A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

By -

The trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie first reminded me of that movie from the '80s, Young Sherlock Holmes, which my family loved and watched many times. (I should mention that sometimes the movies we loved were loved just because my grandpa happened to tape them off the Disney Channel, so it was a matter of access rather than quality of the movie. From what I can remember, Young Sherlock Holmes was pretty good, but I haven't seen it since I was a teenager.) And then it reminded me that I'd never read a Sherlock Holmes story or book, although I've tried to make my son read them. This seemed like something I ought to remedy.

I decided to start with the first novel in which Sherlock Holmes appeared, published in 1897. For the most part, I thought it was delightful, but I was surprised and amused (and a little taken aback) that the background story of the crime was a highly imaginative tale about the crazy Utah Mormons, complete with harems, strict doctrine enforced by a violent and secretive death squad, and a "quote" borrowed from Heber C. Kimball (if I remember correctly), wherein he refers to his wives as heifers. I can see how the odd practices of 19th century Mormons could inspire such a colorful account. And I can also see how I should read Sherlock Holmes stories in the future, maybe kinda like I've read Dan Brown's novels--don't take it too seriously!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

By -
What a fun book to read. We read this for book club and then watched the movie (which wasn't necessary since we've all seen it so many times we were quoting the whole thing). It is better to know from the beginning that Goldman wrote it all, there is no S. Morgenstern. You feel less duped. I thought it was really obvious that Goldman is the true author (his humor is the same throughout, there's no way the language is from the era Goldman claims it is from), but, I do remember thinking it really was an abridgment when I read it in high school or junior high. And a lot of the ladies at book club didn't know the whole thing is fake either. Some decided they didn't like the book just because they felt deceived by the author. It is so funny though. And you get all this background information about Inigo, Fezzik and Buttercup. I love the way he tries to place the book in time... "This was before Europe," then later he talks about Paris. Also, when he describes...
Read more

Arrested Development, Season One (2003)

By -
I really enjoyed this and even started to feel a little addicted to it by the end. I like watching TV shows on DVD—it’s great to have no commercials and to be able to watch as many episodes as you want. Although this can also be detrimental if you watch six or eight episodes and find it’s 1:00 am when you finally force yourself to stop. Anyway, “Arrested Development” is very funny. All of the characters are hilarious and well-acted, and one of them rides a Segue! Shouldn’t more people be making fun of Segues? I’m looking forward to seeing the second season, but I don’t know if we can bring ourselves to buy it. We like to leach off of other people for our DVD needs, especially when it comes to TV shows.
Read more

No shortage

By -
Image
Two things we don't seem to have a shortage of in our area at the moment. Orange juice (at Winco in Idaho Falls): I was really taken aback by the wall of orange juice options. And grateful! The other thing we're not currently lacking is baby chickens (15 baby hens about a week or two old, in our front yard):
Read more