Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars 2007 4*

Two members of Sherlock Holmes' (Jonathan Pryce) street urchin gang (Ben Smith, Mia Fernandez) are kidnapped by a vicious murdering Irene (Anna Chancellor). The audience can identify with the apprentices, absorbing forensic techniques pushed forward by Doyle, leading international true crime consultant.

In book, Adler is deviously clever, hotly passionate. Here, why does she learn embalming from scratch, execute perfectly first and only time, so glass eye rolls across hotel room rug? A simple head silhouette would do.

I like this more understated realistic presentation than longtime actor Brett's swoopy tadara extravagance. Downey-Law 2009 explodes with cartoon action, more humor. Cumberbatch TV series updates Doyle. (Also stars Bill Paterson).

Sherlock Holmes 1 2009 5* - Downey, Law, McAdams


In honor of the 2011 Downey/Law sequel Game of Shadows, I'm catching up on Holmsian books and films. Fast, furious, fun, frenetic, and authentic, including the soundtrack. Doyle's scholastic, almost pompous, duo are here mischievous rambunctious boys. The method, buildings matched to symbolic animals, is unnecessarily tangled, best reduced to Holmes deductions from Lord Coward's clothing ruffles for the climax confrontation site and solving the ginger midget's conjuring tricks.

Open scene is hot double-barrelled chase and fight to capture Lord Blackwood mid-murder in a Gothic romance sacrifice ceremony. I've seen the whole before, but only recall fights, chases, and explosions, and enjoy enough for more - costumes, architecture, nuances. Clever film effects and sound show the detective's intense focus on detail, and the worst flame-bath effectively pierces and dulls our hearing too. Holmes reasons away devil magic and resurrection with science. Although the final fate of the villain in a storm does suggest divine retribution. I could do without the recurring Poe raven. After repeated watching, I guess it to be the called-for devil demanding his due.

The dim soft gray-brown palette evokes early photographs, suits smoky Victorian London, a character herself; the conversational style is reminiscent of the books. "Give me problems. Give me work." "food for thought" Dialogue and decoding scratches on a watch are straight from "The Sign of Four". Details, such as boxing, martial arts, inventions, untidy flat, VR initials gunshot into the wallpaper, attention to detail, conceit, and wit "fast women and slow horses" are true to Doyle. Various cases lend quotes, some in different context. The greatest adaptation differences are to do with the women. In Sign of Four, the men meet Mary together without conflict or jealousy. Irene Adler, bright in crimson satin and lush lips, is tempting competitive love interest.


Spoiler:

The doomed multiple murderer warns Holmes of a larger web, is hanged, and appears to rise from the grave, replaced with a body sought by the fascinating Irene Adler, employed unwillingly by the arch-villain Moriarty, a hint for the sequel.

Sherlock TV S1 2010 5* - Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman


The humorous, dangerous, very British BBC UK 2010 version updated Doyle with internet and mobile phones, revived my interest in Doyle's classic Victorian murder mysteries promoting early forensics and deductive solutions. Surprisingly, old and new Watson (Freeman) are both injured veterans of Kandahar, Afghanistan. The city of London is still an old character.

Cumberbatch has a lighter, less melodramatic interpretation than Jeremy Brett and not caught in explosions like Downey. Study in Pink is loosely based on Study in Scarlet, (Spoiler? having a choice of pills, placebo or poison, and a hack-cab driver hiding in plain sight). I was glad to see PBS and BBC-America bring my favorites over the pond.

Free books - updated Nov 2013

* on newest entries. In alphabetical order, not preference.
Kobo and Kindle now have free programs to read their books on your PC or phone, without buying ereader. Adobe reads epub files has color illustrations, used by Libraries and Kobo. (Bug: Windows Vista has to use old 1.7 version.)
Free OpenOffice.org reads .doc on PC without MS Word. Libraries have ebooks, paper, audio. Categories overlap. Comments welcome to keep current - winners, washouts, warnings.

BEST free eBooks with most: choice, formats (even audio), images
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/ Classics - Austen, Dickens, Doyle, Nesbit, Twain, Verne, fairy tales

Features / Limitations:
http://www.archive.org/ obscure
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/free paper too, ship free, vast choice
*** updated to here Apr 2017 http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/ ePub, Kobo, Kindle, online
http://www.e-reading.org.ua/ Russian
http://www.freebooks2u.org/ bios, online only, Novik, Tolkein
FreeSF sci-fi
http://www.goodreads.com/ebooks free ebooks
http://www.hotfreebooks.com/ defines words, finds books with words
http://www.kobobooks.com/free_ebooks many formats, free previews, unwieldy free catalog - no search by author or genre
books.google collect own shelf, read/ search sample inside pages
http://www.readeasily.com/ online only
http://readfreeonline.net/index.html current best-sellers
http://wikilivres.ca online, Canada copyright law, <=3K+ from 750 authors not WikiSource or Wiki-owned online, U.S. copyright law, <=280K+ Covers, audios, redirects.
http://www.costfreebooks.com/ redirect, Cory Doctorow
http://dvd-copy.com/ refers to google books
http://www.e-book.com.au/freebooks.htm
http://www.epubbooks.com/ illustrated, search author
http://www.feedbooks.com/
http://www.fictionfactor.com/
http://www.fictionwise.com/ Barnes & Noble
* http://www.freebookbooks.com/
http://www.freefictionbooks.org/
http://freeereaderbooks.org/ many formats
http://www.inkmesh.com/ audio Christianna Brand Nurse Matilda (Nanny McPhee)
http://www.manybooks.net/ also audio
http://readassist.org/read/ e, audio, paper

