I'm really happy I gave Doyle a second chance because I quite enjoyed this book. I'm not sure if it was the lack of Sherlock or that I wasn't in the mood at that time but I read The Hound... last year and I didn't enjoy it very much. I might give it another go some other time.
This collection of short stories, on the other hand, was very entertaining. As any other recollection, there were some stories I loved (A Scandal in Bohemia , The Adventure of the Red-Headed League and The Adventure of the Speckled Band) some that I enjoyed (A Case of Identity, The Five Orange Pips and The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet) and some that were just fine (The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb and The Adventure of the Copper Beeches).
But basically, I liked reading the different Sherlock/Watson interactions throughout the book very much. I went into this book expecting something similar to the relationship Poirot and Hastings have and was pleasantly surprised to find that our Baker Street boys, as Mark Gatiss called them (I freaking LOVED his introduction! You can tell that he adores the world of Sherlock Homes and he made me want to read more stories), actually care about each other.
I loved how Doyle created the Sherlock character as well. He's got an amazing amount of traits and little details that make him such a complex character. I loved reading about Sherlock's mannerisms and also about the disguises he used in the different cases.
In conclusion, I'm very pleased to have given Sherlock another chance. I'm going to continue reading as well as collecting the BBC Sherlock editions because I think they are gorgeous!