Sherlock in School

As I finished reading A Study in Scarlet, a vague and distant recollection hit me about having read a bit of Doyle’s fine detective when I was in school.

Intrigued as I was, I went through the titles of his works and found the one I was looking for! 

The Speckled Band

I found an apt description about the story on this post A summary and analysis of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Speckled Band

When I first read the story, I remember that for most part I kept thinking the gypsies we’re somehow in the act. Only towards the end is the truth revealed.

As Sherlock and Watson waited in the middle of the night, observing intently and looking for any deviation from the ordinary,

I found a parallel in the British TV Series Sherlock when they wait for the abominable bride at Carmichael house.

How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.

When you see Martin Freeman acting the part of a nervous Watson, one could very well believe this excerpt from The Speckled Band be an explanation of how he was to express himself and his fright as the two waited! 

Quoting Sherlock

The victims of persecution had now turned persecutors on their own account, and persecutors of the most terrible description.

Hence every man feared his neighbour, and none spoke of the things which were nearest his heart.

I get in the dumps at times, and don’t open my mouth for days on end. You must not think I am sulky when I do that. Just let me alone, and I’ll soon be right.

Atonement

I am currently reading Atonement again. To tell the truth, I came across the movie earlier than I read the book. The movie recommended the book to me. It is a brilliantly made movie, though feels to drag for a while too, specially the later half. But no movie could ever do justice to a book. A movie is just one perspective to view a book. When we read it, we all imagine it to be unique. Our own interpretations of the same scene are entirely different.
The movie is a treat to the eyes and your mind too. There is so much to deduce and the timeline of the plot starts playing inside your mind time and again as soon as you realise there is a play on the interpretation of memories. You want to remember as much as you can.

I am reading the book again because although there is nothing much to miss, I always stumble across a new detail that I hadn’t paid any attention to, earlier.
Ian McEwan is brilliant with the imagery. The scenes are so well illuminated that you see them unfolding right before your eyes. The movement back and forth in time presents a misguided version of the actual events as seen through the eyes of 13 year old Briony.
There is meticulous detailing of appearances and state of mind as well.
The best parts are when the author really delves deep into the stream of thoughts playing inside the character’s mind. A point in case is when Briony is inspecting her fingers and speculating movement:

A

nd when she did crook it finally, the action seemed to start in the finger itself, not in some part of her mind. When did it know to move, when did she know to move it? There was no catching herself out. It was either- or. There was no stitching, no seam and yet she knew that behind the smooth continuous fabric was the real self

Quote for today

Hope keeps us alive even when survival is the most distant possibility.

Tithonus

The Scarlet Letter

Here, I shall be sharing excerpts from the text of the books I’d be currently reading. These excerpts will be shared when they interest me, give me an insight into the writer’s mind or a peek into the contemporary society
Basically, these extracts shall have something to say.

Here goes the first one. I just began Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter.

“The room itself is cobwebbed, and dingy with old paint; its floor is strewn with grey sand, in a fashion that has elsewhere fallen into long disuse; and it is easy to conclude, from the general slovenliness of the place, that this is a sanctuary into which womankind, with her tools of magic, the broom and mop, has very infrequent access. “

Quote

The structures you build shall be dismantled in your own lifetime and by the very people you count on as mouthpieces of your beliefs.