I have tried to read Ulysses twice now....

[WCGreen]

Each time I got deep into the book and then gave up.

It wasn't the heft or the subject or even the language.

It was the chorus of literary critics and experts who kept yapping in my head as I tried to read what many call the masterpiece or 20th century literature.

I ask you, how can anything live up to such hyperbole?

I would read a passage and automatically revert to 10th grade honors English when every sentence is placed in context with each paragraph and then examined in importance.

So the whole idea of reading this classic became so overwhelming that I just couldn't take the hagging voice of Mrs. Keys pointing out that you should know all of the imagery and nuance.

I simply just can't read the book for the joy of the language.

Oh well, I know I shall try again.

Sigh....

[ananda]

1. It really is a great book.

Read Guy Davenport first.

[FSogol]

2. I'd recommend listening to the audio version. You can pay attention

to parts you'll get and zone out for other portions. Despite being extremely incomprehensible in portions, it is a really wonderful book.

[enough]

4. That's exactly what I was going to say. This is a great way to get into a book that

you're resisting for some reason, but you still want to read it. Just plug it in and let it flow.

They have great readers now, who really make it an art. If you go to Audible.com, you can even listen to samples of the readers and pick one whose voice appeals to you (I'm sure they have more than one reading of Ulysses by now.)

I've become a real convert to audio books in the last few years. I've gone back and listened to many of my old favorites.

[WCGreen]

6. I listened to the Dubliners as read by Gabriel Byrne...

It was a wonderful experience.

what brought this back to my attention was the ad in the NYT Book Review. They always have these ads from the Teaching Company and they featured a Lecture Series about the book.

It looks intriguing.

[FSogol]

13. Same here. I have a 12 mile commute that takes about 30 minutes.

Audio books allows me to read all the classics, I avoided while growing up.

[LunaSea]

9. Free Librivox version at archive.org

With a couple of twists-

http://www.archive.org/details/ulysses_2007_librivox

http://librivox.org/2009/11/22/about-that-ulysses-recording/

[WCGreen]

11. Thank you....

[EFerrari]

3. If it helps, you are free to disagree with the critics.

That ought to shut them up.

[WCGreen]

5. Bravo...

[skeptical cynic]

7. It's sitting on my shelf, too.

I bought it because of its status and guilt over never having read it.

Kurt Vonnegut makes much more sense to me right now.

Abbie Hoffman makes even more sense--books on order.

[flyingfysh]

8. here's a tip for Finnegans Wake

This one is even more difficult, because it doesn't even look like it is in English. The easy way to get into it is to *listen* to the book. It makes a lot more sense if you listen to it.

[xchrom]

10. it is as great as the critics claim -- it's also not for everyone. nt

[WCGreen]

12. I'm going to listen to ir while recovering from my lung trransplant...

[WCGreen]

14. They have made a graphic Novel of the book...

It is available on line and also to be downloaded on one of the apple I things...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/books/16arts-ARECONSIDERA_BRF.html?ref=technology


http://ulyssesseen.com/landing/


This looks interesting. I think I will still listen to the book while recovering from my lung transplant but I may read this version, since it comes with a page of notes for each page of comic, to prepare myself for my great awakaning...

[pscot]

15. I've been working on it for almost 40 years

I'm on page 126.

[pitohui]

16. why would someone saying nice things abt a book ruin it for you?

lots of books have "hyperbole" from the critics on them, i've never noticed that it interfered w. my enjoyment of the book in the least, why should it????

if you don't enjoy the book, if the real problem is that it reads like a piece of lead, which is my shallow experience based upon scanning the first page, don't blame the critics, move on and find something you do like

everyone doesn't have to like joyce, i just think he's meh

does my anti-hyperbole make the book easier to read?

of course not, critic's opinions are just opinions, they are actually only fun to read if you enjoy a book, because it gives you more ideas and background, i've never seen the purpose of reading criticism abt books you don't like, waste of time

you've given the book 2 chances, it doesn't seem readable to you, stop blaming ms. bitch from 10th grade and just move on to something you do find readable -- that's pretty close to what doris lessing said in the intro to one of her books, i think the golden notebook -- read what you like, read lots of what you like, instead of reading the same thing over and over digging for stuff to "criticize"

we don't all have to know how sausage is made to enjoy the sausage, unless you plan to write a novel it isn't necessary to deconstruct the ones you like, just enjoy

[WCGreen]

17. Thank you so much...

Seriously, I spent my time thinking I was missing something, some important image that made this book the greatest book of the 20th century.

I couldn't enjoy the book because of all the preconceived notions about it.

I guess that is hard for people who have attained a zen like view, as obviously you have, to fully understand how much of an impact earlier event can and often do have a profound affect on how we later view the world.

But your post has let me on to a path of peace and enlightenment.

BTW, if I read only things I thought I might like I would never had advanced beyond comic books and Hardy Boy mysteries...