/lit/ - Literature

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is the best place to start broseph. Shits Killer.

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was what I read first (and I'm about to read a Study in Scarlet, what the fuck am I doing?), so I think you should try Adventures.

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

read Adventures if you want to go the traditional route of reading them "in order". no harm in that, and you'll be made familiar with some of the most well-known stories. (A Scandal in Bohemia, the Read Headed League, The Blue Carbuncle, The Speckled Band).

Memoirs is good because it has The Final Problem, which is a major landmark in the cannon since it kicked off The Hiatus. but dont start with that story you gotta build up to it, 'cause i said so. It's also got The Musgrave Ritual and The Gloria Scott, which give you a look at Holmes solving cases before Watson was with him.

His Last Bow has got The Dying Detective, which is one my favorites. I also like The Cardboard Box, mainly because of holmes' ridiculous trick at the beginning of the story, it just makes me lol. The Devil's Foot is also good, and the title story is interesting because it's in 3rd person.

So uh

Where are y'all in your SH readin', currently?

I'm continually on my nth re-read and i don't go through it in order. Stories I'm probably gonna be reading again soonish will be The Solitary Cyclist and The Devil's Foot.

>>2022467

Could you make us a tier list of the stories? I'd be really interested in your opinion, as I recently saw a whole collection of these at a local used book store and I plan on nabbing them up soon.

SHG, you really got this board on lock and I salute you for it. Now I want a smart, friendly personality called Nathan Zuckerman Guy to work /lit/ up into one giant throbbing boner for Philip Roth

Go with Adventures.

To read everything in publication order is:

A Study in Scarlet
The Sign of the Four
Adventures
Memoirs
Hound of the Baskervilles
Return
His Last Bow (this volume was technically published after Valley of Fear, but contains stories that were published in periodicals before that)
Valley of Fear
Casebook

Otherwise the stories featured in a "best of" I own, that got me into Sherlock in the first place and consist of ones Conan Doyle thought his best (there was a competition to guess these at some point), plus a few considered important by a Sherlock academic that Doyle neglected. They were (sans "the's"):

Scandal in Bohemia; Red-Headed League; Five Orange Pips; Man with the Twisted Lip; Blue Carbuncle; Speckled Band; Copper Beeches; Silver Blaze; Musgrave Ritual; Reigate Squires; Greek Interpreter; Final Problem; Empty House; Dancing Men; Solitary Cyclist; Priory School; Charles Augustus Milverton; Second Stain; Devil's Foot; Illustrious Client

>>2022467

I just finished the Bohemian story and I am extremely confused. So Sherlock Holmes is hired to break in and steal something from some womans house? How is that ethical at all!? or how is it a crime to have a photo of a guy you used to know!?

Am I missing something here?

Also I found the references to cocaine quite funny.

>>2022484

Seconding this, a SH tier list would be fantastic!

>>2022489
It's not a crime, but the King of Bohemia is afraid that it could be used for blackmail, which would be. As to the other thing, Holmes kind of gives no fucks about legality, honestly. He's completely at ease about not turning in criminals when he thinks the crime is justified, for example. And... well... just read "Charles August Milverton" if you want another example.

>>2022484
>>2022499
A Sherlock Holmes tier list with all the stories would be hard as hell, there's 56 stories and 4 novels. My personal recommendation is that you just get the Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes. It's got the seminal Sidney Paget illustrations and the entirety of the collected works.

In terms of what's best, the best novel is definitely Hound of Baskerville. Study in Scarlet is good for the introduction of Holmes as a character, and Valley of Fear is pretty consistently entertaining. Adventures, Memoirs, and Return are the best short story collections; Return is my personal favorite, Doyle was on some other shit in some of those stories. Adventure of the Abbey Grange is maybe my favorite.

>>2022484
Oh man, I'll think about it. I don't know if I'm capable of making a list I could call my final opinion of the stories, I'm always changin' my mind. I would love to do it, but I might go nuts in the process. I'm prone to overexplaining my decisions and opinions.

>>2022485
Haha, sweet, thanks. Perhaps NZG can happen...but you'd have to choose the right moment, or else I think too many Such-and-Such Guys would crop up and then the effect would be diminished.

What we should really do is work out a timeline of the events of Sherlock's life and career. It's more difficult than it sounds.

