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Okay, first I'm sorry for the sheer number of mistakes in last month's column. It went through two computers and three different kinds of word processing software. There were conversion errors and not a lot of time to make sure I got things right. Certain portions had to be completely rewritten save because Word 2010 didn't like the other two formats and things got garbled. I didn't double check because I didn't have the time. (Hence Olivia Woods mistakenly getting called he. Opps!.)
Secondly, this month's book Fifty Two is not the book I intended to finish. I started it two weeks ago when I thought I would not be able to finish the book I started. Only to discover earlier this week that if I hadn't devoted so much time to the back-up book that I just might have made it.
So without further complaints-
- The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:
Many Holmes fans have told me not to bother with this book. The stories are far from Doyle's best. In fact some of the stories differ so wildly from his style that their authenticity is questioned. The theory goes that the stories were written- or at least rewritten extensively by others. Suspects range from editors at the Strand to Jean Doyle. Now- it doesn't really matter who wrote these stories as much as the quality of the mysteries involved. Most of them are pretty bad. They rely on things that so horrendously moronic you wouldn't even see them on a rerun of 'The World's Dumbest Criminals.' There is one story that is narrated by Holmes that doesn't have Watson at all. That one really doesn't work. Holmes is uninteresting without Watson. There are a few bright spots here and there- stories that quell at least some the Doyle did not write these stories conspiracy theorists. The Problem of Thor Bridge is probably the best story from this batch that you'll find in all printings of the book. I'm lucky that my edition had two very special treats. Two stories Arthur Conan Doyle did for alumni magazines or jokes for friends. They are entitled 'The Field Bazaar' and 'How Watson Learned the Trick'. They are great parodies of Sherlock Holmes. They are both sadly very short. But their combined four pages are probably the best in the book.
And since I ended the year on such an abysmal book, I'm going to start next year off right. I promise.
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