100 Books to Read Poster Number 12

Yup, The Hound of the Baskervilles. I read all the Sherlock Holmes stories when I was at school including this one and never really felt much compulsion to revisit any of them, but there it was on the poster, and as it happens I have a rather beautiful illustrated and annotated edition of it given to me by my brother in law some years ago. So I hauled it out of the bookshelf and gave it a go. 

Obviously when I was at school quite a lot of the unpleasant nineteenth century world view contained within it (such as attitudes to women and the working class and Empire) passed me by and I suspect that my reading of it then was therefore  more enjoyable. Also knowing the end does rather spoil the suspense. 

That said there were some nice moments in this, notably when CD is describing either the natural world such as Dartmoor, or the weather. He can be a better writer than I suspected he was. My major reaction though was WHAT DID THE DOG DO TO DESERVE THAT? My sympathies were with the dog, and the butler and his wife, and the rest of them frankly I found extremely unpleasant. 

And as it instilled in me no wish to revisit the Holmes canon in any shape or form,  I'll record this as a slightly- qualified Miss, and move on.