Books - The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

This is the first Sherlock Holmes story I have ever read. I can't believe it took me this long to read one, but now I will definitely be reading a few more.

The story is about a woman who is about to get married. She's very frightened because she keeps hearing strange noises in the middle of the night, the same noises her sister heard two years earlier when she was about to get married, but she died before she could. Now Holmes is trying to keep her safe and find out what happened to her sister.

I'm not going to give away the whole mystery, but I've just got to say, it was refreshing. Compared to most of what I read or watch today, it was incredibly straightforward. Holmes is presented with a problem and he uses observation and rational thinking to solve it. Where's the time traveling and dimension jumping!? :o)

To be honest, the final solution is pretty far-fetched, but it's still just flat out fun. The story is short; it's kind of like the literary equivalent of . . . some kind of snack food. Quick and satisfying. Self-contained. Maybe Pringles.

It's also good for a laugh because the famous second, Watson, is a complete moron. I had no idea coming in, I just assumed that he was at least somewhat helpful, but he seems to be there purely to ask questions and sound like an idiot. But it's entertaining.

Anyway, I'll be reading more Holmes stories soon. Another note is that I read the whole story on my iPod Touch. The program is a reader that scrolls the text up like a teleprompter and you can control the speed by tilting it. I thought it would get annoying, and it might have been if I was reading a whole book, but for a story this length, it was actually great.