A Study in Scarlet (Sherlock Holmes #1) by Arthur Conan Doyle - Starting February 1st 2020

[Claire]

"A Study in Scarlet" is the first published story of one of the most famous literary detectives of all time, Sherlock Holmes. Here Dr. Watson, who has just returned from a war in Afghanistan, meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time when they become flat-mates at the famous 221 B Baker Street. In "A Study in Scarlet" Sherlock Holmes investigates a murder at Lauriston Gardens as Dr. Watson tags along with Holmes while narratively detailing his amazing deductive abilities.

[Claire]

Chapter 2
(view spoiler)[I usually have trouble with reading classics because of thje writing style but I'm actually really enjoying the writing here, it is one of the newer classics though to be fair.

I'm a big fan of BBC Sherlock and it's really awesome how they took the first chapter and modernised it for the adaption and so much of it was kept the same! Even down to Dr Watson having returned from Afghanistan. (hide spoiler)]

[Claire]

End of Part 1
(view spoiler)[Wow, that was fast. I was expecting it to be a bit more whodunnit-y and give us clues and stuff so it's possible to figure our who the killer was (like in Agatha Christie books).

Spoiler for BBC Sherlock Ep 1 (view spoiler)[It's cool how the cabbie is the killer here too! His motive can't be the same though since that 2nd guy was stabbed. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Chapter 6:

(view spoiler)[I agree, I'm impressed by how much the first episode of Sherlock was faithful to this story. I love that show. This is a very interesting read and I'm enjoying it so far.

The writing is very easy to get into which I appreciate. I love classics but they can be incredibly tedious at times. (hide spoiler)]

[Claire]

Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) wrote: "Chapter 6:

[spoiler removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yay a fellow fan! Weirdly I'm actually not really imagining Benedict Cumberbatch when I read this though, this original Sherlock is so much less eccentric. (hide spoiler)]

[Claire]

Chapter 12
(view spoiler)[How awful. I always find it very upsetting to read about the atrocities committed by religious extremists/cults, they not only do these terrible things, but they feel self righteous when they do them too.

At least now I don't have to feel too bad for the two men who were murdered, two lives for two lives 🤷‍♀️ (hide spoiler)]

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Finished

(view spoiler)[I thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't believe I've never read any of the Sherlock stories. I've seen and love so many different adaptations so I guess I just never felt the need which is sad but this was pretty great. I think the only thing for me personally was that I enjoyed part one more than part two but I thought how it all wrapped up was great. (hide spoiler)]

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Also, I'm with you on not imagining Cumberbatch while reading. Out of all the Sherlock adaptations I've seen, I can't think of anyone who was actually pretty close to how Sherlock is in this novel. Weird.

[Claire]

Right? I was surprised at how down-to-earth he is, I've watched the movies with RDJ too so I expected him to a little more... Silly?

Finished!
(view spoiler)[This was such a great story, I'm so glad that I finally had a go at reading this! The structure of the story was very different from what I expected though.

Definitely going to read more from this series sometime soon!

BBC Sherlock (view spoiler)[Ok, so. In the show, I was always bothered by the fact that we never learned how Jeff managed to survive playing the poison 'game' three times, but having read this now, I guess it's implying that it really was just luck? In this original he only 'played' once though, so he had a much more plausible chance of surviving compared to the three times in the show. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

[Claire]

I just rewatched A Study in Pink last night and noticed a funny reference to the original story: (view spoiler)[In this book, 'Rache' was 'Revenge' in German, but in the BBC series it's short for 'Rachel', and Sherlock makes a sarcastic quip when Anderson suggests that it could mean revenge in German ("No, she was leaving an angry message in German!") 😂 (hide spoiler)]

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Claire wrote: "I just rewatched A Study in Pink last night and noticed a funny reference to the original story: [spoilers removed]"

OMG! LMAO! That is clever! I never would've picked up on that. 😂 I definitely need to re-watch/binge season 1. It's been too long.

[Claire]

Yes! And their conversation about not knowing the earth revolves around the sun was adapted into episode 3, I love all these little references :D

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Okay, that settles it I'm definitely rewatching season 1 this weekend. I'm excited. If you're planning on starting the next Sherlock story soon I'd love to buddy read that one as well if you want. :)

[Claire]

Woo, enjoy! :D

And yes that sounds great! I should be able to fit that BR in whenever so just let me know what date works for you.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Awesome! I can start any time next week if that's okay.

[Claire]

Anytime next week is good, just let me know when the BR thread is up :D

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader)]

Thread is here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

It's set for next Monday the 10th.

[Claire]

Cheers!