal’s four-volume ‘Universal Sherlock Holmes, lists 25,000 Holmes related products and adaptations- however, the number is probably much higher than that.
This book takes readers on a fascinating journey, beginning with how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first got the idea for the great detective, to how Holmes & Watson not only survived, but flourished, for over a hundred years, to bring us the mega-popular modern movie and television adaptations we enjoy today.
While I think I probably knew more about Doyle than his famous detective, I have enjoyed the original Sherlock Holmes stories over the years, although I have not read them all. I’ve seen various film adaptations, new and old, as well a television series here and there. I have a beautiful volume of the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes I was gifted for Christmas one year, and it is prominently featured on my bookshelf.
But, that’s about as far as my devotion to Holmes and Watson goes. I’ve always been entertained by the series and find it enjoyable, and I certainly respect the massive influence this detective series has had on crime fiction overall.
However, I am simply not cut out to limit myself to the concentrated study of one character, or series. However, I am glad there are purists out there who have, and I’m happy that many others took the classic versions and embellished them to keep the great detective alive and relevant over the years.
The author did a great job with the organization of this book. The presentation is very impressive, especially when one considers the magnitude of information and material the author had to comb through and research.
In the same way the popularity of the franchise waxed and waned over the years, there are spots in this book that are not as exciting. It also felt overwhelming at times, and occasionally I was tempted to skip ahead to more interesting material.
Despite the occasional lull, this is an incredible look at how the Sherlock series has been marketed and monetized, and how the fascination with Sherlock Holmes grew from small private club enthusiasts, to such wide mainstream popularity, becoming a pop culture fixture.
As of today, there are comic strips, graphic novels, animated series, internet, computer and video games, magazines, children’s books, radio, television, and movie adaptations, as well as countless pastiches.
It’s really mind-boggling when you think about it. Even aficionados will find in this comprehensive history of Sherlock Holmes, an incredible, exhaustive amount of information, all in one place, which might be helpful for reference purposes.
Overall, I am far more impressed with the Sherlock Holmes legend now, and of course, this book has put me in the mood to read more Sherlock Holmes classic stories, and to explore some of the many pastiches out there.
Despite the intimidating heft of this book, it is one that all fans of Sherlock Holmes should at least browse through, whether you consider yourself a Sherlockian or more of a casual admirer.
Also, fans of history, pop-culture and crime fiction will find many interesting facts and trivia in this book. It is certainly an educational read, and for the most part was pretty entertaining as well. I had a lot of fun Googling names and information about the Baker Street irregulars and the biography written about Doyle by John Dickson Carr, as well as the legal battles for public domain status. I'm also very interested in the mashups, which sound like a lot of good campy fun!!
4 stars
An extensive look at the many incarnations of Sherlock Holmes- from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s conception of the master detective- to his transformation into a major, enduring, and popular franchise!
This book is an almost encyclopedic exploration of the Sherlock Holmes enterprise. To be honest, it never really occurred to me to describe Sherlock Holmes as a ‘brand’, or franchise-but over a century after the public was first introduced to the observant detective, he has become a very profitable Icon.
In fact, Sherlock Holmes has been adapted more than any other fictional character. Ronald B. De Waal’s four-volume ‘Universal Sherlock Holmes, lists 25,000 Holmes related products and adaptations- however, the number is probably much higher than that.
This book takes readers on a fascinating journey, beginning with how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first got the idea for the great detective, to how Holmes & Watson not only survived, but flourished, for over a hundred years, to bring us the mega-popular modern movie and television adaptations we enjoy today.
While I think I probably knew more about Doyle than his famous detective, I have enjoyed the original Sherlock Holmes stories over the years, although I have not read them all. I’ve seen various film adaptations, new and old, as well a television series here and there. I have a beautiful volume of the complete stories of Sherlock Holmes I was gifted for Christmas one year, and it is prominently featured on my bookshelf.
But, that’s about as far as my devotion to Holmes and Watson goes. I’ve always been entertained by the series and find it enjoyable, and I certainly respect the massive influence this detective series has had on crime fiction overall.
