The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

When I was a boy, I found an old book in a jumble sale at the local school fete.  It was a large, pre-loved thing, with its covers missing and the binding coming apart; but inside it contained a treasure trove of entertainment for a growing boy: adventure stories, puzzles, jokes and riddles, and trivia.  It even had a blueprint for making balsa gliders.  It's gone now, and who knows where?  I think it probably got jettisoned during one house move or another.  That's life!

One of the stories in the book was a Sherlock Holmes tale, 'The Case of the Speckled Band'.  Well, when I was casting about for something to read recently, I came across a book of Sherlock Holmes stories, and I was reminded of that old book of mine.  So I bought it, thinking that it would be nice to re-read 'The Speckled Band'.  Also, seeing that my only other acquaintance with Holmes was via the Basil Rathbone movies, I thought it would be good to read the primary source (at long last).

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes contains a dozen short stories.  I was surprised by the diversity of tone in these stories: some are quite serious while others, like 'The Blue Carbuncle' are light-hearted, even comical.  I was also surprised to discover that sometimes Holmes gets outwitted by the perp.  Throughout, the reader  gets an insight into the attitudes and lifestyles of Victorian England, as well as being reminded that human virtues and vices are as familiar to the modern reader as they would have been to Doyle's original audience.

I did not manage to solve a single one of the stories I had not read before.  This is due to my limitations as an armchair sleuth, not Doyle's as a storyteller.  In fact, Doyle is very good at telling short stories that engage the reader and hold their interest.  Dialogue and action come in pleasing proportions if one is prepared to accept Holmes' necessarily extended expositions of his deductive reasoning.  In these passages we gain an insight into a mind of a superior calibre.  Interestingly, this contrasts with the darker and more anti-social aspects of Holmes' character.  

I bought the Penguin Books edition that also contains The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, and I am looking forward to a lazy, wet weekend in which to read another batch of Doyle's intriguing stories

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut taught me some "truths" when I first read this book. People will forgive you for dropping napalm bombs on civilians, but they will not forgive you for having halitosis. Secondly, the secret of life (as revealed by the aliens of the Planet Tralfamidore) is " to concentrate on the happy moments [in] life, and to ignore the unhappy ones - to stare only at the pretty things as eternity [fails] to go by."

Slaughterhouse Five is ostensibly narrated by Vonnegut, who was in Dresden as a POW when it was fire-bombed by the Allies. The story is about Billy Pilgrim who was also present in Dresden.  In Billy's case, "present" is an unusual word to use because Billy has become "unstuck in time". As we follow Billy's story we find him bouncing backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards through time as he relives pivotal and innocuous episodes in his life. Few of them are happy, for Billy seems unable to capitalise on the advice of the Tralfamidorians. Even with all the time travel, the narrative keeps returning to Billy's experiences in Germany in 1944-45, culminating in the fire-bombing of Dresden and its immediate aftermath.

Narrator Vonnegut's open aim was to write an anti-war book. A friend remarks he may as well write an anti-glacier book. Vonnegut also explores the themes of free will and determinism, the nature of reality, the shortcomings of Christianity, and kindness (amongst others).

Vonnegut's humanism shines out from behind a text that is heavily laced with a hard irony. Every time someone dies in the book (which happens frequently), Vonnegut simply adds the words "So it goes". In the context, it seems to be both a description and a judgement. Slaughterhouse Five is filled (for the most part) with decent people, and yet one of its central motifs - the firebombing of Dresden - relates to perhaps one of the most indecent acts perpetrated by human beings in recorded history. Vonnegut is very much challenging us to consider the nature of evil.

Slaughterhouse Five was worth reading the first time around, and was even better the second time. "Farewell, hello. Farewell, hello."

I read the Rosetta Books ebook, which I thoroughly recommend.

At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald

Joseph Campbell once said that if you find an author whose works you like, then try to read some of the books s/he likes.  It's no secret that I love Tolkien's work, and he was fond of the fairy tales of Scottish author George MacDonald (1824 - 1905), therefore ...

