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What first got you into Sherlock Holmes?
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Joanna
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Jun 15, 2011 06:52PM
I actually only got into Sherlock Holmes after the 2009 Robert Downey Jr. movie. I saw it three times the first week. I know, I know! Anyway, I fell hard, and now I'm trying to read everything. And I mean everything. Which is... why I started this group so I could try to read everything with company.
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I first saw the 2009 movie, and I really liked it, but I didn't start reading it until I found a free Sherlock Holmes app for my iPod. I absolutely loved it, so I bought The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Have you seen the book with the original illustrations?
I'm always so happy to see how many people are reading it because it was free to download on their phone or kindle or ipad or whatever. Hey, it's free, might as well give it a chance right? I was surprised by how easy it was to read when I first read it. I thought, oh it's over 100 years old, it's going to be like those books they made me read in high school, but then... it wasn't! It was an eye opener. I never consciously knew that I was thinking of older books as "it's good for you" reads, and summarily dismissing them. I first read them in a book with the original illustrations. I love them!
I felt the same way before I started reading it... I had tried reading Peo, but I didn't like the writing style at all. And I seriously thought Sherlock Holmes would be the same way, but it wasn't at all! Holmes is definitely the most interesting character I've read about in any old book.
Jeremy Brett! No matter the treatment, he is always the Holmes cast in my mind's eye.
Oh, I love Jeremy Brett! After I read a story, I would watch the episode, if there was one. I love his Holmes the best. It certainly helped that he was devastatingly handsome! I bought My Fair Lady just so I could repeatedly watch "On the Street Where You Live" over and over
Joanna wrote: "Oh, I love Jeremy Brett! After I read a story, I would watch the episode, if there was one. I love his Holmes the best. It certainly helped that he was devastatingly handsome! I bought My Fair Lady..."Absolutely "devastatingly handsome!" If you haven't already, you must watch him as Maxim de Winter in the BBC adaptation of "Rebecca."
Strose629 wrote: "Joanna wrote: "Oh, I love Jeremy Brett! After I read a story, I would watch the episode, if there was one. I love his Holmes the best. It certainly helped that he was devastatingly handsome! I boug..."OOO I shall! I would die if I could find some recording of him playing Dracula! or Watson! Do you know if any exist?
I got into SH after reading this really good manga, Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama. It's a (mostly murder) mystery series about a genius teenage detective who got turned into a little boy and has to solve cases undercover as the boy, who's name is Conan(!) Edogawa. He's a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, and there are many references throughout the volumes. That kind of inspired my to start reading SH...which in turn inspired me to read more Case Closed ^,^
Sarah wrote: "I got into SH after reading this really good manga, Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama. It's a (mostly murder) mystery series about a genius teenage detective who got turned into a little boy and has to s..."That sounds so good! I will have to look into that.
Sarah wrote: "I got into SH after reading this really good manga, Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama. It's a (mostly murder) mystery series about a genius teenage detective who got turned into a little boy and has to s..."I just found a whole set of these on the shelf at the library I work at! I wonder if they bought them knowing my Sherlock Holmes obsession... anyway now I will definitely look into them! It looks so cute!
my mum has always loved Sherlock Holmes. I only started reading them though after watching Jeremy Brett - he is Holmes!
im 31 now and first started reading sherlock when i was 11 or 12. Hound of the Baskervilles! hahah. i found it in the school library. sherlock turned into a sorta role model for me. so we've been close ever since. i never watched any of the jeremy brett films till i was a lot older. but the funny thing is that i always imagined him more like the robert downey version. younger and more animated. holmes has always been one of my favorite literary characters. i grew up with him and like to think that i learned a lot from him...and watson for that matter. and now i own the complete set which is my prized possession with all the original art work and just how it was intended to be read. and by the way...i have started watching more of the jeremy brett shows. and i do like them. even tho its not how i perceived holmes to be. but i really do like jeremy. hes an awesome actor.
We had a books by mail thing when I was a teenager. One of the books was The Return of Sherlock Holmes. I was totally hooked. : )
I've personally always pictured Holmes a lot more like Hugh Laurie in House. But my favorite Holmes right now is the newest TV version. I think the actors have really nailed all of the parts. : )
Traci
I've personally always pictured Holmes a lot more like Hugh Laurie in House. But my favorite Holmes right now is the newest TV version. I think the actors have really nailed all of the parts. : )
Traci
!st: mom had it in the bookcase in the house, 2) visited the Toronto library and saw the ACD special collection 3) watched Downey/Law version on film, 4) bought a Kindle for my mom, and downloaded Complete SH for free for her...then downloaded it for me...started reading thru 5) saw new BBC Study in Pink and was delighted at how "close" the update was 6) making my way systematically thru all the Print versions and the BBS Brett versions...bliss!
