The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Ratings361
Average rating4.3
Os contos são muito chatos. Acho que para Sherlock ser bom precisa de uma história inteira, se não não funciona.
6/10
I liked the longer stories better.
Also adding this book to the «Books I read while waiting for Simon to read Wind and Truth» list
Hopefully this book will mark my return to reading (for pleasure).
I've been so busy last year that I didn't give reading much attention. I hope by some will of mine and love for literature I'll get out of that slump.
The book itself is nice, it's a bit formulaic and the formula gets boring after a couple of times. The best stories where the ones that broke the formula and added some horror elements to it.
What bothers me is that often I solve the case before it's solved or have a rough idea of who's guilty. Maybe the stories lackes some depth because of the 20-page limit for each story. Or maybe I am just a genius, who knows!
I don't know if subconsciously I had heard these stories before, but the mystery in a lot of these mysteries didn't seem so mysterious.
If you remove “someone impersonating someone else” and “we know who did it and why, the only surprise is the specific details of the murder that you can only kind of guess at with the detail provided” then you rule out the vast majority of these stories.
But to be fair ‘Scandal in Bohemia' was great, and I may be coming in with grandfathered expectations.
I was on the edge of my seat with most of these tales, and can now say I have an appreciation for Sherlock.
Precise rating: 3.5 ⭐
A Scandal in Bohemia
3.5 ⭐
The Adventure of the Red-Headed League
3.5 ⭐
A Case of Identity
3.5 ⭐
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
4 ⭐
The Five Orange Pips
4.5 ⭐
The Man with the Twisted Lips
4 ⭐
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
4 ⭐
The Adventure of the Speckled Band
4 ⭐
The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb
2.5 ⭐
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
3.5 ⭐
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet
3 ⭐
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches
4 ⭐
‘'It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.''
‘'To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.''
A Scandal in Bohemia: The Woman who defeated the great detective in the funny hat.
(Sorry, I just could NOT resist the reference...)
The Red-Headed League: A suspicious league hires red-headed men to copy the Encyclopedia Britannica. Yes, something is definitely rotten...
A Case of Identity: Sherlock aids a distraught young lady whose fiance has mysteriously disappeared. This story was deliciously depicted in one of those perfect ‘flash cases' in BBC's Sherlock in the even more perfect episode The Empty Hearse.
Yes, I used the word ‘'perfect'' twice.
The Boscombe Valley Mystery: Sherlock is required to prove the innocence of a young man who is accused of the murder of his father.
The Five Orange Pips: A story in which Sherlock investigates a case of five orange pips sent in an empty envelope, a ‘'message'' of death, and finds himself dealing with the tentacles of the abominable KKK.
The Man With the Twisted Lip: The disappearance of a husband brings Sherlock into opium dens in a story that has always reminded me of Agatha Christie's The Disappearance of Mr Davenheim.
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle: A classic Christmas story in which Sherlock and Dr Watson find themselves involved in a peculiar mystery centred around a precious blue stone. And a goose.
The Adventure of the Speckled Band: Strange deaths plague a woman's family and Sherlock comes face-to-face with a horrible patriarch in a wonderful, atmospheric story.
The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb: An injured thumb leads Sherlock to a gang of coiners and London's underbelly.
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor: When a bride disappears on the day of her wedding, Sherlock discovers secrets whose roots can be found years ago in San Francisco.
The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet: An invaluable coronet reveals the secrets within a prominent family.
The Adventure of the Copper Beeches: In one of the most fascinating stories, a young woman asks for Sherlock's advice after she has been promised a generous salary. However, there is a strange condition. She has to obey her employers' requests which include cutting her hair short. Cruelty, obsession, love and Violet Hunter steals the show...
Always an immense joy to revisit Sherlock and Dr Watson's adventures. And this particular editiom is just beautiful!
‘'No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may take the flies, but not before.''
This was the first collection of Sherlock Holmes short stories that I read! I was quite surprised by how short each of the mysteries were, and how fast they flew by. But I did enjoy them. I loved seeing the deduction at work, and it was iconic finally reading about the duo. From the speech I could easily tell that the BBC casting for the series had been done so well. I felt like the endings were a bit too abrupt at times, and sometimes the stories felt quite short. I did like what characterisation I read, but I didn't fall head over heels in love with either Holmes or Watson like I expected to. Loved the plots to the mysteries and the solving of them though!
This was really fun! I bought this back in my BBC Sherlock days when that show was still decent. I figured it was high time to experience the real deal. As far as “classic literature” goes, this one definitely holds up and is very easy to get through with not-so-dense language and even some humor thrown in (mostly from Sherlock's sass). The mysteries made every short story feel like a game. I didn't really do a good job at guessing what would happen because I've always kind of sucked at predicting plot twists. On the bright side, things are more entertaining when you don't see them coming a mile away.
