What are you currently reading?

[epilogue]

Guys... I'm not sure I'm digging Ulysses.

[LetMeSleep]

Guys... I'm not sure I'm digging Ulysses.

It's not for everyone. I didn't make it.

[epilogue]

Guys... I'm not sure I'm digging Ulysses.

It's not for everyone. I didn't make it.

That makes me feel better, actually. Thank you.

I think I'll stick with it for a while longer. I'm only a quarter of the way through. But man it's just... I don't know... I really don't see how there's an argument that this is the "best novel in the English language" ever or of the last century.

[LetMeSleep]

Guys... I'm not sure I'm digging Ulysses.

It's not for everyone. I didn't make it.

That makes me feel better, actually. Thank you.

I think I'll stick with it for a while longer. I'm only a quarter of the way through. But man it's just... I don't know... I really don't see how there's an argument that this is the "best novel in the English language" ever or of the last century.

My brother loved it but he did English Lit. Giving up on it was almost a turning point for me.

[epilogue]

Guys... I'm not sure I'm digging Ulysses.

It's not for everyone. I didn't make it.

That makes me feel better, actually. Thank you.

I think I'll stick with it for a while longer. I'm only a quarter of the way through. But man it's just... I don't know... I really don't see how there's an argument that this is the "best novel in the English language" ever or of the last century.

My brother loved it but he did English Lit. Giving up on it was almost a turning point for me.

The book has been a big obstacle or challenge in my life for a long time. I feel like I can't give up on it. As a writer, I wonder what it would say about me if I couldn't finish it.

[LetMeSleep]

Some books/movies aren't worth the trek though. Others may disagree.

[epilogue]

Some books/movies aren't worth the trek though. Others may disagree.

That's absolutely true. And there are some other "great" books I've turned back on. Blood Meridian being a good example.

[Simple Torture]

Are you using a guide, Joey? Ain't nothing wrong with using a guide, even if it just describes the general outline of a chapter (Stephen walks on the beach, Poldy goes to work and then a funeral), as it sometimes helps to ground the many digressions and experiments with language. Also: ask questions! We're here.

[epilogue]

Are you using a guide, Joey? Ain't nothing wrong with using a guide, even if it just describes the general outline of a chapter (Stephen walks on the beach, Poldy goes to work and then a funeral), as it sometimes helps to ground the many digressions and experiments with language. Also: ask questions! We're here.

I've been reading the Spark Notes summary for each section after I read it. And that has really helped. The language is so strange. And I'm using a free Kindle version, so the formatting might be off at times. I'm not sure if it's that or if it's just the language.

I think I get it so far. Right now Bloom is in a newspaper office. The things that are happening make sense and I'm basically able to follow along for the most part. I just don't seem to care. If that makes sense.

[BurtReynolds]

I read about 2/3rds of To Kill a Mockingbird . I liked it, but felt that I got the gist of it. Don't really feel the need to finish it.

[epilogue]

To Kill a Mockingbird is a great book. But I suppose I might feel the same if I read it for the first time now, in my 30s. In 8th grade though, that shit was the TRUTH.

[Dev]

a portrait of the artist is a much better starting point.

WHAT?!

i meant to say that in the reading thread. oops.

[Dev]

a portrait of the artist is a much better starting point.

[epilogue]

It's a bit late now, Dev.

[Dev]

It's a bit late now, Dev.

You could probably still quit this one and finish the A Portrait in like 1/10th of the time Ulysses will take you. There's time.

[bada]

In 8th grade though, that shit was the TRUTH.

Yeah I read it several times around that age.

[epilogue]

It's a bit late now, Dev.

You could probably still quit this one and finish the A Portrait in like 1/10th of the time Ulysses will take you. There's time.

ST, your thoughts?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[Simple Torture]

It's a bit late now, Dev.

You could probably still quit this one and finish the A Portrait in like 1/10th of the time Ulysses will take you. There's time.

ST, your thoughts?

Simple answer: no.

Complicated answer: If you're reading Ulysses as part of a larger interest in Joyce's work, and you want to work through everything, then yes, you should probably go back and read Portrait first to get a better sense of how his work and thinking evolved--you'll probably also want to read the stories in Dubliners too, which are much more traditional in form (but which are quite good). But if you're reading Ulysses to have the experience of reading Ulysses (like so many of us do), and if you want to get an overall sense of Joyce's work through just one book, then, no, I don't think you've got to go back and read Portrait. Ulysses has everything that Joyce was interested in: the tension between how the mundaneness of everyday life somehow contains the same themes, ideas, and struggles as the greatest epics; the elasticity and utter meaninglessness of language and how, yet, we are burdened with trying to express our thoughts and feelings with these imperfect tools; and, of course, with "the gap," the impossibility to ever truly know or understand another person. But--and maybe this will help with your reading--this is not a cynical work, despite how these ideas may sound. Rather, it's a celebration of the meaninglessness and apparent un-profundity of human existence, about the games we can play with each other and with language to pass our time on earth. The two main characters can be sad-sacks at times, yes, but I don't think we're supposed to come out of this work feeling depressed or cynical. It may sound like a FB post from everyone's aunt, but I think we're supposed to laugh, cry, and be moved by it, and to be reminded that this--and having a good meal and/or a good wank/fuck--are really all we're here for.

But, of course, in the tradition of all the works of "high modernism," the book is demanding and difficult. I wish I could tell you that it gets easier or that you'll get into a rhythm as you read, but I can't. But there are parts of this book that are just the fucking balls (sometimes it's whole sections, sometimes just scenes or even sentences that bowl me over). So if you're not enjoying it, there's no need to keep going--although, there may be another time you pick it up and read it quite differently (I started 3 times before getting close to finishing). I often fall back on Bolaño's conception of a great novel as combat, and Ulysses was like that for me.

[dimejinky99]

I know it's a totally different thing but Dubliners is a much better book. If only for being accessible.