Definitely Jeremy Brett. I didn't fully appreciate how spot on his portrayal of Holmes was until I started reading the books though, but I think he got the mannerisms and blunt, cutting remarks just right.
I definitely see Jeremy Brett now when I read Sherlock Holmes. He got it! Shaughnarioux, I have heard about the Toronto library collection! I am (almost) a librarian and so libraries interest me greatly. Was there anything that was your favorite in the special collection?
Kat wrote: "Definitely Jeremy Brett. I didn't fully appreciate how spot on his portrayal of Holmes was until I started reading the books though, but I think he got the mannerisms and blunt, cutting remarks ju..."Very true...loving it!
Joanna wrote: "I definitely see Jeremy Brett now when I read Sherlock Holmes. He got it! Shaughnarioux, I have heard about the Toronto library collection! I am (almost) a librarian and so libraries interest m..."
The whole place is great, the ACD folks were *very* accomodating. When I asked a question at one of the (approx) 25 information desks, I got to talking to that librarian, and mentioned I was a librarian visiting from out of town; she insisted on calling the ACD special collections librarian to that spot to give me a personal tour of the closed collection(for all I know that gal was mid-sandwich!) She couldn't have been more lovely... The museum is set up like his study, and they don't just collect ACD first edition print copies, copies in every language, and secondary literature (scholarly and popular) they also collect memoribilia (Bobbleheads/lunchboxes), fanzines, parodies, his letters...really fantastic. She also pointed me to a research conference for ACD fans:
http://www.acdfriends.org/sins-rego.htm
(If you go, the marriot has reduced rates but the HoJo nearby is quite serviceable, and perhaps cheaper.)
Unbidden, she also gave me an ACD button -- lucky me! Definitely worth the trip if you find yourself in the toronto area.
As a youth in Jr High School, I believe I read some Sherlock Holmes. But what really hooked me was seeing TV adaptations of The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles, shown on (if memory serves me right) HBO in the mid-80s. They starred Ian Richardson as Holmes.This led to one of my favorite memories of my since-departed Dad. Seeing how much I enjoyed the shows and the stories, he called several bookstores to find me a volume of the Complete Sherlock Holmes. We didn't live near a bookstore, so this was not an easy undertaking. He ordered the book for me and gave it to me. I was thrilled, as I am sure he was in giving it to me. I kept it in a place of prominence in my room.
Several moves later, the volume was packed away and, unfortunately, ended up being the only significant loss when we had a flood a few years back. I thought about replacing the book, but it just wouldn't be the same...it wouldn't the one that my Dad had lovingly tracked down for me.
While browsing Amazon for a book for my iPhone Kindle app, I came across the Complete Sherlock Holmes. Never before has there been such a deal for a mere $0.99! I purchased it and have been reading it during my spare time, especially during my lunch hour at work.
I've added two versions of the Complete Sherlock Holmes to my Goodreads list: the original hardcover , with the same jacket cover art, that my Dad gave me (as a tribute in his memory) and the Kindle edition that I am currently reading.
Not only has re-discovering the Holmes stories led to recalling some treasured memories for me, but I've also fell in love once again with these classics. I am thoroughly enjoying reading A Study in Scarlet on the app. I see that I also need to catch up on some film/TV adaptations, too. My streaming Netflix account will serve me well in trying to catch up on these latest Holmes offerings.
I'm very happy to join the like-minded Holmes fans of this Goodreads group.
Steve, I also enjoy spending my lunch break in the company of Holmes and Watson :) If I'm lucky I also get in a few pages on the train to and from work.
Joanna wrote: "Sarah wrote: "I got into SH after reading this really good manga, Case Closed by Gosho Aoyama. It's a (mostly murder) mystery series about a genius teenage detective who got turned into a little bo..."The beginning is really cool, but after awhile they get kind of repetitive and the style and feel of it changes...there's about 790 chapters now -.-
I first read, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', for English class, when I was about 8, and my sympathies went not to Holmes, but to the hound. That's what has gotten me started on the whole business.
When I was 9 or 10, my grandma gave me a copy of The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes. It's a facsimile of all the stories that Sidney Paget illustrated in The Strand. I've been hooked since.
