I did it! Last night, I finished reading the Canon! Woo-hoo! I started last September, and now I'm finally done! (Well, except for the back-stories in STUD and VALL, but honestly, are they really required reading if you know what happens? =D) Y'know, the very first Holmes mystery I ever read was "The Speckled Band," in 6th-grade literature - and I didn't even like it back then because of the snake! xDDD Fortunately, "The Redheaded League" and "The Norwood Builder" salvaged my school-years' opinion of Dr. Watson's memoirs. =D
I have to say that Casebook really wasn't as fun as the others, but I do like MAZA, THOR, ILLU, and LION. And, of course, the climax of 3GAR. ..."Retired Colourman"... now that one felt weird to me. I can't quite pin it down, but it did.
(Now if we could just go back to that antique store, maybe I could buy that pastiche, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes... *random*)
So anyway, finished at last! And you know what? As I was reading the last lines of SHOS, it occurred to me that they could be applied as much to Sherlock Holmes as to Sir Robert, and with that in mind, it's not a bad end to the Canon:
...This strange incident in a career which has now outlived its shadows and promises to end in an honoured old age.
Now how about:
And now the tales of Mr. Sherlock Holmes draw to a close with the recounting of this strange incident in his long career. He has outlived the shadows of his enemies, and shall end in an honoured old age.
That's all, folks.
I tried to read the Canaon sometimes, if I'm bored, that is. :D
ReplyDeleteI haven't read Valley yet, but I have, of course, read A Study. I always skip the first chapter in the narrative, 'cause, for me, it's pretty boring. I skip the complete explaination of Johnny Small in Sign, though. XDDD
YAY! You finished!! That's great!
ReplyDeleteHis Last Bow made me bawl. I don't know why.
Speckled Band has always freaked me out. I was sleeping over at my Grandma's one night after reading that one and the bed I was in had an air vent right above it.
....I switched places.
Great job on finishing them all!
Finishing the canon is a big accomplishment, congratulations! It took me roughly the same amount of time as you to finish, though I did read the back stories. I found the back story of "Study in Scarlet" to be particularly amusing just because of the way it used the Mormon religion as a plot device. I grew up and live in a predominately Mormon part of the country; my in-laws are Mormon, and one of my friends is an LDS missionary, so for me to read about how the crazy Mormons were going after people with guns was just hilarious. XD
ReplyDeleteI did not, however, manage to get all the way through "The Crooked Man." I read about half, then watched about half of the Granada version, and I wanted to poke my own eyes out. So. Boring.