However, I am simply not cut out to limit myself to the concentrated study of one character, or series. However, I am glad there are purists out there who have, and I’m happy that many others took the classic versions and embellished them to keep the great detective alive and relevant over the years.
The author did a great job with the organization of this book. The presentation is very impressive, especially when one considers the magnitude of information and material the author had to comb through and research.
In the same way the popularity of the franchise waxed and waned over the years, there are spots in this book that are not as exciting. It also felt overwhelming at times, and occasionally I was tempted to skip ahead to more interesting material.
Despite the occasional lull, this is an incredible look at how the Sherlock series has been marketed and monetized, and how the fascination with Sherlock Holmes grew from small private club enthusiasts, to such wide mainstream popularity, becoming a pop culture fixture.
As of today, there are comic strips, graphic novels, animated series, internet, computer and video games, magazines, children’s books, radio, television, and movie adaptations, as well as countless pastiches.
It’s really mind-boggling when you think about it. Even aficionados will find in this comprehensive history of Sherlock Holmes, an incredible, exhaustive amount of information, all in one place, which might be helpful for reference purposes.
Overall, I am far more impressed with the Sherlock Holmes legend now, and of course, this book has put me in the mood to read more Sherlock Holmes classic stories, and to explore some of the many pastiches out there.
Despite the intimidating heft of this book, it is one that all fans of Sherlock Holmes should at least browse through, whether you consider yourself a Sherlockian or more of a casual admirer.
Also, fans of history, pop-culture and crime fiction will find many interesting facts and trivia in this book. It is certainly an educational read, and for the most part was pretty entertaining as well. I had a lot of fun Googling names and information about the Baker Street irregulars and the biography written about Doyle by John Dickson Carr, as well as the legal battles for public domain status. I'm also very interested in the mashups, which sound like a lot of good campy fun!!
4 stars
nika_7490's review against another edition
4.0
Das Lesen dieses Buchs hat mir wirklich viel Freude bereitet. Nachdem ich meine Oberstufenschüler zu Sherlockianern bekehren konnte, war es wunderbar noch mehr über den genialen Detektiv zu erfahren.
Das Buch hat ein paar Längen, sodass ich eine Weile gebraucht habe es zu lesen. Aber ich habe noch einige Anregungen gefunden mich weiter mit Sherlock zu beschäftigen, was ich absolut tun werde :)
Das Buch hat ein paar Längen, sodass ich eine Weile gebraucht habe es zu lesen. Aber ich habe noch einige Anregungen gefunden mich weiter mit Sherlock zu beschäftigen, was ich absolut tun werde :)
efbeckett's review against another edition
Tried my damnedest, but gave up around the half-way mark. The subject matter is very interesting to me, but I can't stand this kind of non-fiction writing that presents long-ago events the writer was not privy to as if it were a novel. I don't like that kind of thing at its best, but when it's written as it is here, where these passages are rarely anything more significant than someone arriving at a dinner party or looking at a landscape, it is nothing more than a distraction from the actual content: it drives me right out of the book rather than drawing me in (though the latter is what I assume it's intended to do). Especially galling to devote so much space to that nonsense when it won't even provide some basic details, such as the name of the tantrum-prone director of the first Rathbone/Bruce film or that film's romantic leads who got top billing over Holmes & Watson (Sidney Lanfield, Richard Greene, Wendy Barrie - I shouldn't have to pull up IMDb to do the author's work for him, especially in a 500 page tome that's already overlong). I'm not interested enough in Robert Downey Jr or Benedict Cumberbatch to subject myself to another 250-odd pages.
kpeninger's review against another edition
5.0
(Review originally posted on the John H Watson Society website.)
General Review
Reviewing a nonfiction book is difficult for me, since there are no characters to review, just a series of facts and how they’re presented. Wonderfully, however, Mattias Bostrom chose to write his history of Holmes and the people who shaped him in an engaging, story-like manner, making this not just an interesting read, but a fun one.
