Hankering for Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, born on May 22, 1859.

Happy Birthday, ACD!

The Sherlock Holmes books and stories made a huge impact on my life, as I read them when I was young.

Am thankful for that, even if much of the British Victorian social mores ACD depicted are unconscionable in modern times.

Indeed, we attended the play "Baskerville" at the Chemainus Theatre, in Chemainus, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island.

Dinner and a show, and both were terrific!

The actors of Holmes and Dr. Watson played only those roles, while the six or seven additional cast members changed costumes multiple times, adding to a tongue-in-cheek humorous take on that terrific novel, "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

Program

Image from The Chemainus Theatre Festival website

Also so thankful to my host ET, who not only put me up in her home, but the "Baskerville" experience was a birthday gift to me! ❤️

Let's Hop!

The Victorian Era is Not Dead...

...it's alive in a coffin in the dungeon!!!

On this day, 26 May, 1897, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was published.

The celebrated book is of cultural importance; critics have inevitably classed Dracula as a genre novel but it falls into so many of their categories – vampire literature, horror fiction, gothic novel, invasion literature, crime, mystery, the supernatural – that categorisation is problematic. 

It is much more than that – a fine novel, dealing with Victorian sexuality, British culture, and more, and, moreover, it is a significant addition to the novel genre in its own right.

And...there are some fun memes for your enjoyment too!

🦇🦇🦇

If you have not read the actual Dracula novel, I highly recommend it; it's surprisingly fresh for a book written during what is thought of as a very repressed time in our history.

For those who want to have some fun with it, please consider Laurie R. King's "Castle Shade", when Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell assist the Queen of Romania to solve dark doings at Bran Castle.