Books of kaisholmes
Last Updated Jan 21 2026
This is a selection of my favourite books. I will try to provide free places to access them.
Sanshiro by Natsume Soseki
One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshiro leaving the sleepy countryside for the first time in his life to experience the constantly moving 'real world' of Tokyo, its women and university. In the subtle tension between our appreciation of Soseki's lively humour and our awareness of Sanshiro's doomed innocence, the novel comes to life. Sanshiro is also penetrating social and cultural commentary.
Where to read:
https://www.sosekiproject.org/sanshiro/chapterpdf/sanshiro01-english.pdf
The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon
The Wretched of the Earth is a brilliant analysis of the psychology of the colonized and their path to liberation. Bearing singular insight into the rage and frustration of colonized peoples, and the role of violence in effecting historical change, the book incisively attacks the twin perils of postindependence colonial politics: the disenfranchisement of the masses by the elites on the one hand, and intertribal and interfaith animosities on the other. Fanon’s analysis, a veritable handbook of social reorganization for leaders of emerging nations, has been reflected all too clearly in the corruption and violence that has plagued present-day Africa.
Where to read:
https://monoskop.org/images/6/6b/Fanon_Frantz_The_Wretched_of_the_Earth_1963.pdf
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Vincent Starrett
Long considered one of the benchmark works of Holmesian scholarship, this richly informative biography of the great fictional detective was first published in 1933. Dr. Julian Wolff, revered Commissionaire of the Baker Street Irregulars, call this "the greatest book about Sherlock Holmes ever written."
Where to read:
https://archive.org/details/privatelifeofshe00star/page/n3/mode/2up