All About Books discussion
Readalongs
>
Ulysses by James Joyce Readalong & Re-Readalongs (2014, 2016); Audio Listen-Along (2017)
Gill, I like the cover on your edition as well. If it were in paper, I'd add it to my list of "coveted" versions of Ulysses.Cosmic, I have been thinking of a start and finish prompt for our segments. With many versions of the book being read, it would make things easier for everyone. Parts of the schedule won't require any (there's some deviation from a "normal" reading schedule involved) but some would benefit from it.
While leafing through the book, I started reading Episode 1.....had to quicly put it away; the story was pulling me in. I don't want to start before January 1st and miss this group read. :D
ETA: my version is now available in paperback, which would make it easier to wield than the hardcopy I have.
Gill wrote: "The trouble is, when you click to the kindle version, it's the project Gutenberg version, so I don't think it is the same as Petra is using. The version I have is this one https://www.goodreads.com..."I already have three Kindle versions, although when I look closely, I see they are all probably the same Gutenberg version. Some of them say "annotated", but what they seem to mean is a section at the front of the book with some interpretation or key. I kept looking for annotations directly in the text, but they none of them had that.
I just found this version of Ulysses online, it is a completely interactive version of the full text. Click on any phrase you don't interstand and a popup window situates and explains the text. Fabulous.http://joyceproject.com
Geoffrey wrote: "I just found this version of Ulysses online, it is a completely interactive version of the full text. Click on any phrase you don't interstand and a popup window situates and explains the text. Fab..."Geoffrey, that is remarkable. Thanks! (But, if it's taken me 10 minutes looking at the links for the first paragraph , how will I ever finish the book?!)
I've just listened to an excellent podcast. It's BBC Radio 4, In Our Time - Culture with Melvyn Bragg and a couple of guests dated 26 November 2009. It's titled 'Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man', but it's not only about the book but also an excellent introduction to Joyce, putting him in context.It was 42 minutes well spent.
I've downloaded 4 other podcasts in the same series, which may be relevant. They are:26 April 2001 Literary Modernism
9 September 2004 The Odyssey
13 March 2008 The Greek Myth
14 June 2012 James Joyce's Ulysses
Geoffrey , thanks for the link - great !Gill , I'll have to check those out . Thanks .
Reply to Gill : Geoffrey, that is remarkable. Thanks! (But, if it's taken me 10 minutes looking at the links for the first paragraph , how will I ever finish the book?!)Actually, the density of links seems to drop off in later chapters, so it shouldn't be too burdensome!
Geoffrey wrote: "I just found this version of Ulysses online, it is a completely interactive version of the full text. Click on any phrase you don't interstand and a popup window situates and explains the text. Fab..."Thank you!
Gill wrote: "I've just listened to an excellent podcast. It's BBC Radio 4, In Our Time - Culture with Melvyn Bragg and a couple of guests dated 26 November 2009. It's titled 'Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a..."Thank you Gill. I am enjoying this as well.
This is the copy I have Ulysses
I picked it purely for the cover, plus it was the only copy in the bookshop at the time (over 10 years ago I think) it has extensive notes at the front and back and looks very comprehensive, although this hasn't helped me before! I'm still looking forward to starting in January!
Pink wrote: "This is the copy I have Ulysses I picked it purely for the cover, plus it was the only copy in the bookshop at the time (over 10 years ago I think) it has..."Oh, I'm glad you put this edition here, Pink. I've had a look at it for my Kindle, and I think it will do very well. Sometimes on the Kindle the links don't work very well, but they seem to work fine on this one. So I've just bought myself it; the grand price of £1.89!
That's a version that I'm looking at, Pink. It's a wonderful cover.How big are the margins? I'm looking for a copy with larger/wider margins (and more portable than the hardcover copy that I have).
Petra, the side margins are quite small, but there are quite big margins at the top and bottom of each page. I still wouldn't call it portable though...it's a brick!
Petra has a lot of other things on at the moment, so she won't be able to be involved in the readalong as much as she had intended. We'll still be going ahead in January, starting date and schedule to follow soon.
Thanks ,Gill . We will have the discussion from last year and some new readers so I think that will help .
Start date is January 16th, schedule to follow. See you all here! I'm looking forward to it!
Quiet Lion wrote: "May I join you in reading Ulysses together? It's been looming over me for far too long!"Oh yes, you are very welcome, Quiet Lion. Start date is January 16th, and the plan is to finish in time for Bloomsday, June 16th.
I've posted the schedule for the 2016 Ulysses Read-Along here for easy reference throughout our read (it won't get lost in the middle of the thread).In general, the read will be a slow, easy reading of Ulysses with time for side reads, background information and discussions.
