Finished with the Canon!

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.