I Believe in Mycroft Holmes

A while ago I was musing aloud about setting up a library-themed blog, for all my work related musings and misadventures.

I have done that, and it’s here: bochord.tumblr.com

This is probably only of any interest to a very select few of you, and there’s not much there yet.

Anonymous asked: Do you speak czech ?

Dobryden! Nechci mluvit cesky dokonale.

….and, that’s about all I can do. I can also order in restaurants and ask directions.

Sorry, I’m a disappointment. Like most English people, I barely speak any other languages. I’ve really only got highschool French, a smattering of Swedish learnt from an ex and scraps of other languages picked up as a tourist.

Anonymous asked: I grew up reading and loving Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock was the coolest smartest person ever, and I wanted to be that. And then Sherlock happened. Being the eldest to an actual troublesome little brother, I immediately felt a connection with Mycroft. The only trouble now is, where I once admired Sherlock, I can now only see him as a petulant little brother.

I totally sympathise, Anon. I’m in the same boat. I have a sister seven years younger than me. It’s a gap small enough that we still grew up together, but large enough that I have become preoccupied by sisterly responsibility.

This is why the people who blithely state that the Holmes’ Brothers difficult relationship is indicative of real animosity irritate me. Sibling relationships are often uneasy, sour or distanced, layered with rivalries and resentments - the Holmes Brothers’ relationship is archetypal of this. This does not mean, though, that they despise one another. Quite the opposite. They’re bound by familial discord. For me, this makes their relationship seem all the more realistic.

Sorry, rambled a bit there!

treizquatorz said: we should totally start a librarians club here on tumblr. I aleready know 4, including myself.

Yes! Librarians of Tumblr Unite!

That awkward moment when the Baker Street Babes reblog you, and you’re trying your best not to get too overexcited and hyperventilate.

Anonymous asked: How exactly do YOU take your tea? (And does it gives you goosebumps, that some people make their tea (from tea bags) in the microwave?)

Hello Anon!

Personally, I live off Lady Grey and its sister blends, and the occasional cup of Ceylon. I have loose leaf teas from my local tearooms for when I am home and have the time to faff around with the teapot. The rest of the time, and when I am at work, I have a stash of teabags. I drink it with a little milk - which always goes in after the tea (and after the teabag has been removed!)

I go through about six cups a day.

Who are these people who microwave their tea? And why do they commit such atrocities?! That cannot be pleasant!

thecutteralicia asked you: I have a very simple ask for you; how/when did you get into Sherlock, and what drew you to Mycroft as your favorite character? Was it fandom love at first sight?

Hello dear. A very simple question to answer, indeed!
I got into Sherlock Holmes when I was very small - my granddad read me the stories and Jeremy Brett was on the television. I can’t say I immediately took to it - the long Mormon bit in the middle of Study in Scarlet was somewhat off-putting - but soon I was hooked.
My first encounter with Mycroft was when my granddad reached The Greek Interpreter. It really was love at first sight. The Greek Interpreter became, and remains to this day, my favourite story of the canon.
It’s been commented that Conan Doyle promised more than he delivered with Mycroft - Sherlock’s “superior in observation and deduction.” I suppose that’s true, as Mycroft is quite ineffectual throughout the canon. I was drawn to him by the line, “His eyes, which were of a peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to always retain that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock’s when he was exerting his full powers.” That such an introduction was then followed by Mycroft proving he could outdeduce Sherlock - first in his summation of the Manor House case, and then in the duel in deduction - sealed it. I was in awe of this strange, solitary man, who sat around in his silent club and was acknowledged by his younger brother as the superior intellect.
Then, when we reached The Bruce Partington Plans, and Mycroft was revealed to be The British Government himself, with a specialism in omniscience, I was undone. That Mycroft never quite played the same sort of role again (his appearances in The Final Problem and The Empty House are just throw-away lines) saddened me greatly, so I turned to the adaptations to heal the breach.
Everything that was promised but left unsaid in the canon stories started to become realised through the various adaptations, and my love for the character grew. I didn’t much care for Charles Gray’s Mycroft when I first saw the story adapted on the Granada series, but I liked what they did to the story - they made Mycroft more useful and more BAMF then his depiction in that story. And then it all grew from there. There was Boris Klyuev and there was Christopher Lee. I reread the stories, I read the apocrypha. I lapped up everything related to the cleverer elder brother.
Until one day, in 2010, a well-tailored man walked in, swinging an umbrella. I confess, I, like most, thought he was Moriarty. I can’t tell you how much my little fangirl heart swelled when Sherlock uttered those wonderful words: “This is my brother, Mycroft.”
I melted.
And the rest is history.

