A Study in Scarlet
by Arthur Conan Doyle
Format: select
When I read, I ask a LOT of questions. Here’s some stuff I searched or wondered about while reading A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
From my review:
I loved the writing in A Study in Scarlet. The dialogue was catchy and natural. I found the book surprisingly easy to read especially considering how old it is. The thing that really stands out in this book and the thing that has made it last for so long are the characters. Sherlock is very cheerful, eccentric, sarcastic, loves to be flattered, and is bluntly honest. And of course the thing that makes his character so fun to watch on TV in the modern adaptation – his cocky genius. I couldn’t hate this guy if I tried. I loved seeing these two iconic characters meet (Sherlock and Watson) to set the stage for the rest of the Sherlock Holmes series …. Read more
Place
Salt Flats
In the central portion of the great North American Continent there lies an arid and repulsive desert …
There are swift-flowing rivers which dash through jagged cañons; and there are enormous plains, which in winter are white with snow, and in summer are gray with the saline alkali dust. They all preserve, however, the common characteristics of barrenness, inhospitality, and misery.
– Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (p. 63)
Since I live here, and I have all my life, he describes the Salt Flats perfectly. But the book made me laugh because the whole state of Utah does not look like this as the book seemed to imply. I’ve been to the Salt Flats and they are pretty cool.
Music
I love the way that Sherlock describes music.
“Do you remember what Darwin says about music? He claims that the power of producing and appreciating it existed among the human race long before the power of speech was arrived at. Perhaps that is why we are so subtly influenced by it. There are vague memories in our souls of those misty centuries when the world was in its childhood.”
– Sherlock Holmes, from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (p. 39)
That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well, because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn’s Lieder, and other favourites.
– Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet (p. 14)
Books
I love finding books from ones mentioned in other books.
Scènes de la Vie de Bohème by Henri Murger
Watson reads this while he’s bored and waiting for Sherlock to come back.
“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allen Poe
“You remind me of Edgar Allan Poe’s Dupin. I had no idea that such individuals did exist outside of stories.”
– Arthur Conan Doyle A Study in Scarlet (p. 18)
Dupin is the detective in the short story The Murders in Rue Morgue. I find this quote so funny since this is also a story about a detective.
L’Affaire Lerouge by Émile Gaboriau
“Have you read Gaboriau’s works?” I asked. “Does Lecoq come up to your idea of a detective?”
– Arthur Conan Doyle A Study in Scarlet (p. 18)
Gaboriau wrote at the same time as Doyle but with the fame of Doyle and Sherlock, Lecoq became less known. His character sounds really interesting though. Lecoq was based on a real person who went from a criminal to a cop.
About Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle was born the third of ten siblings on 22 May 1859 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was born in England of Irish descent, and his mother, born Mary Foley, was Irish. They were married in 1855.
My name is Jessica. I love to read Young Adult and classic literature. I’ve been a book blogger for six years and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. I’m a very curious reader. Writing about all the questions and thoughts I had while reading a book is the best hobby ever. 
What a fun diary! And, wow, I had totally missed Doyle’s nods to Poe and Gaboriau during the last time I read.
An “arid and repulsive desert,” you have to love it. I’ve never been to Utah (yet!), but I’ve heard portions of the state are gorgeous.
I love this! I started keeping track of things I look up when I read this year, but haven’t gotten around to a post yet.
The shout out to Poe is A++++.