I was living overseas and reading about a book a week. After a while I started running out of material and would read anything I could find in English. I picked up a Sherlock Holmes book and was hooked.On my next trip back to the States, I picked up everything that I hadn't already read and blew right through them within a matter of days upon returning overseas.
One thing that really sucks about getting hung on an author is, after you're done reading everything he/she wrote, you find yourself waiting and waiting and waiting for the next installment. Good luck waiting on the next installment coming from Doyle!
What has held my interest in Holmes are the pastiches. I love finding one that stays true to the characters as Doyle saw them. There are some truly exceptional pastiches out there.
I only got into Sherlock Holmes when I saw the BBC Sherlock. Since then, I've been reading the books and stories. Great Stuff!
Oh my English teacher first introduced me to Mr. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson he was quite a character and used to speak with a british accent and even acted out a few scenes ... it was always Mr. Holmes this Mr. Holmes that so i decided to check out why he was so excited and then i found out why ... i was hooked .. when i read the last short story i was depressed that i had read all of them and no more ... i even tried writing one myself ... Holmes is my childhood superhero.
Reading everyone's stories, I think it is so great how every decade there are new stimuli that lure people into loving Sherlock Holmes. The appeal of the man is eternal!For me it was the Basil Rathbone movies, watching them on Saturday afternoons on TV with my father. But somewhere along the line (I believe it was 4th or 5th grade) our school gave out a little tabloid newspaper every week on Friday afternoons--a 30 minute treat where we got to just read. (This was the mid-60s, way before that SSR--sustained systematic reading--trend the schools had in the 90s where all students stopped what they were doing and read for 15 minutes a day)---anyway, our "Sacred Heart Messenger" had "The Speckled Band" in it and I was totally hooked. It just gave me shivers thinking about that snake coming down the bellpull over her bed. So that's what got me into READING Sherlock Holmes. It is not surprising that I went into labor with my first kid while reading a Sherlock Holmes story late one night (although I am sorry to say I do not remember which one; I was working my way through "The Collected Stories..." for about the 3rd time.)
Silvio111 wrote: "It is not surprising that I went into labor with my first kid while reading a Sherlock Holmes story late one night..."Please tell us you didn't conceive while reading Holmes!
Welcome!
Ken,Hah! Good one!
No I cannot claim that distinction! (hubby was not a Holmes devotee!)
I began reading the Sherlock Holmes stories when my mother recommended them. We were omniverous readers at my home, and she loved Holmes. So did I, from the very beginning. I have a nice collection of Holmes books, including my 'bible': The Annotated Sherlock Holmes (Wm. S Baring Gould). By the way...my intro to the Canon was over 50 years ago, and the love affair has never died.
I had bought a copy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's complete novels and it had been sitting on my shelf for about a year. When TC Yasi (a catagory five cyclone) hit us earlier this year, we were left with no power and the roads were cut due to flooding I thought I might as well read a bit. Well I really loved it and couldn't put it down until I finished the whole thing. Now I read and watch anything Sherlock.
MOre than a few people on this thread said they got into Holmes after watching Disney's THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE.I had NEVER heard of this animated film so I searched it on YouTube and there it was! What a great animation! Very old-school; lots of detailed background and great motion and the ambiance was DARK like a real Victorian Holmes setting! Thank you for turning me on to this great piece of work in the Holmes "canon." I totally enjoyed it!
Also, it pays homage to Basil Rathbone by naming the mouse detective "Basil of Baker Street" and there is also a cameo appearance of Rathbone's voice as the mouse characters pass by the human detective's neighborhood. Absolutely sublime!
Silvio111 wrote: "MOre than a few people on this thread said they got into Holmes after watching Disney's THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE.I had NEVER heard of this animated film so I searched it on YouTube and there it ..."
And its Vincent Price as well! I will be watching tonight on Youtube. Thanks for the heads up!
Silvio111 wrote: "MOre than a few people on this thread said they got into Holmes after watching Disney's THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE.I had NEVER heard of this animated film so I searched it on YouTube and there it ..."
HI, Sorry to nit pick but Basil the Mouse wasn't named after Basil Rathbone. The Movie was based on a series of books by Eve Titus. They are:
Basil of Baker street
Basil and the Pygmy Cats
Basil and the lost colony
Basil in Mexico
Basil in the Wild West
I have read all except the last two and I really loved them. They are pretty old and might be hard to find(My copies fell apart years ago). Only the first one felt really Holmesish the second two read more like Indiana Jones plots.
