A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

3 stars  2 stars
R- 0

Wow.  My first Sherlock Holmes.... I wanted to love it, but.... blah.

First of all, holy notes, Batman!  I'm one of those people who HAS to read all the notes.  There were like 14 on the first page alone.  Highly distracting.  Plus some of them were really very superfluous.

Didn't love Watson as a narrator.  Didn't love the "solve the mystery, then tell you the clues" style.

The 5 chapters of "mormon history" were possibly the most ridiculous caricature ever penned.  Even some of the notes were ridiculous.

You know what.... it only gets 2 stars.

I will probably still end up reading more, but with lower expectations.

Counts for my book club and the Support Your Local Library Challenge.

Proving the Great Detective Wrong

Sherlock Holmes Was Wrong-- Reopening the Case of The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Pierre Bayard
5 stars
nonfiction

This book was soooo interesting. A fascinating philosophical debate about writers, writing, characters, etc.
Awesome line-- "Failing to grasp his characters independence, Conan Doyle did not realize that one of them had entirely escaped his control and was amusing himself by misleading his detective."
I love the idea of the characters doing things that the author isn't aware of. I have often contended, regarding my own writing, that I just create characters and then follow them to see what they do. (Totally not comparing myself to Doyle here.)
Anyway, I'm sure it would have been better if I'd actually read Baskervilles before now, but it was still really interesting. The details Bayard point out seem like they should be amazingly obvious, and yet millions of readers have ignored them.
Bayard also has a great way of explaining the relationship between readers and the books they read-- declaring that the reader and the characters inhabit an "intermediate world" in between reality and fiction. This idea of interaction and subjective experience really resonated with my own feelings about reading.
I just wish my Analysis and Criticism professor would have read this book....
:)

Another Great Kids Read

The Sherlock Files- Book 1
The 100-Year-Old Secret by Tracy Barrett
5 stars
JF 157 Pages
Not illustrated

This new mystery series is off to a great start!
Xena and Xander have just moved to London-- and discovered that they are direct descendants of Sherlock Holmes! The SPFD (Society for the Preservation of Famous Detectives) welcomes them by giving them Sherlock's book of unsolved cases. No naturally the kids decide to try their hand at solving them.
This was a really fun read, great for young readers. I don't know that I'll read it to Boo yet.... no pictures and I don't think she's quite ready to follow this kind of story (it would help to know who Sherlock Holmes is, for example). But for a elementary school reader it would be perfect.