March Reading …

 

I had expected this month to be slow one for reading and it indeed was … I read much much less as compared to Feb …

 

1. Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

A short story where Sherlock deduces and explains why he does not believe that a person who was caught red handed is a thief. He also examines the clues and deduces the exact chain of events and goes ahead and recovers the stolen part of an item. The guilty party escapes and the innocent released from prison.

 

2. Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Copper Beeches by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes deduces everything (the plot, the motive etc) but there isn't much to do. There wasn't much to be done and there wasn't even any direct explanation of the deductions. No crime committed and no one punished by law.

 

With this story, I completed "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (12 stories published during 1891–1892 in The Strand)".

 

3. The Three Investigators & the Mystery of the Moaning Cave by Robert Arthur

This one was also like teenage Indiana Jones kind. A cave, moaning sound from cave, ghost stories, etc. all put together in a single capsule. It even had a situation where the kids get trapped in a cave which practically no one knows about. A very interesting one

 

4. The Three Investigators & the Mystery of the Talking Skull by Robert Arthur

I very distinctly remember reading this one during my childhood. I actually remembered some of the chain of events. Although I did remember what it was all about, I still could not remember how the skull talked J which made the reading enjoyable since I kept on wondering how the skull talked (as if I was reading for the first time)

 

5. Sherlock Holmes: Silver Blaze by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I started the next series of Sherlock Holmes stories with this one. This was "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (12 more stories published during 1892–1893 in The Strand as further episodes of the Adventures)". Interestingly, this series ended with the 'death' of Sherlock Holmes.

The first story of this block was about a stolen horse and a murdered jockey/trainer. Sherlock not only recovers the horse but also ascertains the murder of the jockey/trainer. And he does all this by examination of footprints (& hoof prints) …

 

6. Sherlock Holmes: The Yellow Face by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This was one story where Sherlock is completely wrong in his deductions and his conclusions are far from the truth. The story climaxes in a situation which he least expected. This was yet another story where there was no real crime committed and it had a 'happy ending'. In fact, Sherlock got no role to play in it at all and he was soooo wrong in his deductions that he actually said something remarkable to Watson.

"Watson," said he, "if it should ever strike you that I am getting a little over-confident in my powers, or giving less pains to a case than it deserves, kindly whisper 'Norbury' in my ear, and I shall be infinitely obliged to you."

 

Thats it .. only 6 !!

 

Dunno how, but I listed "Trouble in Gangtok by Satyajit Ray" one as the last entry in my February reading. Maybe I had thought of reading it and started reading but never moved beyond the first page. That's how it snuck into the list but never got read eventually. Sadly, I could not read it this month also. So no Feluda on my February Reading list

 

Some more reading which was started but not completed within the confines of the month …

 

Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

I started reading this one to break the monotony of crime and detective stuff. It was a slow read since I was reading only 2-3 pages during the 10 minute drive from my home to the office in office transport. I haven't completed this one yet.

 

Alice in Wonderland

I decided some time ago that while I read mystery and thrillers, I would also like to read the classics that we used to read in childhood. Alice in Wonderland is the first one I picked up. I also saw the movie last year and felt like reading the simple story all over again. It was fun. I started this and read this while having lunch at office every day. This again was not completed since I was reading only a few pages every day. Strangely I even felt bit bored reading this. Was it too childish for me??

 

Series Completion Score (as of 31^st March 2011):  

Three Investigators     11 out of 35

Feluda                         04 out of 35

Sherlock Holmes         16 out of 56

Total                           31 out of 126