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I developed a taste for adventure books very young, although I might not have understood everything I was reading. I was 9 when I read The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. At that age the only contact I had had with this story was through cartoons and film adaptations so when I read that book I was amazed by how different the story actually was! Most of the adaptations took the names of the characters and little else, they completely butchered the story. The book had danger, betrayal, death of beloved characters, intense drama. That was when I realised that books can take you places because there are no limits for one's imagination. Sometimes screen adaptations are better than the books, it is not often but it happens. Rare are the occasions when a film or series mirrors a books, keeps its spirit alive, but that is not what I am here to talk about. It happens that most of the times even the most beloved adaptations pale when compared to the real thing: the book. Just like the Bond in the books is a complex character that we only used to get glimpses of.
I used to watch Sherlock Holmes on TV just like any other good detective series like Poirot or Miss Marple. Good, entertaining, but it didn't stand out for me in any way. Like in many other things in life my mother ended up having a pivotal role in this story. She loves reading and we always had an impressive library at home. Particularly, she had a massive collection of paperback detective and suspense books from her teenage years that she kept in a box in the attic. It included Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie, etc. One sad day we had a flooding originating in the attic caused by a defective pipe and most of our library was ruined along with decades of photographs, letters (including love letters my parents wrote while they were engaged), memories in general. The only 3 books from my mother's paperback collection that could be salvaged were a Phillip Marlowe, another detective book that I can't remember the name (but I remember it was very bad) and an Arthur Conan Doyle one, A Study in Scarlet and The Seven Mysteries (in fact I found a photo of the edition online, apparently it's part of a collection that is coveted by collectors). My mother insisted that I should read it, that I would love it and indeed I did. It completely changed my image of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson. This was not what I was used to! I devoured every Sherlock Holmes adventure I could get my hands on. Holmes was more than a bit crazy (I thought), in fact he was a bipolar drug addict and he had great boxing skills. What can I say, I love anti-heroes, I just can't stand characters who have no faults, so for me this Holmes was so much better than the one on TV. And Dr. Watson was so much more as well, he was resourceful and intelligent (not quite as much as his friend, but still), with a good dose of fun. I had loved James Bond since I could remember myself, and now I loved Sherlock Holmes as well. Needless to say my teenage years were not easy (I can understand you so well @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7), my tastes didn't revolve around Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls, I was a skinny, smart and eccentric girl who wore green and blue nail polish, painted her hair red, liked James Bond, Shakespeare, Sherlock Holmes, Oasis, Blur... But I could relate to Sherlock (more than I could with Bond) he was smarter than most people around him, had an analytical mind, was a great observer, a bit eccentric and a loner. Yes, I was just a little bit like him.
Many years have passed but I still enjoy these adventures as much as then. Now I can even appreciate the several screen incarnations of the character because I see a something different of Holmes in each one of them. I have found new and fascinating stories, writers and heroes elsewhere, and although I am first and foremost a Bond fan (let's not forget about it) that doesn't make me less of a fan of Sherlock Holmes, or other characters.
So you can explain love if you take time think about it! You know a book is good when you read it several times and each time you find something new. You know you love a book when you not only find something new but you feel excited every time you read it. I have this with Holmes. It will be a pleasure to read some stories I have probably forgot about and revisit some of my favourites. So without further ado, let the game begin!
I'll write more later, I hope, today. Cheers, everyone! :-bd
Crop might be misleading, yes it's the hardest lead. But crop is there, probably you're thinking of a different kind of crop. In a few hours you'll know if you are right or wrong.
:P )
So, I´ve found that, apart from the "crop: product for harvest", there´s also a "crop for riding"... on a car... ;) :D
STUD
Now another question: What is the importance of this very day for the Holmes canon?
:D
Yes, it was at Reichenbach Falls, May 4th 1891, where Moriarty met his doom - one of the most memorable scenes in literature - in the adventure called The Final Problem. Well done indeed!
I hope to visit this area of Switzerland myself some day. Some Holmes societies go there as a group, with a couple of them sometimes re-enacting the memorable scene (albeit no one really falls!).
It was the first Sherlock Holmes adventure, published in 1887 in Beeton's Christmas Annual.
[img]http://jasobrecht.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Beeton’s-Christmas-Annual.jpg[/img]
How could we not start with this one? Well, we could have ... so many stories are compelling ... but we will be beginning at the beginning - where Holmes and Watson first meet and their first adventure together. Logical, no?
Kudos to all who deduced that yes, it would be the Scarlet one we are doing first. =D>
And an informative video!
Oh wait, this was fictional, wasn't it? ;) Sometimes it is easy to believe in these stories, they seem so real, such a part of our culture now.
So go on, then, have a guess - in a different story, something that was substantial to the plot of that adventure happened on May 4th (and I'll give you the year, too: 1882).
Anyone care to try to name that story and what happened on that date?
This may be a two pipe problem ...
Fourth of May is not a coincidence. Now, pay attention:
"There stood upon the fourth of May, eighteen hundred and forty-seven, a solitary traveller" STUD
"Upon the fourth of May, 1882--an advertisement appeared in the Times asking for the address of Miss Mary Morstan" SIGN
And, of course, Reichenbach. So, what´s the meaning?...
And you found the same day - May 4th again - in A Study in Scarlet!
I am now guessing that Doyle subconsciously liked this date. That's three instances right there. Coincidence? Hmmm.
Thanks to everybody who participated. And thanks for showing the "handwritten note" that Sherlock wrote to John as Moriarty awaited him. Good show, @ggl007 .
=D>
"On the fourth of May Sir Charles had declared his intention of starting next day for London, and had ordered Barrymore to prepare his luggage. That night he went out as usual for his nocturnal walk, in the course of which he was in the habit of smoking a cigar. He never returned." HOUND
@-) @-) @-)
Now we have in the three most important novels by ACD the date 4th of May: STUD, SIGN and HOUND. He was born on the 22nd of May, but why that date was important to him???
(By the way, you have to explain the clues ;) )
Anyway, we have STUD, SIGN and Moriarty... Perhaps the madam had something to do with this. I can´t find her birthday...
I only own a complete boxset of the stories of Sherlock Holmes and The illustrated Sherlock Holmes treasury (which is easy to take with you on vacation) and a few non-Doyle SH books including the last one.
May The Fourth Be With You.!
@Mrcoggins that was funny.
Concerning the 4th of May, I had never noticed it! Perhaps he liked the date, when you say it out loud 4th of May does sound very good.