It's been absolutely brilliant reading this in a relaxed manner over the past few weeks, especially as I seem to be in a Sherlock Holmes sort of mood. ITV3 have been showing various of the Jeremy Brett series for weeks so it's been a nice tie-in with reading the stories. Just a few days after reading The Speckled Band, for instance, they showed that one, so it was interesting to compare the two. (I thought it was very faithful to the original.) And I shall be able to do much more of this as one of my Christmas presents from my husband this year will be the complete boxed set of the same series.
Of course some stories in the book were more familiar than others. A few, such as The Engineer's Thumb (my favourite I think), The Copper Beeches and The Beryl Coronet were almost unknown to me and thus I probably enjoyed them more than the more familiar like The Red Headed League or The Man with the Twisted Lip (though I do love that one too).
A good anthology anyway. I have A Study in Scarlett on the library tbr pile and have just started the first Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book by Laurie R. King, The Beekeeper's Apprentice. So far, I absolutely love it. She has Holmes down to a 'T' and I like the character of Mary very much indeed. So the Sherlock Holmes theme continues and will continue into 2008 as I try to get hold of more of the original Holmes books and read as many of the Mary Russell series as I can get my hands on. I have two already and have just ordered The Moor because it seemed that Amazon UK are selling that one with the American cover. I much prefer those to ours and if I collect the whole series will probably go for those if possible. Yep... I know I'm a real fusspot. :-)
7 comments:
Glad to hear you enjoyed the Holmes book you have. I purchased (and sometimes because they are by mail I cringe when they arrive because of the size of the print) The Complete Sherlock Holmes..1122 pages! so.. that will take a bit once I do begin.. not sure when that will be yet.
I do like the mary russell books you are collecting.. they are put out by a publishing company called Picador. Unfortunately they only have 4 of the Mary Russell books out, so collecting that particular set could take years!
I love Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes; he is the only actor I can stand to watch as Holmes, no one else comes anywhere near him. I have the box set too and every time I watch one I end up reading the short story to see how much is from the original - they are usually very faithful.
deslily: I also have the *huge* Complete Sherlock Holmes. I bought it when we visited the Sherlock Holmes museum in Baker Street a couple of years ago. The trouble is, it's too big to read! So I borrowed The Adventures of SH from the library. I'll have to leave the Complete SH to my grandchildren as an heirloom or something. ;-)
Oh... I understand about the Picador books now. Hmm. Oh well, I can just buy those four. :-)
Eloise: Jeremy Brett is certainly my favourite Holmes but I don't mind others in the role. Although some of the more obscure actors tend to make a bit of a hash of it, imo.
What absolute fun in reading and viewing. I love all the connections and I love endeavors such as this.
I'm planning to have a lot of fun with my reading next year, Nan. And part of that fun for me is blogging and reading other people's blogs. Of course it doesn't help the tbr pile but there are worse addictions to have, in my opinion. :-)
I agree that Jeremy Brett is the best Holmes ever. ITV3 seem to go in a circle with this series. They repeat them endlessly - not that I am complaining mind you as I have been using that as an excuse not to buy the box set, but I am weakening. Recently I have acquired the entire Sharpe series, all Miss Marple (NOT the new dreadful series but the old BBC one) and the Pallisers. I feel Holmes and the complete Hercule Poirot coming on as well...
Hi Elaine. I feel the complete Poirot coming on too. And Miss Marple. Sharpe, I've never watched but always felt I should have. So perhaps I might get those sometime too. It's great to have these boxed sets, they're brilliant for the nights when there's nothing worth watching on TV. Which is most of the time actually...
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