Flights of Fantasy discussion

We will make our way through some/all of the Holmes canon depending on how we feel. We shall start on Feb 2 with A Study in Scarlet!

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

Hurrah. Very excited about this one. "Pass the port Watson while I play the violin. Then its into a hansom cab and off through the London smog to the scene of another inexplicable crime....."

Did I mention I'm quite excited ;)

Paul wrote: "Hurrah. Very excited about this one. "Pass the port Watson while I play the violin. Then its into a hansom cab and off through the London smog to the scene of another inexplicable crime....."

Did ..."

Just a little bit! :)

Nyssa wrote: "Paul wrote: "Hurrah. Very excited about this one. "Pass the port Watson while I play the violin. Then its into a hansom cab and off through the London smog to the scene of another inexplicable crim..."

Darn I was trying to stay subtle :)

I don't believe I have ever read any of the actual Sherlock Holmes stories... if I have it was in school and I've forgotten. I watched the movies with my grandmother (Basil Rathbone) and I've read other authors writing Holmes (The List of 7). But this will be my first time reading the source material.

This will be a first for me as well.

Nienna wrote: "I don't believe I have ever read any of the actual Sherlock Holmes stories... if I have it was in school and I've forgotten. I watched the movies with my grandmother (Basil Rathbone) and I've read ..."

Ooh! It's so cool you're gonna read it.

For some reason I want to say that I've read all the short stories time and time again...but I don't think I've read the actual novels. I may have - it's been years since I've read any.

Nienna wrote: "I don't believe I have ever read any of the actual Sherlock Holmes stories... if I have it was in school and I've forgotten. I watched the movies with my grandmother (Basil Rathbone) and I've read ..."

There used to be a brilliant series of Sherlock Holmes on British TV in the 1980s starring Jeremy Brett. If you can find a copy I would really recommend it. Brett is probably the best "traditional" Holmes that I have seen. Exactly how I imagined the character when I read the stories.

Sherlock Holmes was my father's favorite! He had a single volume with all the stories in it. He would call it his "bible". I've always wanted to read them since they were so important to him. So far I've read A Study in Scarlet and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Good stuff! I can't wait for this Buddy Read!

You can get free ecopies of the Holmes books at Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com/list/9/sherl...

The books that I've read from that site seem to have pretty decent formatting.

Paul wrote: "There used to be a brilliant series of Sherlock Holmes on British TV in the 1980s starring Jeremy Brett. If you can find a copy I would really recommend it. Brett is probably the best "traditional" Holmes that I have seen. Exactly how I imagined the character when I read the stories."

Heard of them but haven't seen them. I wonder if Netflix has them? I'll check.

Just a reminder that yay! we are doing this in less than 10 days!

Looking forward to it. :)

Ha. Ha. Ookay! I'll be ready. :)

Since there are so many different editions of the Sherlock Holmes, I think we need someone announcing which story we are reading each time. You did that in the beginning of this thread, Emily. Or are they numbered? I was under the impression that they can be read in any order except that Study in Scarlet is where you get to know them...and it's when Holmes and Watson first meet.

I have to say that the Sherlock Holmes has been on my radar to read for a long, long time! My father used to have a huge single volume of the "complete" Sherlock Holmes that he called his bible. lol. My father has been gone 26 years now and I feel like finally reading (I've read 2 so far) the stories will make me feel closer to him. Yeah, I know, sappy! lol

I think the plan is to read in publication order.

Sounds good! :)

I'm not sure if this is in publication order or not, but here is how the stories are listed through GR: Sherlock Holmes Series

That looks mostly right. Although i think "Return of Sherlock Holmes" is before Hound of the Baskervilles. Long way to go before we get there though ;-)

My book shows the order as:

* A Study in Scarlet
* The Sign of the Four
* The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
* The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
* The Return of Sherlock Holmes
* The Hound of the Baskervilles
* The Valley of Fear
* His Last Bow
* The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

Isn't there more. I had read somewhere that there were over 50 short stories and 4 novels. I'll find out...

The stories are in some of those volumes.

Gotcha. Ok, that makes sense.

Emily wrote: "The stories are in some of those volumes."

^What she said.

I know The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes contains short stories.

MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "My book shows the order as:

* A Study in Scarlet
* The Sign of the Four
* The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
* The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes
* The Return of Sherlock Holmes
* The Hound of the Bask..."

The Hound of the Baskervilles was published in serialised form between 1901 and 1902, while The Return of Sherlock Holmes, consisting of stories originally published between 1903 and 1904, was released in 1905, so for some reason they've put those two the wrong way around -- but otherwise this is the correct publication order. :)

Thanks guys. Tells you what I know! Lol

Titania wrote: "MrsJoseph (taking back my data & giving GR the middle finger) wrote: "My book shows the order as:

* A Study in Scarlet
* The Sign of the Four
* The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
* The Memoirs of S..."

