To go along with Rick's review of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, I agree with the value of reading in depth, more by the author, and more about the book itself. Over a period of a year or more, I read Ulysses at least twice and about 30 other books about Joyce and Ulysses and the fantastic Notes for Joyce; an annotation of [b:James Joyce's Ulysses|338798|Ulysses|James Joyce|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173877044s/338798.jpg|2368224] by Don Gifford, that was published just about the time I needed it. ( )

It's one hell of a novel, to be sure. I was lucky enough to get in on a class that studied it, ad nauseum, and without it, I'm not sure I'd have had the stamina. As it is, I still love it, and have it close at hand to gaze upon as a testament that I'm not really a shallow reader.

Seriously though, how many pages were devoted to his thoughts while on the crapper? Seriously?

I still can't truly recognize the step-by-step shadowing of Homer's classic. It strains my mind and my eyesight, no matter how many times I was told that it was there. Should I read it again? Very possibly. Then again, maybe I'm just afraid that I'll go as crazy as Joyce did, by osmosis.

It's been so many years since reading it, and yet it still has a big impression in my brain. That's saying an awful lot. ( )

i liked about 3/4 of this! other 1/4 can be thrown in the trash tho. ( )

Should be 6 stars as this is more than a book, more than a novel. It uses the same materials, paper and printed words, but it is as Grindcore Death Metal to the history of classical music.

It is funny, very realistic, perverted in an everyday way, dirty, majestic. We all know what this book is about, how famous it is, how huge it is.

My advice:
1. Read chapter summaries and reviews before reading each chapter. Otherwise, for many chapters, there is pretty much no way you will be able to extract even a little from the text.

2. Enjoy its humor, its rough quotidian ramblings, its legacy.
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I read this in preparation for reading The Most Dangerous Book.

This is a book I will probably read again and rereading will most probably increase my rating.

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