tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post1149466778870441151..comments2024-03-29T03:04:00.853-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: I see it, I deduce it - in which I am more complimentary to Doyle and HolmesAmateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-83793985607727124142010-02-09T12:38:05.178-06:002010-02-09T12:38:05.178-06:00You're right, Rebecca - I lower my expectation...You're right, Rebecca - I lower my expectations, too. It's my standards that I won't lower.<br /><br />Enjoyment is a whole separate issue. I enjoy all sorts of things that are not only not first-rate, but are positively bad for me.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-64630796185024096052010-02-08T22:08:07.374-06:002010-02-08T22:08:07.374-06:00What I meant was, when I pick up a story by O. Hen...What I meant was, when I pick up a story by O. Henry or Doyle, I don't expect masterful writing. When I pick up The Dead of Chekhov, I do. I still like O.Henry, but not in the same way I loved reading Chekhov. I personally do lower my expectations. I can still enjoy it though.Rebecca Reidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06062252252301802298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-31104618726063854392010-02-08T21:47:17.445-06:002010-02-08T21:47:17.445-06:00Wait, who can't I compare to Joyce and Chekhov...Wait, who can't I compare to Joyce and Chekhov? Why not? Doyle is a worse writer than Chekhov, at the level of the sentence, paragraph, and story; comparing characterization, imagery, and insight. <br /><br />I'm not going to lower my expectations. Some writers should raise theirs.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11322701894904991092010-02-08T21:13:48.912-06:002010-02-08T21:13:48.912-06:00Yeah, you can't compare some writers to Chekho...Yeah, you can't compare some writers to Chekhov and Joyce. Not at all. Just have to lower expectations some.<br /><br />That said, i can't remember reading Holmes. I now I have <em>Hound</em> on my shelf.Rebecca Reidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06062252252301802298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-4071082974730166482010-02-08T16:07:24.721-06:002010-02-08T16:07:24.721-06:00Marieke, I know just what you mean.Marieke, I know just what you mean.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-7816647698167989022010-02-08T09:06:27.822-06:002010-02-08T09:06:27.822-06:00I want to jump on the Sherlock Holmes bandwagon no...I want to jump on the Sherlock Holmes bandwagon now too! All this waiting for the Johnson + Boswell... Daily Lit offers <i>The Adventures</i> in installments, free of charge - instantaneously. <br /><br />All I need now is to quit my job, go home and read.Mariekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13251172733432029106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-42463130270727931512010-02-07T21:44:11.941-06:002010-02-07T21:44:11.941-06:00Thanks so much - I now will be sure to get an edit...Thanks so much - I now will be sure to get an edition with the Paget illustrations.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-52105688731422291592010-02-06T21:21:18.409-06:002010-02-06T21:21:18.409-06:00I'm not very good at analysing, I'm afraid...I'm not very good at analysing, I'm afraid - but I think it's mostly a matter of atmosphere, and, I think, where Sherlock is most Sherlock-y, so to speak.:)<br /><br />Some of these are my favourites:<br />The Speckled Band<br />The Copper Beeches<br />Red-Headed League<br />The Man with the Twisted Lip<br />The Five Orange Pips (which really scared me, the first time I read it, sitting alone in the kitchen in the wee hours when the rest of the family was asleep... I can't say why without spoilers.)<br />The Blue Carbuncle<br />The Silver Blaze<br /><br />There are others, of course, but unfortunately I cannot always match the name and the story together... even though I've got the book (an omnibus with all the stories) before me. There is one, for example, where what looked like a murder turns out to be a suicide (Margery Allingham re-used that idea in one of her novels.) But I also like that it isn't always murder - and sometimes it isn't an actual crime at all - as in the story where a man pretended to be a girl's suitor so that she wouldn't marry anybody.<br /><br />Oh, and let me just say - the Sidney Paget illustrations are just so lovely, so right - even if he did make Sherlock more handsome than Conan Doyle had intended.:)<br /><br />LRKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-76595613186052354732010-02-06T19:16:58.183-06:002010-02-06T19:16:58.183-06:00Now there's a question I should have asked. W...Now there's a question I should have asked. Which are your favorites (and why)?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-60898276343140764992010-02-06T17:51:08.282-06:002010-02-06T17:51:08.282-06:00If you are asking me, then you're asking the w...If you are asking me, then you're asking the wrong person. I love him as he is, I don't <i>want</i> him to change.:)<br /><br />Oh, I forgot to say - 'A Scandal in Bohemia' isn't one of my favourites, as it happens... <br /><br />LRKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-66361529717799161862010-02-06T17:01:49.744-06:002010-02-06T17:01:49.744-06:00So then I have a question about the stories - are ...So then I have a question about the stories - are they, or are they not, <a href="http://wutheringexpectations.blogspot.com/2009/08/same-dang-thing-over-and-over-again.html" rel="nofollow">the same dang thing over and over again</a>?<br /><br />Is Holmes allowed to change, for example? I know he ages. Anything else?Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-80335896933566238592010-02-05T13:39:35.062-06:002010-02-05T13:39:35.062-06:00The Holmes-Watson interaction is precisely what I ...The Holmes-Watson interaction is precisely what I like most. :)<br /><br />(I do feel that often, in dramatisations, Dr Watson comes off as much more bumbling and stupid than my perception of him - or else, of course, it's just that I am just as stupid and bumbling. :) Obviously, however, I don't really favour the latter theory.:))<br /><br />Going by the vague impressions I have retained of the novels, I'd say that not only are the short stories more efficient, but also more energetic. And atmospheric. And - well - fun.:) To me, at any rate - but then, I did mention, did I not? - that I love Sherlock.:)<br /><br />LRKAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com