Week Nine of the 2013 Book Challenge

My plan for this week is to continue reading from the Sherlock Homes collection.  I've started The Valley of Fear and plan to continue with some of the short stories.  I've also begun Star Maker by William Olaf Stapledon. I couldn't resist this one because it is said to have influenced Arthur C. Clarke.

UPDATE:  Star Maker is a disappointment; I'll lay it aside for awhile and come back to it.  I suppose that Star Maker was to Arthur C. Clarke what A Voyage to Arcturus was to C. S. Lewis. I can see evidence of the influences in the writing of both men, but found A Voyage to Arcturus more readable than Star Maker.

I'm making better progress with Sherlock Holmes and have finished The Valley of Fear and started A Scandal in Bohemia.  With all the disruptions I expect this week, working through the collection of short stories is probably a realistic goal. Star Maker is probably worth reading, but only within the context of its historical interest.  I do not find the narrative compelling. 

 From Star Maker:

"At a moment when Europe is in danger of a catastrophe worse than that of
1914 a book like this may be condemned as a distraction from the
desperately urgent defence of civilization against modern barbarism.

Year by year, month by month, the plight of our fragmentary and
precarious civilization becomes more serious. Fascism abroad grows more
bold and ruthless in its foreign ventures, more tyrannical toward its
own citizens, more barbarian in its contempt for the life of the mind.
Even in our own country we have reason to fear a tendency toward
militarization and the curtailment of civil liberty. Moreover, while the
decades pass, no resolute step is taken to alleviate the injustice of
our social order. Our outworn economic system dooms millions to
frustration. "

~ From the Preface of Star Maker written by the author, William Olaf Stapledon, in 1937.

From Sherlock Holmes:

"I think that I had better go, Holmes."
"Not a bit, Doctor.  Stay where you are.  I am lost without my Boswell.  And this promises to be interesting it would be a pity to miss it."  ~ Watson and Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia as they wait for a mysterious guest.  

"I have no data yet.  It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." ~ Watson and Holmes in A Scandal in Bohemia as they wait for a mysterious guest. 

"Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius..." ~ A description of the policeman MacDonald who wishes to consult with Holmes.  The Valley of Fear

"I don't doubt it, Mr. Holmes; but that is no business of ours."
"Is it not? Is it not? Breadth of view, my dear Mr. Mac, is one of the essentials of our profession.  The interplay of ideas and the oblique uses of knowledge are often of extraordinary interest." ~ Holmes and MacDonald discussing the importance of the history of the Manor House of Birlstone in The Valley of Fear.