Classics Considered

 Apologies for the lateness of this.  Please comment with any thoughts or reviews you'd like to share! These were May's stories, following the Chronological Challenge .  If you are on a different schedule, though, feel free to chime in with what you read in May! May Week 19 (May 7-13):  The Valley of Fear Week 20:   "A Scandal in Bohemia" Week 21:   "A Case of Identity" Week 22 (May 28-Jun 3):  "The Greek Interpreter"

For those following along on my Sherlock Holmes challenge - and for any who still wish to join! - I've decided to change things up a bit.  Instead of weekly link-ups, I'll be posting monthly check-ins, open to any and all Sherlock Holmes stories you have read in the month .  This will help me manage the posts better and also remove the dependency on the link-up widgets (which, while useful, can cause extra load time on the blog). April's stories include the following: March (Carry-over) Week 13 (Mar 26-Apr 1):  "The Naval Treaty" April Week 14 (Apr 2-8):  "The Crooked Man" Week 15:   "The Five Orange Pips" Week 16:   "The Noble Bachelor" Week 17:   The Valley of Fear Week 18 (Apr 30-May 6):   The Valley of Fear (continued) Please comment with any thoughts or reviews you'd like to share!  This post has no expiration date, so if you want to come back and add your reviews at the end of the month, that's perfectly fine.  And...

Week 11: "The Reigate Squires" I've always thought "The Reigate Squires" was an interesting yet quirky story from Watson's recollections.  It's "quirky" not just because it has three names , but also for the fact that it seems fairly humdrum in its plot, except for sporadic moments of alarming behavior, by Holmes himself.  In some ways, this story is more like a comedy than a mystery, but Doyle still manages to inject it with enough macabre to keep up the impression of unease connected with the mystery.  Add to that the fact we see Holmes has finally gained international acclaim, and "The Reigate Squires" could easily be the first tale (in this chronological ordering) with an almost cinematic Holmesian quality to it. It's been a long time since I last read this, but I enjoyed it this time around, too, so it's aged well.

Week 10: "The Resident Patient" Sorry for being an absent host lately!  I've had a lot going on in "real life" and was finding it hard to blog.  Now I hope to be more on top of things again... This is another Holmes story that I don't often think about, yet I ought to call a favorite.  Even being so familiar with it now, I think "The Resident Patient" is a pretty unique mystery, as well as horrifying in its conclusion.  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a doctor himself, which may have something to do with the level of detail in the setting and characters.  If you particularly like medical-themed tales, I also recommend Doyle's short story collection, Round the Red Lamp , which includes some mysteries but also other genres.

Week 8: "The Red Circle"

A study in scarlet, eh? Why shouldn't we use a little art jargon. There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it.  A Study in Scarlet was the first Sherlock Holmes story in print, written by a twenty-seven-year-old Arthur Conan Doyle about an eccentric detective of the same age.  Dr. John Watson, an army surgeon with shattered nerves, arrives in London, ca. 1881, looking for respite from his experiences in the Middle East.  By a mutual acquaintance, he is introduced to a medical student and future roommate, Sherlock Holmes, whose mysterious talents seem to point to some greater purpose that Watson can't quite grasp.  A murder, a ring, and a tangle of muddy footprints set them both into the midst of a criminal investigation, where strange signs are leaving the public in fear of secret societies.  In spite of his health, Watson follows his new friend Hol...

Week 7: "The Yellow Face"

Week 6: "The Speckled Band" Sorry for the late link-up post, but I figured better late than never (?).  I've been incredibly busy IRL, so I have a bit of catchup to do on my own challenge.  =/

Weeks 3-5: A Study in Scarlet We finish up January with the first Sherlock Holmes story ever written, featuring the first major case of his career.

Ah... the Musgrave Ritual.  While it does not come immediately to mind when I think of favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, nonetheless it is one of those I always enjoy. An old college acquaintance, Reginald Musgrave, asks Holmes to help him solve the mystery of his missing butler.  Holmes's career is still in its earliest stages, and he is eager to take on the challenge.  The most prominent clue is, in itself, a riddle - the "Musgrave Ritual" that has been passed down in the family for generations.  Holmes believes if he can solve the riddle, all the rest of the mystery will fall into place. This story gives a lot of great insights on Holmes himself - specifically, his methods.  He is one who focuses on gaining and using practical knowledge that will help him in his work (we'll hear more about that in A Study in Scarlet !).  Sometimes that practical knowledge may seem almost random.  In this instance, he makes use of his knowledge of math, history, and ...