For those reading for the first time, the schedule won't be too daunting and the experience will be an interesting ride.
There are 2 weeks that I would like feedback on:
Feb 13-19: should we split this reading into 2 weeks?
Mar 19-25: should we split this reading into 2 weeks?
We could still finish reading by Bloomsday. Please post your feedback here. I can alter the schedule easily.
NOTE: the page numbers mentioned are for my edition of Ulysses (
) and will differ from other editions. The pages of my edition are large, so 10 pages of it may mean more pages in a smaller, paperback version. Please check your edition to get an idea of how many pages you'll be reading in the above two weeks.
Thanks for the schedule, Petra. My preference is to not start a week earlier, but it depends what others think.I think it could be a good idea to extend Cyclops over 2 weeks, which will both give a bit of catch up time if people are falling behind a bit, and also mean we finish on Bloomsday, which is great.
I like that we have 2 weeks for the final section, it'll be nice to have some time for Molly!
Thanks , Petra !I don't have a preference on when we begin . I agree with Gill , it would be good to have more time discussing Molly.
No preference here, I'll stick to whichever timescale you decide.
I have extended Cyclops to 2 weeks. We now end our reading on June 16, Bloomsday!Unless I hear otherwise, we'll leave Feb 13-19 (Aeolus) as a 1-week read. Don't hesitate to say that it should be extended by a week; we would adjust the schedule to start one week earlier.
I was thinking of getting Joyce's Ulysses, The Great Courses, from Audible as an aide to reading the book. Does anyone have an opinion on this course? Thanks in advance.
Nancy wrote: "I was thinking of getting Joyce's Ulysses, The Great Courses, from Audible as an aide to reading the book. Does anyone have an opinion on this course? Thanks in advance."Nancy, I don't know anything about this course, though I've listened to parts of others, which I've generally enjoyed.
I wouldn't buy it; that's because I'm better with visual things than with auditory, (tricky because in the last few years I have developed a vision problem!). Having said that, re auditory, I've suggested some podcasts in messages 806 and 807.
I was part of the group who read Ulysses here as a group read last year. I enjoyed browsing through the various links people suggest, and all the discussion on here makes it much easier and more fun reading the book.
I would like to join too. The group read was recommended by a friend. I have terrible time following all these posts but will do my best.
Jennifer wrote: "I would like to join too. The group read was recommended by a friend. I have terrible time following all these posts but will do my best."Jennifer, great that you can join us. Don't worry about all the many pages of posts. The vast majority are from a previous read in 2014. If you start from the top of this page, or the previous one (around message 750), that's all you need to know! We are starting the actual read on January 16th, and will be finishing on June 16th, which is Bloomsday.
Jennifer, welcome to the group read. I'm glad that you'll be joining us.As Gill says, don't worry about the old posts; they are from last year's read along. If you like, you can reference to them (see post 1 for links) but its not necessary.
See Post 821 for the link to the reading schedule for this upcoming read.
Just finished (re)reading The Iliad. Loved it. I'm glad the readalong starts third week of January, it will give me the time I need to reread The Odyssey. The ajustments to the schedule look fine.
I read The Iliad so many years ago and still remember it fondly. I'm glad you had the chance to reread it, Geoffrey. The Odyssey is also a great read.
Nancy wrote: "I was thinking of getting Joyce's Ulysses, The Great Courses, from Audible as an aide to reading the book. Does anyone have an opinion on this course? Thanks in advance."I have a copy of it and will be using it as I read it.
Nancy wrote: "I was thinking of getting Joyce's Ulysses, The Great Courses, from Audible as an aide to reading the book. Does anyone have an opinion on this course? Thanks in advance."I am also going to be listening to Ulysses via this link:
https://archive.org/details/Ulysses-A...
I have an audible recording of the book but find this version, which is unabridged, but acted out and with sound effects, to be more engaging. Otherwise, at least for me, a great part of the book felt like I was reading 'word lists'. I don't pretend to have any brain as I was turely born a scarecrow; but my desire is sincere anyway. So i am looking for anything that challenges me and tools that can also make something, somewhat challenging, accessible.
I can't wait to start. I need to go and find my book and then post the version I have :)
I hope it's not too late for a new member to join in the background.
Gill wrote: "Not completely related, but it gets you in the Greek spirit and makes you realise the issues and feelings are universal, is The Song of Achilles."I read it in September and gave it five stars. I think Ms. Miller presents an interesting characterization of Odysseus.