MacDonald was a prolific writer and there are so many works of his from which to choose; however, the title At the Back of the North Wind really piqued my curiosity - what could such a title mean?

This book is about the story of a boy called Diamond who meets the personification of the North Wind and is taken by her to the faerie realm.  Here he acquires a different vision of life; and when he is returned to our world (well, Victorian England), Diamond becomes an ideal child: he helps his mother care for his newborn brother to whom he sings joyous nursery rhymes of his own devising, he drives his father's cab when his father becomes too ill to work, and he brings peace and good fortune to the families of his neighbours. 

I suspect this tale contains Christian allegory, but I didn't look too closely for it.  I just enjoyed the story at its face-value wherever I could.  And I did enjoy it.  There is a part of me that would like to be whisked off by the North Wind to somewhere beautiful and perilous; I would love to eavesdrop on a conversation held by saints in stained glass windows after the church is locked; I would really love to understand the speech of animals.  All these things happen to Diamond, and more.

The book was first published in 1871, and the prose style is a wee bit dated.  However, MacDonald does show a talent for poetry.  Besides some original poems, he also reworked Hey Diddle Diddle and Little Bo Peep.  They are quite good, energetic and very entertaining.  Interestingly, Tolkien also reworked Hey Diddle Diddle (and put it in the famous scene in the pub at Bree) and it appears that he 'borrowed' some elements from MacDonald's work.

Well, if you want to take your inner child out for a run in the park, then At the Back of the North Wind may be what you are looking for. 

Strange News from Another Star by Hermann Hesse

Strange News From Another Star is a  collection of eight short stories.  They take place in a world that is very familiar to us but, unlike our own, has lost none of its enchantment.  There are forces at work here above and beyond those of physics, and the tales are as much about learning to love the mysteries of nature or of one's aesthetic self as it is to uncover or conquer them.  Denver Lindley has provided us with a translation that allows the gentleness of Hesse's themes to shine through in abundance.

Hermann Hesse was a staple in my early twenties. His writings are particularly attractive to me because they explore the dichotomy between the rationalist world-view of the Enlightenment and the emotion based paradigm of the Romantics. 

Being, philosophically, an inheritor of the Enlightenment tradition, I welcome Hesse's challenge. Should we live a life ruled by reason or passion? Is there a happy medium?

Hesse's work definitely addresses the question of Truth in human affairs, while the work of other writers, such as Tolkien, addresses the question of Good and Evil. Interestingly, while Hesse was awarded a Nobel Prize for literature in 1946, Tolkien has been derided by the literati; yet neither author was reluctant to set their stories in a non-realist world. Make of that what you will.  Enjoy.

I read the Penguin Modern Classic edition published in 1985.

 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Another lasso thrown, another one reeled in.  My misspent youth included Huckleberry Finn but it did not include Tom Sawyer.  Oh, I had heard of him, knew he was a proverbial trickster; however, I never actually got around to experiencing him first hand.  That's changed now.

I don't think Mark Twain would have got away with this book today: a story about a truanting child who tells brazen-faced lies, learns how to smoke, gets caught up with thieves and murderers, and  ends up independently wealthy as a result.  Can you imagine a commissioning editor coming at that one?

Still, Tom Sawyer has been a cherished children's book for over a century.  There is a very good reason for that: Mark Twain knows how to tell a tale, and he gives us one about a naughty but resourceful and imaginative boy who "slays the dragon and gets the treasure".  Kids can read this tale and be thrilled without being in any real danger.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is an entertaining story, told by a personable narrator. Tom himself is a memorable and lovable rogue.  The action rolls along with a few brief pauses so the reader can catch breath before it takes off again.  And, of course, the modern reader and can compare and contrast the lifestyles and attitudes of the characters with their own.

I bought the Penguin edition which contains an informative introductory essay.