A Bit Bookish

[A ramble in the midst of my Sherlock Holmes obsession]
Sherlock had been on my reading list for some time before I finally had the good sense to purchase Vol 1 of Doyle's collection. To be perfectly honest, it was watching the show that jump-started my interest in the books, and if you haven't read any Holmes stories in the past I would recommend doing the same. (I may be one of the few bibliophiles out there that approves of using a show or movie to get into the book off which it was based, especially for older writing styles that some people might have difficulty getting into.)
Anyway, I was obsessed right from the start. It's easy to feel like you're an invisible presence in the rooms of Baker Street, and I get all warm and fuzzy every time I spot all the little details about the room, the characters and the crimes that were also written into the show (they really did a ridiculously good job sticking to the canon). I love the dark humor and... I don't know, the Britishness...? Like in The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb, where this guy whose damn thumb has been cut off is just like "...and now, Doctor, perhaps you would kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb used to be." Polite and well-spoken, even sans-thumb. 
I now understand why there is an entire field of academia devoted to Sherlock Holmes. When reading you can't help but want to know everything about him. (And if you also watch the show, which has more of an emphasis on his friendships, family, and emotional character, then say goodbye to all other reading interests for the next few months.) I felt like I had found a kindred soul in the unsociable Holmes, and I've never met a character that actually changed the way I think and look at the world. I immediately purchased Maria Konnikova's Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes and began training my brain to 'pay attention better'. I dream of a Baker Street-esque living room, full of shelves where I catalog every ounce of knowledge that wont fit into my brain attic into thick leather scrapbooks. 
I could go on and on about the stories and Sherlock and the art of deduction, but in the interest of keeping this short and amusing I'm going to end this with a list of my very favorite stories from Vol. 1 with an accompanying rad quote from each.
xoLuna

(no particular order)
A Case of Identity 
"Depend upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace."
A Scandal in Bohemia 
"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." 
The Sign of Four
"My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work... But I abhor the dull routine of existence."
The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor
(upon receiving a crested and monogrammed envelope in the mail) "This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie."
The Yellow Face
(I don't have a quote for this one, but it's one of the very few cases that baffles Holmes.)
The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle 
(I've included this one specifically for the hat deduction because it's one of the best and they recreate it in The Empty Hearse episode and I almost lost my mind!)

**addendum- This particular version has amazingly helpful endnotes as well as a 'Comments and Questions' section at the end with some comments on Sherlock Holmes by other famous writers and some helpful study/discussion questions on the volume.