Medium – Audiobook
About the Book – Stephen Fry reads the Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. From the novel ‘The Study in Scarlet’ to the final (canonical) Holmes tale ‘His Last Bow’, the adventures of the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and colleague Dr Watson are enduringly popular. The stories cover all sorts of issues and topics, from the dangers of narcotics, to domestic violence, to fraud and murder, and in some ways are as relevant today as they were 100 years ago.
My thoughts – One thing that has probably become clear about me through the reading of this blog is that I absolutely adore the tales of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. I have watched most of the movies (not the horrible American comedy one!), seen stage plays and read pastiches. My love for the tales has even lead to my own foray into fanfiction! For me, the tales of Holmes and Watson are exciting mystery tales with camaraderie and true friendship thrown in. Despite the murder and mayhem, I often find myself immersing myself in the Sherlockian world when I am anxious, a bit depressed, or just want to escape to a world where the good always wins, the bad (generally) get their comeuppance and we return, at the end of every tale to the fire of 221B Baker Street.
Despite my love of the stories, I had actually never read the entire collection until I listened to the audiobook. It is 70(!) hours long and is an absolute labour of love from Stephen Fry. Every character has their own voice, and Holmes and Watson are exactly how I imagine them – Holmes a little stiff, but unbending when he needs to, Watson kind and a bit bluff, but without sounding stupid. The written stories are very hard-going, so I heartily recommend the audiobook as an alternative to slogging through them. I will give a warning – the stories are of their time. There are some racial slurs which we would not tolerate today (for extremely good reason).
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