>>2022513
>And... well... just read "Charles August Milverton" if you want another example.

god i love CHAS. Holmes truly gives no fucks. and he gets so excited over what they set out to do...it's kind of scary. And then there's his big collection of photos of celebrated criminals adorning every wall of his bedroom...

damn holmes, you creepy

The hounds of baskerville

Sign of Four was racist toward negros!!!

got 2 volume unabridged edition for sale

>>2022698
lol, you should see the granada adaptation of it. the depiction of Tonga...oh my gosh.

If you really want racist stories, try The Yellow Face, Wisteria Lodge, or the beginning of The Three Gables. I know, I know, it was normal for the time--and Doyle's certainly no Lovecraft--but still.

The Yellow Face is cute, anyway.

>>2022720
Yeah The Yellow Face definitely ends up in a good place, it just does it in the most uncomfortable and incorrect way possible. Good intentions, but guhh.

>>2022728
That's just how I felt about it, haha. Gives an interesting picture of what the race issue must have been like at the time, though.

I used to have an awesome Sherlock Holmes board game, you guys would love it!

>>2022467

Thanks everyone! OP here, and I have started reading the stories SHG recommended as his favs. Thanks for all your help.

(Just finished Bohemia, and Red Head League, so I haven't been watching the thread much. but lots of great discussion from what I can see!)

>>2022776

I have this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_Consulting_Detective

It's some seriously hardcore shit. I haven't even played it properly yet, just read the fake newspaper clippings and poured over the map of Holmesian London.

>>2022785

Mine sounds similar actually, although the one I had was called 221b Baker Street, and it had something like 60 possible cases in it. But once we knew the answers to all of them we didn't play it anymore.

>>2022776
>>2022785
cooool

>and poured over the map of Holmesian London

you like maps eh

how 'bout floor plans?

http://www.stutler.cc/other/misc/baker_street.html

>>2022807

Wait what? I thought Holmes and Watson lived together at first? Where is the second room?

>>2022810

I'm imagining them nestled and spooning in that one bed lol. but in all seriousness the room on the other side of the stairs might be Watson's??

>>2022807
>floor plans

You son of a bitch. I fucking love floor plans.

I'm not going to sleep tonight.

>>2022819
here, no need to imagine it

dang watson was the original scott pilgrim

>>2022858

Does it actually say in the books taht they slept in the same bed? Watson always talks about it being 'his room' that he will go to when clients want privacy with Holmes!

Does it really say that they have the same room?

You guys are all wrong, the second chapter of the A Study in Scarlet clearly states,

"consisted of a couple of comfortable bedrooms, and a single large airy sitting-room"

That floor plan is clearly mistaken, and yes they had separate rooms.

>>2022870
Haha, nah, they don't actually have the same room. i think Watson's room is upstairs somewhere. I would quickly find out for you, but I don't have any Holmes books checked out from the library right now and I'm sure googling "sherlock holmes watson bedroom" isn't going to yield quite the results we are looking for.

>>2022882

How can you be SH guy and not own the fucking books? lol it seems a logical impossibility, I'm OP and I picked up the 5 books I talked about in my post for a buck a piece at a used book store just a few days ago! 5$ for over half of the Holmes collection!

>>2022861
Bohemian = hipster
Watson wasn't a hipster, Holmes was.

>>2022891
It's a bit weird, isn't it? I half-live at the library. There is space cleared out on my shelves at home for the ever-changing stack of library books that make it home with me. They said I could have 50 out at once, after all. I do plan to buy the books eventually, though. it's just a matter of coming across the ones that feel right...and that i'll be cool with writing in. I wouldnt be able to write in The Complete Illustrated Sherlock Holmes, it's too nice.

>>2022874
>>2022882
This is driving me mad. According to Floor Plan Guy, Watson's room is located upstairs above the sitting room and he cites The Sign of Four as the source of this information. currently skimming SIGN

>>2022905

This is my Sherlock collection for what it's worth. I'm a bit wary about big complete omnibus editions unless they're in hardcover, so these were a decent cheap alternative that I don't mind accidentally destroying. They were $3.10 AUD each.

Of course one of these is not like the other...