The book is divided into different sections, all of which cover a range of dates (there is no table of contents in my ARC, alas). We begin, most naturally, with Arthur Conan Doyle and the circumstances that led him to create Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. From there, the text makes a number of side trips into other people, such as publishers and editors, journalists and fellow writers. At first I thought the stories and information about these people were added as colour to the text, but as we got further into the book I realized that the little asides about all of these different people had a point, and that they all influenced ACD or how Holmes and Watson would go on to become cultural icons. It was a risky move- I could see some readers, perhaps not as devoted to Holmesian or Watsonian interests but more general readers, getting frustrated with the asides and leaving off before they saw the fruition. But it’s a risk that pays off; Bostrom’s text is far more interesting for getting to meet some of our key players before they really enter the scene.
While the first two sections of the book are truly devoted just to ACD, in section three (1897-1930) we begin to see the impact that the stories have made and how Holmes begins to leave the hands of his creator and become the creation of a whole confluence of cultural factors. It is in this section that we meet William Gillette and see the changes he wrought upon the character, as well as see some of the early films- and all the issues of copyright that immediately come up.
Though the book focuses on the ways that Holmes has been shaped by so many different people, I would say that the issue of copyright- who owns Holmes?- is the most important theme throughout the story. I will confess it up front: I am someone who, while interested in a vague way in the history of Holmesiana, has never studied or memorized it in the way that so many Holmesians have. So this book, for me, did an excellent job of keeping my interest even while explaining why the issue of copyright is so complicated when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. We get to see the way ownership was handed over so easily in the Edwardian era to various film companies, often at the same time, which created problems for later films and television adaptations, which led to fights among the Conan Doyle estate, both among themselves and with outside companies. Bostrom’s narrative is extremely compelling in this regard, and even though I knew the eventual outcome, I found myself tense as all the different factions fought amongst themselves for well over eighty years.
As someone who adores adaptations, it was incredibly interesting to see how familiar faces came onto the stage. Edith Meiser, Frederic Dorr Steele (who made me cry at my desk at work), Nigel Bruce (who also made me cry), Evelyn Herzog (her story made me ugly cry at my desk… look, I got emotional while reading this book, it was that good), Peter Cushing, Ronald Howard, Robert Stephens… there were so many figures dear to me in general that appeared in this book. If I have one fault for this book, it’s that I wish it dug in deeper with the different films and television shows. That wasn’t the purpose of this book, so that isn’t a slight on the author, but rather a compliment: this book was so engaging that I wanted him to write another 544 pages just on the production histories of every Holmesian film and television show ever.
I will warn readers now, however, that if you are fans of Conan Doyle’s children, you might want to brace yourself. While Denis and Adrian are treated with fondness, the author doesn’t shy away from their less admirable characteristics, especially when it came to managing their father’s estate. I walked away from this book deeply grateful that we have any additional Holmes and Watson things at all, given the way they handled things.
I thought this was a fascinating book. I received an ARC from Edelweiss, and though excited, was also a bit apprehensive. As I stated, my interests in Holmesiana lie elsewhere, and so I was concerned that I would be a poor audience for this book. Rather, it captured my attention and aroused my curiosity. After finishing this excellent volume, I wound up doing some more research on my own.
What About Our Watson?
As this is a nonfiction book that specifically focuses on what influenced the ongoing cultural creation of Sherlock Holmes, as well as the people who were influenced by him, it is perhaps not surprising that there isn’t much discussion about Watson. Though we get to peak behind the curtain and see some of the evolution of film and television shows, they largely focus on the creators of those adaptations as well as the figures who portrayed Holmes. This is not exclusive; Nigel Bruce is talked about a bit, for instance. But by and large, Watson is a footnote in this book.
Thankfully, the author does give us one excellent point about Watson. Bostrom proposes that ACD’s genius was not in creating Holmes, but in creating Watson, and giving us an organic, clever way to meet Holmes and join in the stories. It is an interesting point, and given the respect the author extends Watson, I would love to see him do a history of Watson and his evolution, which is many ways is far more intriguing than the evolution of Holmes.
You Might Like This Book If You Like:
Histories; adaptations and how they came about; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his family
General Review
Reviewing a nonfiction book is difficult for me, since there are no characters to review, just a series of facts and how they’re presented. Wonderfully, however, Mattias Bostrom chose to write his history of Holmes and the people who shaped him in an engaging, story-like manner, making this not just an interesting read, but a fun one.
