May 1, 2012

Reading list no.1 : Sherlock Holmes

What I have been up to: I am currently reading a couple of books among which, the 3rd volume of short stories with Sherlock Holmes, called His Last Bow.

When I first started this, I wondered what would be the best order to read the stories. Should I keep to the inner chronological order, like I have for Chronicles of Narnia, or should I read them in the order they were published?

When I saw that I was dealing with 60 titles, which included mostly short stories, and that no two critics could agree on the correct inner chronology, I said, the hell with it, I’ll read as any other contemporary of Doyle would have read them – As they came. There are four novels and five collections of short stories, so I decided to keep to the publishing order, which is the following:

1. A Study in Scarlet, Novel

2. The Sign of the Four, Novel

3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Collection (ASH)

¸ A Scandal in Bohemia
¸ The Red-headed League
¸ A Case of Identity
¸ The Bascombe Valley Mystery
¸ The Five Orange Pips
¸ The Man with the Twisted Lip
¸ The Blue Carbuncle
¸ The Speckled Band
¸ The Engineer’s Thumb
¸ The Noble Bachelor
¸ The Beryl Coronet
¸ The Copper Beeches

4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Collection (MOSH)

¸ The Silver Blaze
¸ The Yellow Face
¸ The Stock Broker’s Clerk
¸ The Gloria Scott
¸ The Musgrave Ritual
¸ Reigate Squares
¸ The Crooked Man
¸ The Resident Patient
¸ The Greek Interpreter
¸ The Naval Treaty
¸ The Final Problem

5. The Hound of Baskerville, Novel

6. The Return of Sherlock Holmes, Collection (RSH)

¸ The Empty House
¸ The Norwood Builder
¸ The Dancing Men
¸ The Solitary Cyclist
¸ The Priory School
¸ Black Peter
¸ Charles Augustus
¸ The Six Napoleons
¸ The Three Students
¸ The Golden Pince Nez
¸ The Missing Three Quarters
¸ Abbey Grange
¸ The Second Stain

7. The Valley of Fear, Novel

8. His Last Bow, Collection (HLB)

¸ Wisteria Lodge
¸ The Cardboard Box
¸ Red Circle
¸ The Bruce-Partington Plans
¸ The Dying Detective
¸ Lady Frances Carfax
¸ The Devil’s Foot
¸ His Last Bow

9. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes, Collection (CBSH)

¸ The Illustrios Client
¸ The Blanched soldier
¸ The Mazarin Stone
¸ The Three Gables
¸ The Sussex Vampire
¸ The Three Garridebs
¸ Thor Bridge
¸ The Creeping Man
¸ The Lion’s Mane
¸ The Veiled Lodger
¸ The Shoscombe Old Palace
¸ The Retired Colourman

Before anyone jumps out, I KNOW, this is not exactly the order the short stories were published. Most of them were published in magazines at random times. This is the order in which the volumes of short stories and the novels appeared, and I am sticking to this.

If you want the actual Sherlock Holmes stories publishing order click on the link.

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