"A bath at Baker Street and a complete change freshened me up wonderfully. When I came down to our room I found the breakfast laid and Holmes pouring out the coffee." [SIGN]

Hm. The bath's upstairs, at least, and/or it's Watson's bedroom. He washes up and gets naked there, whatever the room is.

>>2022934
neat, what's with that last one?

>>2022438
A Study in Emerald

Sherlock Holmes/Mythos fanfic written by Neil Gaiman.

http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/shortstories/emerald.pdf

"It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came down." [FIVE]

Ai'ight, so Watson also chills in this mysterious upper region when it's night time...

oh, duh. Holmes creeps on Watson in his bedroom in The Speckled Band. forgot about that

"I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room."

there

>>2022963

Thank you for clearing that up, now I can finally go to bed lol.

>>2022970
Hahaha. Yes, I believe we can all rest easier now that the truth has been revealed.

>>2022939

My mother found it abandoned on the train and thought I ought to have it. It's in Chinese, and it might be the second half of Hound of the Baskervilles but I'm not entirely sure. The illustrations aren't much help.

>>2022979
The Sign of Four

>>2022979
Hmm. It's A Study In Scarlet.

>afterwatsonsprostateexam.jpg

oh my!

>>2022991
Yeah?

I can't read chinese. i looked up the chinese title of STUD. But perhaps I was reading the word "Sherlock" :)

>>2023003
It's definitely Sign of Four. I read Chinese.

>>2023007
Ah, cool! Which part of the cover says The Sign of Four? and does it say sherlock holmes on it?

The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton. It features Holmes and Watson on the wrong side of the law, and a fun, assholeish blackmailer character. It's a great one, one of my favorites.

>>2023011
The heading was too blurred. I noticed strychnine, thorn and ceiling in the words and googled for the rest.

I'm thinking they can maybe cram quite a few things in 300 pages in Chinese.

Mainly because it has this from The Dancing Men.

>>2023013

>>2023020
Google makes things so simple now

>>2023018
If you send the cover I'll see what I can tell you.

Oh...and here's the reason I thought it was part of Hound.

>>2023029
It's a collection. That's Hound. Might be abridged.

>>2023023
It certainly does, my goodness. I love it when it comes to solving linguistic problems.

I guessed way too quick on the chinese book, though. shoulda checked myself...Holmes would surely rape me for this

"福尔摩斯" was the search term that I was using, since i saw it on the cover. Turns out it's his name lol.

>>2023035
Plus you can brute-force Agatha Christie stories with Excel spreadsheets to organize alibis. Sometimes I think I'm cheating.

>>2023028

I just realised there's actually an ISBN on the back too: 7505409808.

Though that links to a 900 page collection and this is 308. So maybe it's one volume of a collection of the whole shebang?

Also fuck recaptcha.

>>2023045
It says 下(bottom).
There might be a middle, so it's either 2/2 or 3/3

>>2023048
And it's a 3 book collection

>>2023048

Yeah, that's what I thought from my poor knowledge of Japanese.

Have a bonus illustration.

Thank you helping solve the mystery, /lit/ Irregulars.

Here's another picture.

>>2023062
>Thank you helping solve the mystery, /lit/ Irregulars.

/lit/ is awesome...i really hope we can become a mystery solving gang, it would be all my internet dreams come true

>Here's another picture.

i like the style. i'm looking at the sites selling this book but i don't see the name of the illustrator

>>2022488
Edgar Allan Poe had a short story called "The Purloined Letter" similiar to that. Doyle was inspired by Poe maybe? There was a reference to Dupin in A Study in Scarlet.

I love the blog you have on those fancy words from Doyle's work Sherlock Holmes Guy!

>>2023109
>Doyle was inspired by Poe maybe?

I'm pretty sure he was

>I love the blog you have on those fancy words from Doyle's work Sherlock Holmes Guy!

Aw, thanks. i'm surprised with how people have taken to it. I made a post yesterday about the agony column...pic related. if anyone wants to help figure out the code that would be cool. say so if you do, i have more information on this one

also I think I may return to being anon for a while. It's a fun change to have a name but also sort of awkward. I think i'm fairly identifiable by the way I type and the images i post, anyway

>>2023109
Doyle specifically stated that he was inspired by Poe, specifically the Purloined Letter and the Murders in the Rue Morgue. The detective character in Rue Morgue in particular is very similar in his deduction abilities to Holmes.