sharing my love of books with you
I came across this fun word in “The Second Stain”, one of The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I call it a fun word not only because of its meaning, but also because it just sounded neat in my head when I read it.
Farcical – of, relating to, or resembling farce; ludicrous; laughably inept
Usage: “This is a farcical waste of time, but still, if nothing else will satisfy you, it shall be done.”
Today I started to listen to The Scarlet Pimpernel. Again. And I couldn’t wait to tell you about it, because it’s one of my favorite stories! Although I would usually tell you that I prefer a nice hardback book, there are times when I must listen to a book instead. And the next best thing to a hardback is a well-recorded audio.
I was first introduced to The Scarlet Pimpernel when my childhood friend showed me the 1982 movie. I fell in love with it. The actors, the storyline, everything about it. We watched it three times that day, and I have watched it at least 100 times since. Did I say it’s one of my favorites?
Then I found out that the movie was based on a book, so of course the first time I came across that book, I bought it. If you ever get the chance, read it, listen to it, and watch the movie. I think you will enjoy it too.
Now for the story: The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in the middle of the French Revolution, when the French commoners were killing French aristocrats. Their weapon of choice was Madame la Guillotine. An Englishman, known only as “The Scarlet Pimpernel” begins to rescue the imprisoned aristocrats. Using elaborate disguises and well-planned schemes, he and his band of men smuggle the former nobles out of Paris and away from death. Who is this man? Can the French Republic capture him before he steals away any more “aristos”?
The story is told from the view of Lady Marguerite Blakeney. Once the “Queen of Intelligent Society” in Paris, the Lady finds herself in a loveless marriage to a lazy, “foppish” English gentleman. One day, she is approached by a representative of the French Republic, a former friend named Chauvelin. He tasks her with finding out who this Scarlet Pimpernel is. He threatens to turn her brother over as a spy if she will not help him. Though she is angered and initially refuses, she eventually agrees, for she fears her brother is the only soul left on earth who loves her.
Lady Blakeney learns too late that when she betrays the Scarlet Pimpernel, she also betrays everything she ever loved. She faces great danger when she tries to right her wrong. She must hide in the shadows, tread barefoot through the night forest, and risk being caught by those who would do her harm before she can find the forgiveness and undying love she always craved.
The first copy I bought of The Scarlet Pimpernel was a Penguin Press paperback that I may still have in my library (if I haven’t given it away). But on one of my trips to St Augustine, I found a beautiful collector’s edition at the used bookstore, Second Read Books. It has a box cover and several glossy pictures. It was printed in 1997 by The Folio Society. When I don’t have time to sit and read, I will listen to the audiobook on Spotify or YouTube. It is a LibriVox recording performed by Karen Savage, who does a wonderful job.
I hope that you will decide to pick up a copy for yourself. I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy The Scarlet Pimpernel.
I stepped from plank to plank So slow and cautiously; The stars about my head I felt, About my feet the sea. I knew not but the next Would be my final inch, - This gave me that precarious gait Some call experience. (from Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson, printed 2016)
Here is a word from one of The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes called “The Second Stain”. It must mean carpet based on the context in which it is used, but I still looked it up just to be sure.
Drugget – a course, durable cloth used chiefly as a floor covering
Usage: “The carpet was a small, square drugget in the center of the room.”
This is a word I had never heard before I read it in “The Abbey Grange” in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. It was very important to me to understand what it meant because it was vital to the solving of this baffling case.
Beeswing – a film of shining scales of tartar formed in port and some other wines after long keeping
Usage: “The three glasses were grouped together, all of them tinged with wine, and one of them containing some dregs of beeswing.
Sholmes nodded.
“I have seen your works, Mr Smudgett. If you refer to them as pictures, I should say you are undoubtedly the victim of hallucination.”
“You have seen them? Have you ever seen, Mr Sholmes, in any of my paintings anything that resembles anything in the earth, or the sky, or the waters under the earth?”
“Never!”
“Exactly!” Mr Smudgett wiped his heated brow. “It is to that, Mr Sholmes, that I owe my reputation. You are aware, of course, that I stand at the top of the tree – that I am universally acknowledged to be the chief of the Later-Super-Post-Impressionist School.”
“The Mystery of the Studio”, The Complete Casebook of Herlock Sholmes, Charles Hamilton, circa 1920
This is a word that I have not come across often, so I had to look it up to make sure I understood its full meaning. I found it this time in “The Abbey Grange” in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Assiduously – with great care and perserverance
Usage: The lady had a large, plum colored swelling over one eye “which her maid, a tall, austere woman, was bathing assiduously with vinegar and water.”
Well, I finished the third series of Holmes short stories this week. It is called The Return of Sherlock Holmes because it is in these stories that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle raised his dead detective back to life. You may recall that for almost ten years, readers believed that Holmes and his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, had fallen over a cliff to their deaths.
Holmes returns in the adventure of “The Empty House”, another one of my favorite stories. Even Watson could not see through Holmes’ disguise as an elderly bibliophile.
The stories included in this set are:
Each of these stories focuses on how Sherlock Holmes uses his great powers of deduction and observation to solve mysteries. Some of the cases involve murder, others involve blackmail, robbery, and personal secrets that could lead to ruin. “The Second Stain” also deals with national politics and the theft of a document that could cause war in Europe.
I have thoroughly enjoyed each story, but my two favorites of these are “The Empty House” and “The Six Napoleons”. That may also be due to the radio dramatizations of these two stories that I have previously enjoyed. “The Six Napoleons” certainly has the reader guessing right ’til the end who the thief is and why he is shattering busts of Napoleon.
I am sure I have stated this before, but if you have not yet read any Sherlock Holmes stories for yourself, I encourage you to do so. It is different to read these than to listen to them being read or dramatized. They are so much fun!
“You live in a different world to me, Mr Overton, a sweeter and healthier one. My ramifications stretch out into many sections of society, but never, I am happy to say, into amateur sport, which is the best and soundest thing in England.”
“The Missing Three-Quarter”, The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, circa 1904
Here is a word that I see quite often in British writings, but as an American, I am not familiar with it. I mean, I know what a rock is, but what does a British author mean when he uses the term “stone” for weight. I finally looked it up because I found it in “The Missing Three-Quarter” in The Greatest Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Stone – British unit of weight for dry products, generally equivalent to 14 pounds, though it varied from 4-32 pounds for various items over time
Usage: Mr Cyril Overton, sixteen stone of solid bone and muscle, who spanned our doorway with his broad shoulders. (Roughly, about 224 pounds.)
(I believe the sport referenced is soccer, as later in the story “football” is mentioned.)
Hi! I'm Cadie. Welcome to my Collection of Bookish Thoughts where I will share with you everything I love about books.
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