books #6 & 7: "the lost city of z" and "sherlock holmes and the hound of the baskervilles"

so, by the insistance of my wife i'm going to include The Lost City of Z in my list of 100 books by 2020...already reviewed it here.  i guess it's worth including...this reading list will most likely include a eclectic plethora of topics and genres....so why not!  now on to the next...

Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles was an instant favorite of mine as a child...well, at least the illustrated classics for kids version was!

ah...the illustrated classics for kids!  i'm indebted to whoever decided to make all these classics available to young readers, because i believe they were instrumental in developing my love for reading as well as giving me a broad layout of the land of classical literature (to which i'll also credit the old PBS show: wishbone!)  i remember first reading this particular book on family vacation, nestled into my captains seat in the back of our minivan.  it was my first encounter with sherlock, a hero who has evidently never lost his intrigue in my mind.  

i'll admit that i most likely felt inspired to revisit this old story after watching the recent hollywood adaption of sherlock, but, although i still thoroughly enjoyed the movie, i had to admit they've strayed pretty far from sir conan doyle's actual character.  baskervilles reveals the little nuances that makes sherlock one of the most beloved heroes in classic literature, but it also focuses a great deal on his counterpart, dr. watson.  there is a large section of the book where the reader is to believe that sherlock is completely absent and therefore must depend on dr. watson's point of view and assessment of the facts and circumstances.

it was interesting to me to see how the solving of the mystery removed all semblance of the supernatural. what made this particular mystery so intriguing at the start (the supposed presence of a supernatural hound) was tidily resolved by the collection of facts that could easily be explained scientifically (this twist was also present in the latest movie).  i can't help but assume that this was rooted in modern thinking (that everything could be explained by scientific fact using the scientific method), which played a huge role in liberal theology (the dismissal of the supernatural...and particularly the resurrection...because of the insistence that the scientific method was capable of explaining all life and phenomena).  so i enjoyed the mystery and the resolution, but couldn't help feeling that it was meant to numb my belief in the existence of miracles and the supernatural.

then again...in reading The Lost City of Z, david grann linked col. percy fawcett to sir arthur conan doyle, and even suggested that conan doyle, along with fawcett, delved into the occult.  i have not studied the life of sir arthur conan doyle, but it would be interesting to see if he was truly inundated by modern thought or if he had an unusual fascination with the supernatural.

at any rate, if you're looking for a classic mystery thriller...look no further!  head over to your local library and pick up your copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and maybe you too will find a new hero!