Sherlock Holmes Short Stories Read Along!

[InspectorCaracal]

It's honestly very good, but then it gets to the confession part and it's just... Yet another long ass confession. I tried really hard to enjoy that part (some of it was kinda fun), but then I just stopped caring, it was SO LONG.

yes! that!!! it's like half the dang story!!!!

I honestly can't tell what's their supposed appeal?? They don't even work that well as adventure tales tbqh...

i'm like 99% sure that their appeal is Doyle likes writing them

[Bee]

yes! that!!! it's like half the dang story!!!!

I honestly can't tell what's their supposed appeal?? They don't even work that well as adventure tales tbqh...

i'm like 99% sure that their appeal is Doyle likes writing them

Dammit Doyle

[Bee]

Next up is The Musgrave Ritual: https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Memoir ... ave_Ritual

[Bee]

... Hey, that was a lot of fun!

[InspectorCaracal]

I remembered this one as being one of my favorites and also involving either a treasure hunt or silverware (those are two different stories) but couldn't remember which one it was. Turns out it was indeed the treasure hunt! I get why I sort of confused the two a bit, though, because both of them involve dredging things out of water.

I still enjoyed it as much as I remembered, which was nice. There was one thing I wanted to mention specifically though:

An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction.

So this is an interesting bit, because it's the part I was thinking of when rereading A Study In Scarlet most recently. In that intro book, one of the things that's mentioned is that Holmes is tidy in his habits. I don't know if that switch was planned or just Doyle changing his mind/forgetting things, but it happens at some unspecified point in the stories and this manner of being a bit of a slob and leaving things in strange places continued onwards.

Also I don't know how I feel about Holmes say "my boy" to Watson multiple times here lol

[Bee]

I remembered this one as being one of my favorites and also involving either a treasure hunt or silverware (those are two different stories) but couldn't remember which one it was. Turns out it was indeed the treasure hunt! I get why I sort of confused the two a bit, though, because both of them involve dredging things out of water.

I still enjoyed it as much as I remembered, which was nice.

I want an entire novel of this story, I love it!!

There was one thing I wanted to mention specifically though:

An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction.

So this is an interesting bit, because it's the part I was thinking of when rereading A Study In Scarlet most recently. In that intro book, one of the things that's mentioned is that Holmes is tidy in his habits. I don't know if that switch was planned or just Doyle changing his mind/forgetting things, but it happens at some unspecified point in the stories and this manner of being a bit of a slob and leaving things in strange places continued onwards.

More reasons to pretend ASiS doesn't exist?

Also I don't know how I feel about Holmes say "my boy" to Watson multiple times here lol

Yeah that's... I didn't like it, TBQH, but I dunno how it was intended exactly

[InspectorCaracal]

I want an entire novel of this story, I love it!!

Ooh, yeah! Although if it'd been a novel by ACD, we would've had to sit through six thousand words of third person narrative from the butler's perspective reenacting his womanizing and eventual murder...

More reasons to pretend ASiS doesn't exist?

My personal headcanon is that since that was during the time period where he was keeping his line of work secret from Watson as his new roommate, he was on his best behavior for The New Stranger, but then later on they're good enough friends he doesn't care so much any more.

Also I don't know how I feel about Holmes say "my boy" to Watson multiple times here lol

Yeah that's... I didn't like it, TBQH, but I dunno how it was intended exactly

Same on both counts. I feel like it was supposed to be... casual? I dunno. It feels very out of character, even if you can manage to justify away the patronizing aspect.

[Bee]

I want an entire novel of this story, I love it!!

Ooh, yeah! Although if it'd been a novel by ACD, we would've had to sit through six thousand words of third person narrative from the butler's perspective reenacting his womanizing and eventual murder...

I guess what I want is a Christie novel lol

More reasons to pretend ASiS doesn't exist?

My personal headcanon is that since that was during the time period where he was keeping his line of work secret from Watson as his new roommate, he was on his best behavior for The New Stranger, but then later on they're good enough friends he doesn't care so much any more.

Okay, this works!!

Also I don't know how I feel about Holmes say "my boy" to Watson multiple times here lol

Yeah that's... I didn't like it, TBQH, but I dunno how it was intended exactly

Same on both counts. I feel like it was supposed to be... casual? I dunno. It feels very out of character, even if you can manage to justify away the patronizing aspect.

Yeah, it's... It feels like ACD barely had a grasp of his own character?? IDK

[thiskurt]

An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction.

So this is an interesting bit, because it's the part I was thinking of when rereading A Study In Scarlet most recently. In that intro book, one of the things that's mentioned is that Holmes is tidy in his habits. I don't know if that switch was planned or just Doyle changing his mind/forgetting things, but it happens at some unspecified point in the stories and this manner of being a bit of a slob and leaving things in strange places continued onwards.

It probably wasn't planned, it feels like the way he's described in A Study In Scarlet is the more obvious characterisation, he must have a clinical, logical approach to all things and thus be neat, but then as Doyle expanded on his character more he probably learned more about Holmes himself and realised that with Holmes' sometimes singular focus on cases and his general flaws it would make more sense if he was not concerned with neatness.

In-universe I guess the best explanation is that he was trying not to scare the potential lodger away because he needed to rent money.

[thiskurt]

Also I don't know how I feel about Holmes say "my boy" to Watson multiple times here lol

Yeah that's... I didn't like it, TBQH, but I dunno how it was intended exactly

Same on both counts. I feel like it was supposed to be... casual? I dunno. It feels very out of character, even if you can manage to justify away the patronizing aspect.

It does feel like I've read the same kind of casual use of the phrase 'my boy' between equals in other novels of the era, but it doesn't suit Holmes.

I've been listening to these in the form of the audiobooks read by Stephen Fry and it just sounds like Stephen Fry is playing a character being at least slightly patronising to a kind of simple character played by Hugh Laurie.