Portia wrote: "I hope it's not too late for a new member to join in the background."Welcome Portia,
It is never too late to join us!
It's never too late to join in, Portia. Welcome to the party!
Happy New Year, fellow Ullysians! Wishing each of you a very happy year ahead.It's only 16 days until we start reading. I thought I'd remind everyone that the Reading Schedule is posted in Post 2:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
We will read the entire Telemachiad section (Episodes 1-3) in a two week period. Discussion can start anytime....probably around January 20th.
We won't (or don't need to) discuss the entire three episodes all at once but can talk about the parts we've read. By the second week, I suspect the discussion will be about all three episodes.
Feel free to comment on whatever strikes you about any of the three episodes. Questions are good, too.
I'm looking forward to starting our discussion.
It's the final countdown! Looking forward to it.
One of the things I've been thinking about is which references seemed difficult to me last time of reading. I think there were 3 main areas, all of which would have been 'easy knowledge ' for Joyce:
Irish history (about which I know a bit)
The Classics (which I know a bit more about than last time round)
The Catholic Church (still don't know much)
I think the answer for me is to look up/follow up some of the references I don't get, but not worry overmuch if there are bits I don't understand,
Interestingly, the use of 'interior monologue', which at the time was very difficult for readers, is now much more mainstream. So I didn't really have problems with that.
Gill wrote: "Interestingly, the use of 'interior monologue', which at the time was very difficult for readers, is now much more mainstream. So I didn't really have problems with that. .."
When i first read Ulysses it often felt like a word list. The streams of consciousness was even more pronounced than in Proust, as far as i was concerned. One of the books that helped me get my head wrapped around it more was Decadence: And Other Essays on the Culture of Ideas.
I have a vague idea of the Catholic Church. I was raised protestant, so i understand having a strong religious culture. Also what that might mean to family members.
I am looking forward to reading through Ulysses this year. Last year i got to chapter 16. I have found that listening to it as a play dramatized helps. I have the links on my reading page here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
The link is at the top of message 15.
Some good ideas , Gill . I have to think about how to approach it the second time too . Originally I was thinking that I would just read the episodes and see how it felt without too much focus on what I didn't get and focus on what I did get . But I may go back to the previous posts and look more at the episodes I had problems with . I'll have to think about it over the next week or two . I want to focus on Molly a bit more too .
I've checked back to message 1 where Petra has kindly posted links to our discussion last time round. I wonder how feasible it is for me to read the comments from then, this time round, either before or during a section? I might try it to start with.
Here's a list that I did when I was reading The Odyssey. It links the Episodes in Ulysses, with the related books in the Odyssey.Ulysses Books in the Odyssey
Telemachus 1 and 2
Nestor 3
Proteus 4
Calypso 5
Lotus Eaters 7 8 9
Hades 11
Aeolus 10
Lestrygonians 10
Scylla and Charybdis 12
The Wandering Rocks Not in Odyssey
Sirens 12
Cyclops 9
Nausicaa 6
Oxen of the Sun 12
Circe 10
Eumaeus 13 to 16
Ithaca 17
Penelope 18 to end
I'm not sure how I'm going to tackle the read this time either. I know nothing about Irish history, just the basics about the Classics and the basics of the Catholic Church (I had my first communion but that's about it). What I know about these three subjects isn't even a drop of Joyce's knowledge.
Gill, I like your breakdown of The Odyssey and Ulysses.
What surprises me is that The Wandering Rocks is not in The Odyssey. I would have guessed that it was the Sirens episode. I'll definitely pay more attention to The Wandering Rocks and will probably reread Episode 12 of The Odyssey to find out where I made the mix-up. .......of course, I read The Odyssey some time ago, so have plenty of mix-ups, I'm sure.
Petra, my list isn't definitive. I just couldn't find it anywhere at the time, so am happy if you can find it!
Happy new year to everyone!I had signed up for this read along and would very much like to participate. The Jan 16 is perfect, as I am not in Toronto right now and don't have the book with me. I had planned on buying a current & noted edition, but found an old copy in a used books store and bought that one instead. Really looking forward to the read-along!
All About Books
Books mentioned in this topic
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (other topics)Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (other topics)
Finnegans Wake (other topics)
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry (other topics)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Neil deGrasse Tyson (other topics)Neil deGrasse Tyson (other topics)
Neil deGrasse Tyson (other topics)
Wilkie Collins (other topics)
Bram Stoker (other topics)
More...
So part of the reading well be the annotated notes? Or introduction? Not just starting at chapter one?
Just looked at that version...it is 1.99. But you say it doesn't have the notes, correct?