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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.8
EAN num: 9780140437713
ISBN number: 0140437711
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 576
Printing Date: December 31, 2001
Publishing house: Penguin Classics
Sale Popularity Level: 785390
Studio: Penguin Classics
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
From his rooms in Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes's brooding figure emerges into the foggy streets of Victorian London to grapple with the forces of treachery, intrigue, and evil.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a captivating set of over 20 stories of the 56 Sherlock Holmes stories ever written, described from the point of view of Watson, Sherlock Holmes's assistant, living up, if not surpassing, the expectations set by the age-old classic. Each story has a captivating plot, yet all different enough that it leaves you reading and re-reading key parts, trying to figure it out before Sherlock Holmes reveals the answer. I admit, I am yet to reliably put the clues together. As I have found, a large age group enjoys this book, making it a pleasure to share with family. Inside the story, there are plots filled with gentlemen, businesspeople, servants, witnesses, beggars, masked trespassers, and more, that unusually for a mystery book, all have the same likelihood of possibly having a hand in the crime. With stories that show weakness in character, like my personal favorite, (in which it turns out that the people who bring Sherlock there happen to be the murderers themselves!) brings a realistic image of the people involved, calling out to the reader, as if to say, "yes, you are here. This is what has been happening," and, from the moment you begin reading, put you in their shoes.
Occasionally, the plot is not truly revealed, such as in A Scandal in Bohemia, when the suspect escapes before questioning can occur, and the story ends in a question, as to whether or not the villainess escaped permanently, or if her story has just begun. Best set for the advanced reader, I would not classify it as a "light read", and is best read in small pieces, thanks to not only the magnitude of the book, but by the nature of a late 1800's mystery novel. Thanks to wikipedia, I have heard that in 1964, the Sherlock Holmes books were, selling second best in the world, second only to the bible. Sherlock Holmes is one of the most influential mysteries of the 1900's, and is, over-all, a true pleasure, and something I feel everyone should read at some point in their lives.
Rated by buyers -
The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is a captivating set of over 20 stories of the 56 Sherlock Holmes stories ever written, described from the point of view of Watson, Sherlock Holmes's assistant, living up, if not surpassing, the expectations set by the age-old classic. Each story has a captivating plot, yet all different enough that it leaves you reading and re-reading key parts, trying to figure it out before Sherlock Holmes reveals the answer. I admit, I am yet to reliably put the clues together. As I have found, a large age group enjoys this book, making it a pleasure to share with family. Inside the story, there are plots filled with gentlemen, businesspeople, servants, witnesses, beggars, masked trespassers, and more, that unusually for a mystery book, all have the same likelihood of possibly having a hand in the crime. With stories that show weakness in character, like my personal favorite, (in which it turns out that the people who bring Sherlock there happen to be the murderers themselves!) brings a realistic image of the people involved, calling out to the reader, as if to say, "yes, you are here. This is what has been happening," and, from the moment you begin reading, put you in their shoes.
Occasionally, the plot is not truly revealed, such as in A Scandal in Bohemia, when the suspect escapes before questioning can occur, and the story ends in a question, as to whether or not the villainess escaped permanently, or if her story has just begun. Best set for the advanced reader, I would not classify it as a "light read", and is best read in small pieces, thanks to not only the magnitude of the book, but by the nature of a late 1800's mystery novel. Thanks to wikipedia, I have heard that in 1964, the Sherlock Holmes books were, selling second best in the world, second only to the bible. Sherlock Holmes is one of the most influential mysteries of the 1900's, and is, over-all, a true pleasure, and something I feel everyone should read at some point in their lives.
Rated by buyers 
-
I like most of the stories in this book (a merger of 2 seperate anthologies) but some are quite bad. Still tho, I like Holmes and he gets plenty of room here to show off his skills.
These stories are presented in chrological order of their publication in 'Strand' magazine and follow immediatly after 'A Study in Scarlet' and 'The Sign of Four'. Tho their timelines bounce around all over the place and it's hard to keep track.
My fave stories would be 'The Speckled Band' or 'The Engineer's Thumb'. Both of which are from 'Adventures'. The only story I really enjoyed from 'Memoirs' is 'The Silver Blaze'. Many of them seem to be rehashes of his older plots.
Tho highly regarded in the literary community I find Conan-Doyles writing style to be confusing and inappropriate. As most of you know the stories are told from the point of view of Watson, Holmes' sidekick. But his narration of the events takes a backseat to very, very lengthy dialogues (which are mostly overwritten monologues). The narrative shifts back and forth and all over the place. It's not uncommon to see '''" before a typical line of speech. If you get lost, don't worry...I did too. The story 'The Musgrave Ritual' especially is badly told, plain and simple.
Plus Watson's function in most of this hardly ever reaches out of 'The Casual Observer'. All he does is witness Holmes' crime-solving techniques. Which usually only last a couple of pages as most of each story (typical length 21 pages) devotes about 13 pages to set-up. Hardly well balanced is it?
The last story 'The Final Problem' isn't even a mystery at all and just seems like a badly thought-out excuse for Conan-Doyle to kill of a character he felt totally indifferent about. Even tho the public loved Holmes. Why Moriarty is seen as a massive villain is beyond me because he hardly does anything at all.
The overall quality of the short stories is average. The full novels is where Holmes and Watson REALLY have something to other than fool around in low-level stories. You'll definitely be interested in some of the stories in this certain edition, but they lack meaning or purpose.
This particular edition comes with extensive notes at the back with numbers for each story to help clear up any confusion. Some of them are helpful for when you are reading and the rest give away plot points and ruin some of the developements.
As I am a Holmes completist I stuck it out and finished every one of these stories. If you are too then I'd recommend this Penguin edition over the others. They seem to always print the best copies of Holmes.
Rated by buyers -
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES are here collected into a single volume in this Penguin edition. Two compediums of short stories published after the detective's introduction in the novels A STUDY IN SCARLET and THE SIGN OF FOUR, these are concise bits that are just as good a very first exposure to Holmes as the novels.
Because the cases of Sherlock Holmes, dutifully chronicled by his companion Dr. Watson, may not appeal to everyone, I won't focus here on reviewing the stories themselves, as it is the features of this particular edition that are of note.
Iain Pears' introduction is quite enlightening, showing the tendency of Arthur Conan Doyle to make the troubles in Holmes' stories come from England's colonies, which is strange considering Conan Doyle's support of equality and respect for all peoples. Pears' also discusses the change in the style of the Holmes stories, from the rational youth of Conan Doyle to the latter days of his life when he was interested in spiritualism and mysticism.
There are footnotes to each story, compiled by Ed Glinert. An expert on literature set in London, Glinert explains the geographical settings of the Holmes stories, and defines anachronistic terms that are no longer use. He also points out the mistakes Arthur Conan Doyle frequently made in his stories, which are often quite amusing (Watson's wife calling him by the wrong name, contradicting timelines, etc).
Because of the illuminating introduction and the helpful footnotes, I'd recommend over any others this edition of THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
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