Has anyone actually read Ulysses (the Joyce one)?

Yes, I read it during a summer job as a student with very long breaks. It helps to read it out loud in some parts.

@Sgtmajormummy thanks for sharing that update! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

I'm re-reading it in a reading group & we're up to episode 12 now, Cyclops.

I'm loving it all even more second time round doing a deep read & i too, am a mid 50s TCD graduate.

I was reading the first 20 pages or so of Cyclops earlier this evening & laughing out loud 🤣 it's hilarious in places!

@Bourbonbonbon I find it strange that as an English postgraduate you've never met a person in all those years of studying English whose read it? I wonder how or why that can be? Do you have no interest yourself?

Surely someone's dc read it as a toddler?

No. I'm an English postgraduate. I know no one who has actually read it.

I can happily say I’m now on Episode 8, reading one a day. I quickly realised my 1970s Penguin copy (just the text, no notes, not even the Greek references) was not going to cut it so invested in a reader’s companion. I kept my copy out of respect of the person I “borrowed” it from 30+ years ago…

I’m enjoying the challenge but now realise that without knowledge of the city, the times and the culture of pre-independence Ireland it could be tough going. I’m a 57yo TCD graduate and am pulling out so many of the tapestry threads from distant memories. The turns of phrase, associations, songs, SOC just resonate with me.

As I said above, reading this book has been on my bucket list for so long, it’s almost a relief to have got into it at last. I needed accountability and found it in a reading group that has started up in my city. By the end of the month I’ll have finished my own reading of it, ready to glean a more in-depth interpretation from the experts.

I took it as my only book on a holiday once to an isolated cottage. I figured I wouldn't be able to replace it so would be forced to read it. What I recall most is how hard it was, how tedious it was, and not a single bit about the content.

I find it really fascinating as, for me, it's anything but dull. Since reading it it has pretty much ruined reading other books for me. They all feel so flimsy by comparison.

I'd say Ulysses is my 'roman empire' and i think about it a surprising amount ot time each day!

Unfortunately, yes. I also proofed a friend's dissertation on it, fewer words but equally dull.

This is interesting as I've always had in mind I'd get round to reading when I have time, when I'm retired, etc. So now's the time to do it and I just might...though I like the suggestion of an audio book perhaps to get me started on it.

Update: just had a quick look and it's available on Borrowbox, so have it downloaded ready to go. I'll dive in tomorrow and will report back.

I must have started it at least half a dozen times but never got anywhere!

I imagine Cunty Kate would have been well beyond the pale for many people in 1922, too, just for the name.

@Beeinalily I would say Molly's soliloquy could be considered fairly filthy?

Plus Bloom masturbating looking at Gerty MCDowell & a lot of the stuff that happens in Circe / Nighttown?

It's definitely there but you have to read a lot of other stuff to find it 😅

I skimmed through when I was very young because the Sunday paper said it was filthy - I was very disappointed. Does that count?

I've read it because I had to, but I can't say that I enjoyed it or that I fully understood it.

Yes I have. I found if I read quite slowly and ‘experienced’ it like a poem it worked. I’m glad I did it.

Duh - had already said this upthread. Sorry it appeared in my threads I am on but I forgot I had posted already.

I read it at uni and it only made sense once I read a kids' guide to it, and then I loved it.

I read it, but I wouldn't say it was a pleasure and I did skip some of the descriptions, but I do that in a lot of books.

My sister has, I'm surprised she hasn't told you tbh. She speaks about it A LOT.

ETA - She's part of a Joyce group and did study it in college.

I've read it! I was in my 40s at the time and I read it slowly over a few months, while reading other books in parallel. A lot of it went over my head (I'm not an English lit graduate) but I enjoyed it enough to keep going.

This 🤣

I 'studied' it briefly and Uni and have never read it all!

I don’t think that’s in the least true, and I know a lot of Joyce scholars. It’s a perfectly readable novel. Is it possible they thought you were talking about Finnegans Wake, which is definitely not a cover-to-cover read?

Meant to say I'm on my second reading of ulyssee now in a guided reading group & we're up to lestrygonians now. We will have completed the book by early June in time for bloomsday!

@Dappy777 I've read Ulysses cover to cover & loved every minute of it!

It's a very funny book & makes me laugh out loud in places. It also makes me think & think which i absolutely enjoy.

There are many, many people who adore it & read it for pleasure as opposed to some grim endurance test.

If anyone here is interested in giving it a go there are loads of resources both printed & online which can help.

There are also several active Facebook groups where people ask questions or post observations & there's a FW readalong one that I'm following & it's super interesting. I'm not reading it but will start this year so I'm enjoying all the chat about it.

Tell me about it

I read half of Alice in Wonderland last week and nearly passed out through the effort, no way I'm reading Uylsses