Whenever there’s a difficult time going on in my life, I find my escape in books. Books are my safe place. Lately, my safe place has been The complete adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sr. Arthur Connan Doyle.
You know, how there are books, or a character you hear about all the time, everywhere, and you just think it’s overrated stuff. It happened to me a few times, and it was the case with Sherlock Holmes. My parents used to read the stories, there are plenty of movies, he doesn’t need an introduction.
I’ve read The sign of four when I was around eleven, and I didn’t quite got it, so I just put him away in my mind as old-school mistery. This summer however, I started reading The complete adventures of Sherlock Holmes on my boyfriend’s Kindle. I’m a big fan of diversity, so I’ve been reading it one book at a time, alternating them with other books.
Today I just finished Sherlock Holmes returns. In the previous book, Watson discovers Sherlock’s death, after his succseful attempt to take down professor Moriarty. In the first story, we find Watson trying his luck at solving a case on its own, but of course, it comes with a twist, Sherlock Holmes return, to the joy of poor Watson. It turnes out, he made it look like he died, only to turn Moriarty’s men off his trail.
I’ve read that Sr. Arthur C. Doyle intended to kill of Sherlock so he could be able to write about other stuff as well, but because of the overwhelming demands of the fans, he had to resurrect the character. Well I for one am glad that he did. Sherlock doesn’t need much introducing, but let me just say, this character is genius. He is charismatic, dramatic and funny. In my mind I imagine him more like the Robert Downey Jr. version.
The stories in this book are not told in chronological order, but through my reading ‘career’ I have learned to roll with that sort of stuff. They are exciting, almost addictivly exciting. Not once I found myself telling my colleagues, ‘See ya guys, Sherlock is waiting for me at home!’. They are accounts of doctor Watson’s on the cases he helped Sherlock solve, and what I love about them is not just the mistery, but the portrayal of the period’s english society and it’s fashion. I often find myself fancying a traintrip to the english countryside, or reading a newspaper next to a warm, cosy fireplace. It gives you the opportunity to learn words that are no longer in use as well, wich comes in handy, especially if like myself, you are not a native english speaking person. My favorite story, was the last one, The adventure of the second stain, even tonight, while I was baking my cake, I was thinking about the characters in it. Also I thought the plot of The adventure of the Six Napoleons to be quite funny.
“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people do not know.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle
Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, so I’m hoping, you’ll all have a lovely night, and I’m wishing you a Happy New Year, filled with love, happiness, and lots of good stories!
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