A Study in Scarlet || Arthur Conan Doyle

In December when I found out that A Study in Scarlet was to be my Classics Club Spin book, I was a little disappointed. I'm over my Sherlock Holmes phase and although I still love the stories, I feel less of a need to read them all. Regardless of my apathy towards the book I nevertheless sat down to read it with some interest.

A Study in Scarlet is the first Sherlock Holmes story, originally published in 1887. Although they're all very much standalone stories (I think so, anyway), this novel really sets the scene and introduces key characters. I particularly liked finding out how Dr Watson and Holmes actually ending up lodging together in the first place. I've read that there a some inconsistencies between this novel and the rest of the canon - for example, Dr Watson's war wound moves from his shoulder to his leg - but these do not feel obvious and they're generally pretty trifling.

I do wish I'd started with this novel before delving into the Holmes catalogue, It feels like a great place to start and get to know the characters and their quirks. Plus I think I would have recognised and appreciated the evolution of Holmes and his relationship with Dr Watson a little more if I'd started from the beginning.

I'm a big fan of the Robert Downey Jnr movies and the BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch, and I realised whilst reading this that my impressions of Holmes and the image of him in my mind has been very much influenced by these adaptations. Mostly I just see Benedict Cumberbatch and his particular Sherlock. I don't see that as a bad thing, but I am also not sure whether this impacted on my enjoyment of the book as I almost pre-empted his actions and was disappointed if he did something different.

Generally the plot was pretty interested and kept me hooked. The oddly tangential middle section cuts the story in two and almost feels like two stories have been pinned together. Although this is wrapped up quite neatly at the end, it was quite strange to be reading about Victorian London and then suddenly zipping over to Utah and the Mormon community.

As with all Holmes stories, this was a quick read and I found myself racing through in my excitement to find out whodunit. To me, Holmes himself is moving at a hundred miles an hour (mentally, if not always physically) so it feels apt to read it quickly.

Ultimately I'm glad the spin finally put this book in my hands. There's still a few stories that I've not read, but I'm sure my flirtation with Sherlock is now over. Not because of this book or any others, but purely because my tastes have changed. It was lovely to have a final foray into his world and it's one I definitely enjoyed.

Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan? Did you finish your Classics Club Spin book?

In Cold Blood || Truman Capote

'But then, in the earliest hours of that morning in November, a Sunday morning, certain foreign sounds impinged on the normal nightly Holcomb noises - on the keening hysteria of the coyotes, the dry scrape of scuttling tumbleweed, the racing, receding wail of locomotive whistles. At the time not a soul in sleeping Holcomb heard them - four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives.'

Earlier last week I discovered that 10th January 2016 marks fifty years since the publication of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. As this book had been languishing on my shelves for the better part of a decade (since I'd watched the film Capote and decided I need to know more), I used this anniversary as the perfect nudge to finally pick it up. I sure am glad I did.

In Cold Blood is part journalism, part novel and writing it is said to have taken an incredible toll on Capote to the point that he never published another book again. I can truly see how that happened and I would say that this is a difficult, if phenomenally rewarding, book to read. I found myself gripped from start to finish and in a state of near anxiety from the minute the murders are committed to the capture of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Capote's writing style made this possible as he breathes such life into each individual and constantly reminds us that they were real and these events actually happened.

I won't say it was a comfortable read because it wasn't. Capote dives so deeply into the lives of all involved  - the Clutters, the killers, the police and FBI agents, and even the neighbours and friends - that it almost breaks down the barrier of the page. This has a really powerful effect and illustrates just how immersive non-fiction can be.

Initially I struggled to keep up a little with the changes in narrative perspective and the way the book moves along and around the timeline of the case. Once I'd got a handle on who's who and what's what however, I found myself thoroughly sinking into the case.

I'm a big fan of shows like CSI and Criminal Minds and the Serial podcast and I found myself contemplating my enjoyment of such shows whilst I read In Cold Blood. There is something that draws us to crime, whether true or otherwise, that I can't quite understand. I think perhaps it's a need to know and understand humanity and why we do the things we do. Certainly with In Cold Blood part of what kept me turning the pages was a need to understand why Perry and Dick would commit such a horrible, senseless deed. As I closed the book I realised that I'm still at a loss, although the psych evaluations included in the narration were fascinating and added a lot to the case. On further consideration I wonder if it's important that I cannot understand why they did it - perhaps that's what separates them from me. If that's the case, then there is a very thin line between us and that in itself is terrifying.

Regardless of my momentary tangent into philosophical thought, I think In Cold Blood is a thought provoking and engrossing book. Capote's writing is just perfect and his handling of such a brutal crime is sensitive and deft. I would certainly recommend it.

In three words: brutal, dark, enthralling

Have you read In Cold Blood?

Classics Club Reboot

A couple of years ago I joined the Classics Club and created my list of fifty classics to read before 2017. The list was later extended to fit in some new purchases and ended up totaling sixty-six books to read before 2017. To date I've read a grand total of twenty-eight - just under half. Having read those in the first couple of years I then hit a bit of a wall and haven't ticked a single book off this year. Shocking, I know.

I think part of my reticence to tackle the remaining books on the list is caused by a general feeling of disinterest. I no longer find that the list inspires me to read more, rather it feels like a bit of a chore. I'm well aware that this is down to my choices of what to include on it, by which I mean all the books I feel I ought to read. 

I've become a lot more floaty (yes, that's a technical term) with my reading and no longer feel tied to 'hype' books or the one's everyone 'should' read; nor, for that matter, do I take much stock in 'best ever' lists (though I do love to read them). For that reason the decision to re-create my Classics Club list was not a hard one, even if it has taken me three paragraphs to explain it. 

To avoid boring you all with my loquacious ways any longer, I'd like to introduce you to my new Classics Club list of fifty novels to read before 2020. Drumroll please... 

1. Nightwood by Djuana Barnes
2. The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen
3. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
4. Testament of Friendship by Vera Brittain
5. Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain
6. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
7. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
8. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
9. Poor Miss Finch by Wilkie Collins
10. Consequences by E. M. Delafield
11. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
12. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevesky
13. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevesky
14. Some Do Not (Parades End 1) by Ford Madox Ford
15. No More Parades (Parades End 2) by Ford Madox Ford
16. A Man Could Stand Up (Parades End 3) by Ford Madox Ford
17. Last Post (Parades End 4) by Ford Madox Ford
18. Still Missing Beth Gutcheon
19. The Crowded Street by Winifred Holtby
20. The Land of Green Ginger by Winifred Holtby
21. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
22. Joanna Godden by Sheila Kaye-Smith
23. The World My Wilderness by Rose Macaulay
24. The Playroom by Olivia Manning
25. Razor's Edge by W Somerset Maugham
26. Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
27. The Happy Tree by Rosalind Murray
28. The Mystery of Mrs Blencarrow by Margaret Oliphant
29. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
30. Good Evening, Mrs Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes
31. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
32. Daughters of the House by Michele Roberts
33. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville West
34. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
35. The Blank Wall by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
36. Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
37. The Last Man by Mary Shelley
38. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
39. The Sleeping Beauty by Elizabeth Taylor
40. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy
41. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
42. Down Among the Women by Fay Weldon
43. The Time Machine by HG Wells
44. The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
45. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
46. Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf
47. The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf
48. The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf
49. The Post Office Girl by Stefan Zweig
50. Letter from an Unknown Woman and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig

Suffice it to say, I'm VERY excited to read through this list.

Have you updated your Classics Club list recently?