Week 2: "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual" Our second week features another story from Holmes's past!  Comment below with your thoughts on the story, or share a link to your blog/vlog review. If you have any issues with the linky widget, please let me know. I switched over to a different widget hoster that would let me have multiples.

By general consensus, January 6th, 1854 , is considered to be the birthday of Sherlock Holmes.  You can read about the humorous history of this (somewhat arbitrary) celebration in this 2009 article .   I'm a firm believer in 1854 as the birth year, since Holmes is described as about sixty years old in "His Last Bow," which takes place in 1914.  As for January 6th, I'm not sure about it, but I don't mind it.  (For one thing, it's the same day as Epiphany, which helps me remember!) In observation of his birthday, how about a discussion question - What is your first memory of Sherlock Holmes? When I was about nine or ten, I discovered The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes on my family's bookshelf.  It wasn't the complete stories, but about 2/3 of them, with the illustrations by Sidney Paget.  The first one was "A Scandal in Bohemia," and while I couldn't have told you the definition of some words - like "blackmail" - I was abs...

The first in the lineup for our Sherlock Holmes challenge is a flashback to Holmes's college days, where he was a solitary student studying chemistry.  He made a total of (surprise) one friend, as he tells us: Victor Trevor. He was a hearty, full-blooded fellow, full of spirits and energy, the very opposite to me in most respects, but we had some subjects in common, and it was a bond of union when I found that he was as friendless as I. I like this bit; it makes Trevor to be a sort of proto-Watson - opposite personality to Holmes, but lonely like him.  Trevor also genuinely likes Holmes's conversation, to the point he asks him down to his house for a visit during break. The actual mystery, involving Trevor's father, is a grisly start for our challenge!  Yet I think it summarizes many key points to the Sherlock Holmes series.  It has the mysterious note, the sympathetic villain or anti-hero, and a somewhat lengthy flashback dialogue.  More importantly, it reconfi...

Week 1: "The Adventure of the Gloria Scott" This is the first check-in post of the Chronological Sherlock Holmes Challenge!  Comment below with your thoughts on the story, or share a link to your blog/vlog review. Reviews: Kai (Fiction State of Mind) Keely @ Achaemenids Ashley @ BookishRealmReviews Dana @ Much Madness is Divinest Sense Marian @ noonlight reads Note: Having some trouble with the linky widget, so please bear with me (and post your links in a comment if there is no widget visible :)).  

In the interests of planning ahead, I thought it might be a good idea to go ahead and post the full schedule for the challenge.  Let me know if you see any typos. There will be weekly check-in posts for each short story, and one post for each 3-week novel. All book formats are welcome (audiobooks, ebooks, translations, etc.) Feel free to drop in at any time!  No blog posts required.  :) Click on any story to go to the check-in post for that week. January Week 1   (Jan 1-7):  "The Gloria Scott" Week 2:   "The Musgrave Ritual" Week 3:   A Study in Scarlet Week 4:   A Study in Scarlet Week 5 (Jan 29-Feb 4):  A Study in Scarlet .  (Finish by February 4th.) February Week 6 (Feb 5-11):  "The Speckled Band" Week 7:   "The Yellow Face" Week 8:   "The Red Circle" Week 9 (Feb 26-Mar 4):  "The Beryl Coronet" March Week 10 (Mar 5-11):  "The Resident Patient" Week 11:   "The Reigate Squires" Week 12:   "The S...

12/29/16 edit: Full schedule here . Two years ago , I started on a rereading of the Sherlock Holmes series, with the intent of reading the stories in the approximate order that they occur in Holmes's lifetime.  I didn't get very far, but I never abandoned the concept.  It's been about ten years since I first read the complete Sherlock Holmes, and he is my favorite fictional character.  It's time to get serious about this overdue challenge! So - I'm revamping it in under the wordy title of " The Chronological Sherlock Holmes Challenge ," 2017-2018 edition.  This is a 16-month mission to read all 56 short stories and the four novels.  Of course, the series could be easily read in half a year, but I want to take my time, blog about each tale, and leave room for other reading, too.  If anyone wants to join, I'd love to share the discussion! The idea is: Read the stories in the order found on this Sherlock Holmes Timeline ...with one exception.  I really c...