A Study in Scarlet

JJJJ

My View:   Why do you think Sherlock Holmes is so famous? It's not his catchphrase, "Elementary, my dear Watson" (probably because he never actually says that), it's not his crazed attitude issues, woefully underdeveloped social skills, or poor role modeling. He's famous because his books are interesting reads, full of emotion, packed with adventure, and have a perfectly balanced writing style. They lead you into the end result of a mystery but they never give away too much. It is creative and innovative that Watson's journal tells the story from the time that Holmes gets involved until he catches the criminal, although the long-winded criminal confession after arrest is nothing groundbreaking... yet it feels really fresh. Holmes's mind is way above the level of a typical person, and this book shows you Watson's fairly average account of this new housemate's eccentricities. At the end of this book I was very happy I had gotten the full set of Holmes stories as I couldn't wait to read another adventure with Holmes's amazing wit and mind.

Wikipedia Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Study_in_Scarlet

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Study-Scarlet-Classic-Crime/dp/0140057072

General Information:

Method of Reading:	iPod Touch Kindle app and Kindle (in the Sherlock Holmes Collection), 144 pages in paperback
Dates of Reading:	December 28, 2009-January 1, 2010
Author:	Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Publication Year:	1887
Recommended To:	Mystery fans any age above 12. I think it is particularly appropriate (vocabulary, logic level, etc.) for teens about my age, 15 or 16. Girls and boys will both like these thrillers. My sibs both read one of them in 7th grade for school. I think it really turned them off to the series. Maybe it's only good if you pick it up and choose to read it for yourself. But then again, I think reading for school by assignment kills most amazing literature. You have to have a passion for reading and allow yourself to feel the thrill of the stories in order to get anything out of any good book.
Quotes:
Movie?	There are definitely Sherlock Holmes movies (I saw the newest starring Robert Downey Jr., which is what made me want to read the books), but I don't know if there are any which actually play out the exact cases written by Doyle. I'm also a ginormous BBC Sherlock nerd these days.

Always,
Your Bibliomaniac

Bibliographic info:

Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Electronic.