A COLLECTION OF BOOKISH THOUGHTS

sharing my love of books with you

Month: October 2022 (Page 2 of 3)

Purlieus

October 5, 2022 /

When I first came across this word, I mentally pronounced it as “pur-lee-us” and had no idea what it could mean. Of course I had to look it up, because that’s what we should do when we don’t know what a word means. Anyway, I looked it up so you didn’t have to. And when I saw the pronunciation, I realized I have heard this word before and kind of already knew it.

Purlieus – (pronounced pur-lyoo) neighborhood, or a place frequented by a person

Usage: “Inspector, I am about to look for the gunpowder plotter,” went on Herlock Sholmes. “Not, however, in the purlieus of crime – not in the haunts of anarchists.”

Of course, if you want to know where Sholmes went to look for the gunpowder plotter, you will have to read the story “The Case of the Gunpowder Plot” in The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes.

Breakfast with Herlock Sholmes and Dr Jotson

October 4, 2022 /

I am only halfway through The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes, but you would not believe how many times Sholmes has eaten poor Jotson’s breakfast. And every time is more hilarious than the last. Here is what happened in “The Trunk Mystery”:

“My dear Jotson, we must start at once,” said Herlock Sholmes, as I came down one morning into our sitting-room at Shaker Street.

I glanced towards the breakfast-table.

“My dear Sholmes, I have not yet – “

“We have to call upon Colonel Collywobble without the delay of a moment,” explained Sholmes. “But you know my efficient methods, Jotson. In order to save time I have eaten your breakfast, as well as my own. There is, therefore, nothing to delay us. Come!”

Herlock Sholmes and Dr Jotson, “The Trunk Mystery”, The Complete Casebook of herlock Sholmes, circa 1920

New Book: Five Children and It

October 4, 2022 /

I decided that I wanted a short, easy read for the month of October, so I’m starting a new book called Five Children and It. I had never heard of this book ’til my mom gave me a little paperback copy. There is a picture of an ugly creature on the cover. He’s surrounded by children who look very curious. I will post a picture later as well as update My Library. But for now, I’m off to read my new book, Five Children and It.

Finished: The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

October 3, 2022 /

The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Four Months

939 pages

I finally finished!

This volume of forty-four short stories and four novels has been my reading companion since June when I started this blog. I feel like I’m closing a chapter of my own life. I have to find a new book friend now.

I know I’ve said this in other posts, but I am so glad I finally decided to read the Sherlock Holmes stories for myself. Emphasis on for myself. There are little nuances and fun quotes that I missed when I just listened to them. And the dramatizations (radio, television, and movie) lose the sense of realism that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle achieved by using Dr Watson as his story-teller. (I have a post about that here.) My favorite example of this realism is when Doyle-as-Watson says in The Hound of the Baskervilles that he is transcribing his letters as he wrote them to Holmes. “One page is missing,” he says. Doyle didn’t have to put that in the story, but because he did, The Hound feels that much more real. It gives credibility to the story. That small detail is omitted from dramatizations because those are concerned with the story and not the method of story-telling.

I hope I have encouraged you to read some Sherlock Holmes stories. Each one offers a great adventure and puzzling mystery. Several have astounding conclusions. Over the next few days, I’m going to give you highlights from my favorites. Stay tuned!

One last word: I am so glad there are twelve more short stories, even if they aren’t in this volume. I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to my friends, Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes, just yet.

The Peculiarity of Sherlock Holmes and the Long-Suffering of Mrs Hudson

October 3, 2022 /

“Mrs Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-suffering woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at all hours by throngs of singular and often undesirable characters, but her remarkable lodger showed an eccentricity and irregularity in his life which must have sorely tried her patience. His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.”

Dr Watson, “The Dying Detective”, The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock HOlmes, circa 1913

Jotson & Sholmes on The Appendix

October 3, 2022 /

“Indeed, at one time I suspected [Sholmes had] appendicitis, and offered to remove his appendix; of course, without charging him any fee. Sholmes declined the offer, rather hastily I thought. Perhaps seeing my disappointment, he offered to allow me to remove the appendix from any volume in his bookcase. I explained that this was quite a different matter.”

Dr Jotson, “The disappearance of Dr Jotson”, The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes, circa 1920

Syntax

October 2, 2022 /

Here is a word that I am going to have to become more familiar with if I am going to be a writer, especially if I intend to be a poet. It is vital that poets learn their language. Not just words and definitions, but the sounds, tones, and feelings that certain words express. Syntax is just a part of that.

Syntax – the arrangement of words into sentences and phrases

Usage: “Proper syntax never hurt anyone. Correct grammar and forceful, graceful syntax give the poem a vigor that it has to have.” (Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook, 1994)

October Reading

October 1, 2022 /

I was thinking today that I’d like to pick out a new book to read that seems “appropriate” for October. I can’t decide what should count as appropriate: one that makes me think of fall or Halloween or adventure or night. So, here’s my list.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

The Phantom of Pemberley, by Regina Jeffers

The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

Five Children and It, by E. Nesbit

I think these are the ones that I’ll consider for October. Of course, I have to finish Sherlock Holmes first, so I may go for one that will be an easy or quick read instead. Do you have any suggestions?

Anyway, Happy October and Happy Fall!

The Spider, by Emily Dickinson

October 1, 2022 / 
The spider as an artist
Has never been employed
Though his surpassing merit
Is freely certified

By every broom and Bridget
Thought a Christian land.
Neglected son of genius,
I take thee by the hand.

(Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, printed 2016)

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass, by Emily Dickinson

October 1, 2022 / 
A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him, - did you not?
His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb,
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn,
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun, - 
When, stooping to secure it, 
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature's people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.

(Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, printed 2016)

I believe she is talking about a snake. Don’t you?

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