The best part of the anthology was definitely Sherlock himself and his partnership with John. Having only a knowledge of the BBC, Robert Downey Jr, and Disney Sherlocks, I was kind of comparing how successful each adaptation was along the way. I felt like ACD's Sherlock was far more suave and courteous than BBC's Sherlock but that might have to do with the Victorian setting. He definitely came off as more of a lovable eccentric than a “high functioning sociopath” but there were a few savage moments. It's pretty hilarious how he's constantly praising Watson and then making jabs about how he's completely oblivious to all the clues. He's also pretty blunt and cold to people when they're boring or no longer interest him because they're mystery's been solved. He had some line about hating invites to “social” events and I could relate lol.
I wouldn't really say any of the mysteries stood out as a “favorite,” I feel like were all at about the same level entertainment-wise. I was pretty alarmed by how gory the final one was (The Adventure of the Copper Beeches). It was even weirder when I picked up The Hound of the Baskervilles immediately after this and they both had giant dogs tearing open dude's throats. That's very specific, Arthur!
A nice collection of short mysteries solved with all the flare we expect from the legends of Holmes and Watson. The best in my opinion being “The Scandal in Bohemia” where we meet the only woman to outwit the great detective, “The Five Orange Pips” involving the possible ruin of the KKK, and “The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet” where we see the good in bad people and the bad in those seen as good.
Although the book lacks the immersive component I seek in novels, each story is intelligently narrated enough to provide an interesting read. Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a real life hero, a person with almost supernatural powers of deductibility capable of solving the most puzzling criminal cases.
There is not much character development here and all the stories follow the same formula: a case is presented, Holmes investigates it, then he presents his solution describing how the smallest of details when combined with his knowledge and skill can dispel the most obscure of mysteries.
This was a good read. I had read some of the stories before and some of them were made into episodes of the BBC version of Sherlock. I kept seeing Benedict and Martin in the roles, not Basil and his sidekick.
I'm really happy I gave Doyle a second chance because I quite enjoyed this book. I'm not sure if it was the lack of Sherlock or that I wasn't in the mood at that time but I read The Hound... last year and I didn't enjoy it very much. I might give it another go some other time.
This collection of short stories, on the other hand, was very entertaining. As any other recollection, there were some stories I loved (A Scandal in Bohemia, The Adventure of the Red-Headed League and The Adventure of the Speckled Band) some that I enjoyed (A Case of Identity, The Five Orange Pips and The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet) and some that were just fine (The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb and The Adventure of the Copper Beeches).
But basically, I liked reading the different Sherlock/Watson interactions throughout the book very much. I went into this book expecting something similar to the relationship Poirot and Hastings have and was pleasantly surprised to find that our Baker Street boys, as Mark Gatiss called them (I freaking LOVED his introduction! You can tell that he adores the world of Sherlock Homes and he made me want to read more stories), actually care about each other.
I loved how Doyle created the Sherlock character as well. He's got an amazing amount of traits and little details that make him such a complex character. I loved reading about Sherlock's mannerisms and also about the disguises he used in the different cases.
In conclusion, I'm very pleased to have given Sherlock another chance. I'm going to continue reading as well as collecting the BBC Sherlock editions because I think they are gorgeous!
Not particularly exciting as they're all short stories, but quite well written and Sherlock Holmes is always cool.
Surprisingly charming. 19th century British slang is full of those things that went into the British stereotype still perpetuated (and nursed!) by Americans today, 100+ yrs later. That is to say, it's adorable. I say, old boy! Good show! The cases themselves are episodic and interesting enough, but the real joy is the Holmes/Watson relationship (which is very, VERY slashy - what with Watson “ejaculating” this and “ejaculating” that (my Kindle informs me that this is an archaic way of saying “to exclaim”) and meditating on Holmes' lanky, opiated-genius sexiness), and Holmes' wizard-like ability to understand everything about a person just by the way they sit in a chair. Seriously, your butt cheeks say it all, apparently. As does that one ink stain in your shirt sleeve - ah ha! Anyway, it makes House MD that much cuter, and I found myself turning all Sherlocky on people that I passed in the street (“Ah ha! A hurried gait, sneakers over pantyhose and an umbrella - this is a sensible working lady going to a meeting!” etc.).
Certain characters work better in certain media. I'm sure there's some complex, deep McLuhanesque reason for that, but for me it's just a feeling I get - adapt the character into the wrong media and they end up looking like they're wearing someone else's shoes. Spider-Man, for example, works best in comic books; Batman in film.
Sherlock Holmes is a creature of the short story.
The stories here are perfect examples of what makes Holmes a classic character; problems come to his door, and no matter how bizarre or complex they seem, he manages to squirrel out a solution, sometimes within minutes, through the simple application of logic and reasoning. They're beautiful stories, in a way, with a clarity like crystal.