A. > Recent Status Updates

Belated logging; started on the drive to Las Vegas.

So far, I'm enjoying the Mari sections and rolling my eyes at the sleeping girl sections.

"The Adventure of the Copper Beeches", 6/10. Idk the central mystery seemed overly convoluted and didn't really grab me. Holmes is in rare form, though.

"The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet", 8.5/10. Brother, WHY would you keep the world's most valuable Coronet in your unlocked home cabinet? Why would you tell people? smh

"The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor", 8/10. Damn, a cuckold story. Pretty good series of twists and turns, but like, no real crime lol

"The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb", 8.5/10. Did love the life-threatening vice-grip lol

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band", 9.5/10. One of the true undisputed classics in the canon. A fuckin' snake!

"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" 8.5/10 Love the rapid-fire hat deductions, and also the series of people Holmes has to shake down for the goose.

"The Man with the Twisted Lip" 7/10 I guess even then begging was easier than journalism lolol

Finished!

Intro, fuku. Introduction to Trujillo. Who's the narrator. Oscar Wao's brief time as a ladies' man.

"The Five Orange Pips" -- great series of deductions, and makes the KKK appear very menacing indeed. A failed case. Holmes gets emotional about it too. 9/10

“A Case of Identity” A little slight but entertaining enough. The Gasfitters’ Ball, lol 7/10

“The Red-Headed League” Excellent, classic Holmes deduction and great setpieces. 9/10

"A Scandal in Bohemia" -- odd that this is the first Holmes short story, since apparently it's atypical. Conan Doyle still seems to enjoy the execution of Holmes's plans more than the deduction that underpins them, which is the main appeal for me. That said, Irene Adler is a great character, and Holmes's clear admiration for her cunning is a welcome dimension to his character. It adds to his purity.

Finished "The Sign of Four". Surprisingly little of the "classic" Holmes explaining everything that us mortals couldn't appreciate. The second half is mostly a series of chase scenes and stakeouts. Still, this novel gives us quite an open look at Holmes's drug addiction--cocaine smh.

Halfway through The Sign of Four.

Starting up again, The Sign of Four

Finished!

One of the more interesting things about Holmes is that ordinarily, his powers of deduction are near-subconscious. He has no idea how he knows stuff, he’s just internalized his ability to the point where it just seems to come naturally to him. He has to take great pains to explain to Watson how he figures out what he deduces. Fascinating.

First chapter, The Sign of Four. Holmes is better-known now. He & Watson have been roommates for years. Cocaine.

Finished “A Study in Scarlet”. Mormon bullshit aside, it’s extraordinary how well-developed Holmes is as a character, and also how Conan Doyle is still figuring him out at the same time. True attending energy.

“The Spot of Art” delightful, love the idea of a Bertie Billboard advertising soups. Bertie’s rival laid up in his guest room is a wonderfully overbearing character.

“Jeeves snd the Kid Clementina” also a great title. Great little image of Jeeves entertaining Clementina with a napkin rabbit trick.

Boring Mormon section. The prose is much more purple. Main appeal is just hearing familiar names—Stangerson, Drebber, Hope.

Finished part I of A Study in Scarlet. Now for the boring Mormon section.

“Episode of the Dog McIntosh”, very catchy title. The cruelty of just giving away a dog. Great “I told you so” moment. Also a Bertie monologue.

"Jeeves & The Yuletide Spirit". First appearance of Roberta "Bobbie" Wickham, who has both Bertie and Tuppy Glossop running the same prank on what turns out to be Roderick Glossop. Wodehouse manages this well, but there's a line when Glossop catches Bertie (the Oswego School) that had me laughing audibly.

Finished. Final chapters on estate planning, income tax, and different corporations (made me think of USP lol)