thecutteralicia asked you: I have a very simple ask for you; how/when did you get into Sherlock, and what drew you to Mycroft as your favorite character? Was it fandom love at first sight?

Hello dear. A very simple question to answer, indeed!

I got into Sherlock Holmes when I was very small - my granddad read me the stories and Jeremy Brett was on the television. I can’t say I immediately took to it - the long Mormon bit in the middle of Study in Scarlet was somewhat off-putting - but soon I was hooked.

My first encounter with Mycroft was when my granddad reached The Greek Interpreter. It really was love at first sight. The Greek Interpreter became, and remains to this day, my favourite story of the canon.

It’s been commented that Conan Doyle promised more than he delivered with Mycroft - Sherlock’s “superior in observation and deduction.” I suppose that’s true, as Mycroft is quite ineffectual throughout the canon. I was drawn to him by the line, “His eyes, which were of a peculiarly light, watery gray, seemed to always retain that far-away, introspective look which I had only observed in Sherlock’s when he was exerting his full powers.” That such an introduction was then followed by Mycroft proving he could outdeduce Sherlock - first in his summation of the Manor House case, and then in the duel in deduction - sealed it. I was in awe of this strange, solitary man, who sat around in his silent club and was acknowledged by his younger brother as the superior intellect.

Then, when we reached The Bruce Partington Plans, and Mycroft was revealed to be The British Government himself, with a specialism in omniscience, I was undone. That Mycroft never quite played the same sort of role again (his appearances in The Final Problem and The Empty House are just throw-away lines) saddened me greatly, so I turned to the adaptations to heal the breach.

Everything that was promised but left unsaid in the canon stories started to become realised through the various adaptations, and my love for the character grew. I didn’t much care for Charles Gray’s Mycroft when I first saw the story adapted on the Granada series, but I liked what they did to the story - they made Mycroft more useful and more BAMF then his depiction in that story. And then it all grew from there. There was Boris Klyuev and there was Christopher Lee. I reread the stories, I read the apocrypha. I lapped up everything related to the cleverer elder brother.

Until one day, in 2010, a well-tailored man walked in, swinging an umbrella. I confess, I, like most, thought he was Moriarty. I can’t tell you how much my little fangirl heart swelled when Sherlock uttered those wonderful words: “This is my brother, Mycroft.”

I melted.

And the rest is history.

Righto chaps, I’m travelling down to London tomorrow for the weekend, where I shall hopefully be indulging in all manner of Holmesian antics, as well as doing some other less important things.

I will be back on Monday, and will address any queries, requests or general tomfoolery you may wish to send me then.

I have set up the queue to keep running in my absence. Hopefully that should work - it always has before, but one hears tell of these things.

Enjoy your weekend! I know I shall enjoy mine.

Anonymous asked: I want to know more about you. Your blog is magnificent, but who are you exactly?

Hello!

This is me at this moment (with unwashed hair and spectacles…dear me)

24. British. Academic Librarian. Postgrad degrees in Modernist Literature. Die-hard Holmesian. Dog owner. Typewriter owner. Half-Czech. Amateur Seamstress. Wannabe Novelist. Meat eater. Gin drinker. Undetermined sexual preference. Busybody. Know-it-all.