[ SECRET POST #2003 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2003 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 040 secrets from Secret Submission Post #286.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

It's perfectly all right to prefer the version(s) you prefer. I prefer The Once and Future King over Le Morte d'Arthur, and my favorite Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the tv serial.

But, what did you start with, A Study in Scarlet? If you're still interested in giving the originals a try, try starting with one of the short stories. I recommend The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.

[deadtree]

A Study in Scarlet with its bizarre interlude about Mormonism is really a terrible place to start the ACD canon. Seconding your rec.

[kadira]

Heh! I introduced my son to the stories with the new BBC releases/covers and the first one was STUD. At some point he called me at work and asked me if he maybe got a faulty print, because instead of Holmes and Watson there was suddenly that weird desert tale :D

He still finished it, moved on to the short stories and now loves the canon as much as any of the adaptations, but that was very amusing!

[(Anonymous)]

I read the canon in order, but that flashback was like hitting a wall. I actually skipped over all but the first few pages of the flashback when I first read the book and then came back to it later after I'd finished the rest of the canon. I'm not sure I would have moved on to the rest of the stories if I'd tried to suffer through it.

(The flashback in The Valley of Fear is even worse, in my opinion. So glad that's not the first story.)

[(Anonymous)]

Pfft, Le Morte d'Arthur. If you really want original Arthurian canon, you're looking at Monmouth and/or the Welsh tales. >.>

In all seriousness, though, enjoy what you enjoy, OP. Older tellings of stories are not automatically better or more worthy.

[(Anonymous)]

I started with The Hound of the Baskervilles and was pretty much immediately put off (and bored by)

"I think this!"
"Go on..."
"And this!"
"Well done!"
And that!"
"Bravo, thank you!"
"So, I'm right?!"
"No, no, you're wrong wrong wrong, but your wrongness helps me! Blather Blather deduction deduction deduction..."

[meadowphoenix]

I personally think that is the worse one to start with. I second all the shorter cases rec.

[natural_blue_26.livejournal.com]

Well, at least that book resulted in an adorable Wishbone episode. ;)

[fenm]

Agreed. I love the short stories, but the novels... not so much.

[(Anonymous)]

MTE. I love A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four but they can make a very bad first impression.

[(Anonymous)]

STUD definitely requires stamina, and background knowledge of Canon before attempting; I would recommend hitting up used bookstores and/or your local library, for the (heavily-edited but w/e) childrens' edition of, say, Hound of the Baskervilles (which has yet to be adapted for the screen successfully) or Sign of the Four, The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Musgrave Ritual, those are all good entry points.

A lot of people start with A Study in Scarlet, because it's at the chronological "beginning" but that novel is usually only found in one of those "official" annotated versions with a bazillion notes and whose editors play "The Game" a touch too enthusiastically...which is addictive as crack, once you get into the Canon, but starting out, it can be way too overwhelming.

Seriously, OP; I read the kiddie version of Hound when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, and I haven't looked back since. If you don't want to give any of our suggestions a shot and just want to watch the BBC version, more power to you, anyway!