I think the complete collections put Hound of the Baskervilles after The Return of Sherlock Holmes because the whole "Reichenbach Falls thing" happens at the end of "Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and the aftermath (I think) is the first story of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes".

So for the sake of continuity it makes more sense to have Return directly after Memoirs rather than putting something else in the middle which makes no reference to Reichenbach Falls.

Do we have any plan yet how we're going to read the collections? I think I would prefer taking them one story at a time rather than the whole collection all at once. Depending on how long the stories themselves are.

I agree with one story at a time, too!

Maybe the novels get two weeks and the short stories get one week? Or, depending on length, 2 short stories a week?

I'm happy with whatever others want to do. The short stories are not very long at all so I would say lets do two of those per week when we get to the collections. But if people want to do a novel every 2 or 3 weeks then that's fine (even the novels aren't all that long to be honest).

The novels getting 2 weeks sounds fine, but the stories aren't too long. According to Wikipedia, the first short story collection was 300 pages or so when published. On here it says about 400 pages. There are 12 stories, though. That's a range of 25-33 pages per story. I think 3 or even 4 per week would be fine, but am happy to do only 3. I think less would make it go pretty slow.

I read the first volume of the two volume set I have, and, from what I recall, I could read two or three short stories a night some nights. (I didn't read it every night, only when I wasn't reading something else... )

Even the first novel is only 125 pages or so.

I would almost say 1 week per novel, and 4 short stories a week. Otherwise we'll still be getting through it at year's end. ;)

***

Also, I think I have the same book as MrsJ.

Colleen wrote: "I read the first volume of the two volume set I have, and, from what I recall, I could read two or three short stories a night some nights. (I didn't read it every night, only when I wasn't readin..."

I, personally, can't do that. My reading time is limited.

Edited to add the quote and fix a typo.

I think it would be nice if we could go with a schedule that everyone can do. Personally I'm in no particular rush to get through them all so going at a slow pace doesn't bother me. But I'm happy to go with whatever the general consensus is.

There are two novels before we get to the stories, so we have some time to decide. Let's do two weeks for the novels, like with Narnia, since they are about the same length.

Then we can start with a certain number of stories per week and adjust if we feel like it's too short or long. I recommend 3 stories per week so we can get through the collection in a month (12 stories/4 weeks). That would be about 75 pages a week, which is the same we'd be doing with the novels.

Thoughts?

Whatevs.

Emily wrote: "There are two novels before we get to the stories, so we have some time to decide. Let's do two weeks for the novels, like with Narnia, since they are about the same length.

Then we can start wit..."

Sounds good to me! :)

Emily wrote: "There are two novels before we get to the stories, so we have some time to decide. Let's do two weeks for the novels, like with Narnia, since they are about the same length.

Then we can start wit..."

Sounds like a plan. I'll try to keep up with 3.

Sounds good to me!

I'm down with whatever.

I'll be reading the collection straight through and discussing from memory, because I can't stagger out my series reading. It upsets my inner obsessive. ;) So any schedule is good for me, though I suppose the longer it takes, the more my memories will fade.

Titania wrote: "I'll be reading the collection straight through and discussing from memory, because I can't stagger out my series reading. It upsets my inner obsessive. ;) So any schedule is good for me, though I ..."

I'm the opposite, Titania. I find I can easily get burnt out on a series or even an author if I read too many back-to-back. That's why I have to spread them out...variety is good for me. Wierd, huh?

Titania wrote: "I'll be reading the collection straight through and discussing from memory, because I can't stagger out my series reading. It upsets my inner obsessive. ;) So any schedule is good for me, though I ..."

For me, it depends on a few things - namely the writing style and length of series. Eight of anything in a row seems to be my limit before total burnout, and for some series it's less. Dresden has been the only series to date that I've been able to read back to back, and even then I had to take a short break or two, of not reading anything at all, before I could continue.
I think the only thing I can manage with any reliability is a trilogy - assuming I'm enjoying it, of course.

It's funny that we have opposite reading quirks, but I totally get it. It's really hard to sustain interest when you read in a way that doesn't come naturally. :)

Titania wrote: "It's funny that we have opposite reading quirks, but I totally get it. It's really hard to sustain interest when you read in a way that doesn't come naturally. :)"

Exactly.

It depends for me. Some series I can read straight thru without getting bored. Others I get burned out on. But if I wait longer than a month to continue a series the chances are very low that I will continue it.

I'm going to start this buddy read and take it week by week. I may not read all the stories but only the ones I'm interested in reading.

I think that's the great thing about doing Holmes as a buddy read. Because all the stories stand on their own (apart from a couple) people can jump in and out without feeling like they are missing out.

Paul wrote: "I think that's the great thing about doing Holmes as a buddy read. Because all the stories stand on their own (apart from a couple) people can jump in and out without feeling like they are missing ..."

With that in mind, does the canon count as a series, or just a collection of stories?

I'd call it a series...