Specialized writer group sites. Previews, contests, free. Some works in progress.
baenebooks.com fantasy
belgravehouse romance
bygosh.com short stories
http://ebooksgo.org obscure html
http://figment.com register, works in progress
hathitrust.org read online, sign in to make collections: Margery Allingham - Albert Campion mysteries, H.E. Bates A House of Women, Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes, Allan Pinkerton detective, P.G. Wodehouse
http://www.lulu.com register, know title
netgalley.com/ register, search author, title
mindspring.com mostly short stories
publicbookshelf.com/ romance, 4 font sizes
pulseit.com/ register, full books, contests
Robert J. Sawyer short stories and excerpts
http://www.sherlockian.net/canon Sherlock Holmes
http://www.wattpad.com/ register, writers before famous
writerspace.com romance

Contests:
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway contests
http://www.mysterybooks.ca/features/contests/index.html
http://www.randomhouse.ca/features/contests/

Excerpts:
http://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/savvy/excerpts.php
http://www.powells.com/
Regency
http://books.simonandschuster.com/Most-Of-PG-Wodehouse/PG-Wodehouse/9780743203586/excerpt_with_id/4741

Publishers - excerpts, or if author offers free title
http://www.abebooks.com/
http://www.albris.com/
http://www.amazon.ca/
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/
http://www.biblio.com/
http://www.bookdepository.com/ free ship
http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/
http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/
* http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/ 3 Free change, others excerpts
http://www.smashwords.com/ Adult filter
http://www.ulverscroft.com/
http://www.workman.com/

Single author websites. Search internet for your own favorites by author name.
http://azuredwarf.blogspot.ca/ William Bentrim, trustworthy, amazing illustrated "childrens" for all ages
http://authormichaelhicks.com/free-novel/ untested
http://craphound.com/down/download.php Cory Doctorow modern fantasy, web activist
http://www.george-orwell.org/1984
http://www.terryfallis.com/ Canadian funny politics ("You know why zombies won't attack Parliament? They want to eat brains" Ajay, Innerspace)
fablefaerie.blogspot YA romance contests
http://www.trit.org/shcanon Sherlock Holmes canon
juliejames.com
victoriaalexander

Kobo flexible eReader also accepts ePub, Adobe files from many sources (baen, gutenberg, others). Kobo has free programs to read ebooks on your PC or cell without their ereader. Free OpenOffice reads .doc Word files on my PC.

Kindle now has programs to read on PC, phone
Amazon Top 100 free
http://www.freebooksy.com/
http://www.pixelofink.com/category/free-kindle-books/ misleads, no Nooks

Pay, not free, need proprietary eReader. Kobo reads .epub .pdf ; Barnes & Noble says Nook reads .doc .epub .pdf (Adobe) after installing Adobe Digital Editions, but I cannot test; Kindle now has program like Adobe Digital Editions to read Kindle books on PC
http://www.amazon.com/kindle-ebooks pay, Kindle
http://www.ebooks.com/ pay
http://www.ereader.com/ pay, Nook
iTunes maybe free but register needs credit card
Texts include others - buy, sell, rent.
http://www.bookbyte.com/
http://dailycheapreads.com/ not free, cheap
http://www.ecampus.com/
http://www.textbookx.com/
http://www.valorebooks.com/

No. Not advised. May be legitimate, most not. Site-title gone, ask register sign in confidential data, redirect to sites where pay, trial cost, buy device. Bait-switch scam.
http://www.4shared.com register
http://aiourdubooks.com/ pdf files removed, pakistani
http://ebookbrowse.com German
http://ebookee.org/
http://ereadernewstoday.com/category/free-kindle-books/ Buy books get free bonus
http://www.ebookoutpost.com/ strange download
http://ebooksfreedownload.org odd download
http://www.epubbud.com unreadable epub on Kobo Desktop
http://www.free-ebooks.net/ register
http://www.freeebooksfinder.com strange download, ordinary google-type search
http://www.freebookspot.es/Default.aspx iLivid download, why?
http://www.librivox.com audio
http://www.mobile-reads.com
http://www.openlibrary.com sponsored links
http://www.openlibrary.org restricted
http://www.readingfanatic.com strange install
http://www.scifimatter.com
http://www.scribd.com signin, pay
http://www.specficworld.com
http://www.thereadingroom.com
http://world-load.com

ShiftControl+ enlarges online font display; ShCtrl- shrinks.
CtrlSh may also switch French and English keyboards.

Check restrictions, fine print, currency exchange, tax, customs, shipping costs.
(UPS does not deliver to PO Box, my address.) US to Canada calculator.

add-on ePub reader for Firefox/Mozilla browser Untested
Converter .doc .epub .pdf - Have not found good one. Wise spaces too far and stamps name.
Paper books. Incomplete online, use telephone yellow pages.
- libraries: private, public, travel (condo, cruise ship, hostel
http://www.worldcat.org/ USA
- used book stores and sites
http://www.bookcrossing.com/ fun in person, free
http://bookmooch.com/ happy user, international mail more points
http://www.paperbackswap.com/ praise in Comments below

Copyrights run out different years (50-100) after December of author's death. Protection ends according to originating country if they adhere to Berne shorter term convention: Canada 50; EU (most) 70; Mexico 100; Japan, Russia. No shorter term: Brazil, China; Colombia 80; US 75 (after 1923).

In essence, a designated heir, family or not, owns works created by their ancestor (aka bequeather-legator-testator). As Canada-based editor for US-based Wiki and Gutenberg, responsible internet users of text and images, I tried to summarize international laws here. For laws, see current local websites.