As always the movie was nothing like the books but then that's disney for you, "Let's write the script without reading the book first."
Cathrine wrote: "HI, Sorry to nit pick but Basil the Mouse wasn't named after Basil Rathbone."From Wikipedia: "Eve Titus gave him the name "Basil" in honor of actor Basil Rathbone, who donned the role of Sherlock Holmes numerous times."
Also mentions: "Very similar to Sherlock Holmes (who sometimes used the alias Basil, as in "The Adventure of Black Peter")"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_of...
Ah yes, how could I forget to mention Vincent Price! The Voice! What I love about his Ratigan is that he is simultaneous scary and funny. (I still don't understand why he wouldn't own up to be being a Rat, rather than a Mouse. I did not feel that was explained in the plot, but perhaps I am too literal.)
I grew up with Basil of Baker Street so I was curious about Sherlock Holmes for a very long time. So I bought the books but curiously never started reading them (too many interesting books, too little time).I really liked Warner Bros' Sherlock Holmes but for me the film is really more a nice blockbuster than related to Conan Doyle's work.
I started reading SH after watching the BBC serie Sherlock with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman and which relates the story of Sherlock and Watson in the 21st century. That seems to be a very strange story for a serie but it is so well directed and interpreted that I totally felt in love for these characters and rushed to my old SH books !
Hey Meryl,I totally agree about the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock, as cute as I think he is.
Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock was the revelation of the decade for me.
But I must say, I enjoyed Basil of Baker Street so much coming at it from the other side after about 40 years of reading the original Sherlock books.
As they say, "It's all good!"
My first experience with Sherlock Holmes was watching the show Wishbone as a kid. Then when I did a mystery unit in 7th grade I read some of the mysteries as my required book and have been hooked ever since!
I knew Sherlock Holmes from comic books. The main character of the comic loves Holmes, therefore I thought Holmes must be an amazing detective.Then at Junior High, I found Sherlock book in the library. It was "Return of Sherlock Holmes" book, and after reading the first story, I was absorbed.
My Dad, we would watch Sherlock Holmes movies on Sunday afternoons. I fell in love with Sherlock Holmes and started reading the books.
Amber,Same here! Although I first READ Sherlock Holmes in a school newspaper that reprinted THE SPECKLED BAND, I always watched the Basil Rathbone Sherlock movies with my father on TV in the 1960s; they showed those pretty regularly on network tv.
I'm sure I have mentioned this in other discussion post but I was first introduced to Sherlock very very early. Both of my parents were fans and my Mom has some amazing and rare collectibles. We had a room in our house that was all done up with both of my parents stuff. Naturally I read a few when I was old enough to read and enjoyed them. I became more of a fan in my adult years and still have yet to read all of Doyle’s work. There are only a few I missed. I now read these stories to my 2 year old as bed time stories, he doesn’t quite get them but I do voices for the characters and he loves it. It is a thrill to hear him ask me to read “Sherlock Homes”. I will re-read these when he is older as well so he can enjoy them as much as I do.
I watched the 2009 movie, and due to that I read 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' and watched the Granada series. But what really hooked me into the canon was when I went to England for a holiday, I brought '100 Classic Books for DS' which contained both the Adventures and Casebook and I read both books over the course of the trip.
Mod
then i downloaded a e-book app on my ipad (free one) and started reading the novels...now i hv read total 7 of of 9. :)
^ Wow, you've read most of it - I'm only up to "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (I'm reading them in the chronological order). I'm not sure when I was first introduced to Holmes - I just remember always being fascinated by this detective who could deduce things so well and (yes) with style :P Have you seen the new BBC version? It's excellent. As is the Jeremy Brett version actually.
I read the books when I was eight; and then I discovered Jeremy brett that sane year. and then I saw the movies (and hated them
I'm not a big fan of the movies either, Sarah. Jude Law is actually quite good as Watson (though he's a bit too short with Holmes), but RDJ as Holmles didn't really work for me. He's a great actor but didn't like him in this role - and his British accent was very unconvincing =\
Baker Street Irregulars
Books mentioned in this topic
The Stuff of Nightmares (other topics)Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century of the Master Detective on Screen (other topics)
Starring Sherlock Holmes: A Century of the Master Detective on Screen (other topics)
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (other topics)
The Standard Doyle Company: Christopher Morley on Sherlock Holmes (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
George Mann (other topics)James Lovegrove (other topics)