The book is divided into different sections, all of which cover a range of dates (there is no table of contents in my ARC, alas). We begin, most naturally, with Arthur Conan Doyle and the circumstances that led him to create Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. From there, the text makes a number of side trips into other people, such as publishers and editors, journalists and fellow writers. At first I thought the stories and information about these people were added as colour to the text, but as we got further into the book I realized that the little asides about all of these different people had a point, and that they all influenced ACD or how Holmes and Watson would go on to become cultural icons. It was a risky move- I could see some readers, perhaps not as devoted to Holmesian or Watsonian interests but more general readers, getting frustrated with the asides and leaving off before they saw the fruition. But it’s a risk that pays off; Bostrom’s text is far more interesting for getting to meet some of our key players before they really enter the scene.
While the first two sections of the book are truly devoted just to ACD, in section three (1897-1930) we begin to see the impact that the stories have made and how Holmes begins to leave the hands of his creator and become the creation of a whole confluence of cultural factors. It is in this section that we meet William Gillette and see the changes he wrought upon the character, as well as see some of the early films- and all the issues of copyright that immediately come up.
Though the book focuses on the ways that Holmes has been shaped by so many different people, I would say that the issue of copyright- who owns Holmes?- is the most important theme throughout the story. I will confess it up front: I am someone who, while interested in a vague way in the history of Holmesiana, has never studied or memorized it in the way that so many Holmesians have. So this book, for me, did an excellent job of keeping my interest even while explaining why the issue of copyright is so complicated when it comes to Sherlock Holmes. We get to see the way ownership was handed over so easily in the Edwardian era to various film companies, often at the same time, which created problems for later films and television adaptations, which led to fights among the Conan Doyle estate, both among themselves and with outside companies. Bostrom’s narrative is extremely compelling in this regard, and even though I knew the eventual outcome, I found myself tense as all the different factions fought amongst themselves for well over eighty years.
As someone who adores adaptations, it was incredibly interesting to see how familiar faces came onto the stage. Edith Meiser, Frederic Dorr Steele (who made me cry at my desk at work), Nigel Bruce (who also made me cry), Evelyn Herzog (her story made me ugly cry at my desk… look, I got emotional while reading this book, it was that good), Peter Cushing, Ronald Howard, Robert Stephens… there were so many figures dear to me in general that appeared in this book. If I have one fault for this book, it’s that I wish it dug in deeper with the different films and television shows. That wasn’t the purpose of this book, so that isn’t a slight on the author, but rather a compliment: this book was so engaging that I wanted him to write another 544 pages just on the production histories of every Holmesian film and television show ever.
I will warn readers now, however, that if you are fans of Conan Doyle’s children, you might want to brace yourself. While Denis and Adrian are treated with fondness, the author doesn’t shy away from their less admirable characteristics, especially when it came to managing their father’s estate. I walked away from this book deeply grateful that we have any additional Holmes and Watson things at all, given the way they handled things.
I thought this was a fascinating book. I received an ARC from Edelweiss, and though excited, was also a bit apprehensive. As I stated, my interests in Holmesiana lie elsewhere, and so I was concerned that I would be a poor audience for this book. Rather, it captured my attention and aroused my curiosity. After finishing this excellent volume, I wound up doing some more research on my own.
What About Our Watson?
As this is a nonfiction book that specifically focuses on what influenced the ongoing cultural creation of Sherlock Holmes, as well as the people who were influenced by him, it is perhaps not surprising that there isn’t much discussion about Watson. Though we get to peak behind the curtain and see some of the evolution of film and television shows, they largely focus on the creators of those adaptations as well as the figures who portrayed Holmes. This is not exclusive; Nigel Bruce is talked about a bit, for instance. But by and large, Watson is a footnote in this book.
Thankfully, the author does give us one excellent point about Watson. Bostrom proposes that ACD’s genius was not in creating Holmes, but in creating Watson, and giving us an organic, clever way to meet Holmes and join in the stories. It is an interesting point, and given the respect the author extends Watson, I would love to see him do a history of Watson and his evolution, which is many ways is far more intriguing than the evolution of Holmes.
You Might Like This Book If You Like:
Histories; adaptations and how they came about; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his family