The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

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!