Chunky Read ULYSSES with reading schedule

[Irene]

Sheila, I do have one of their new digital players, but no blank cartridges to download. I need to order the cassette. I read the complete Byron last year on NLS Talking Book. The narrator had such a thick Scottish accent (or something like that) that I struggled to make out half of what he said. I hope they did not use a reader with an authentic Irish broag. LOL

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Irene wrote: "I hope they did not use a reader with an authentic Irish broag. LOL."

Wouldn't that be a hoot!

It says the narrator is Alexander Scourby.

The AFB website says:
One of AFB's most prolific and best- loved narrators was the actor Alexander Scourby [1913 - 1985]. Scourby recorded more than 800 titles from the late 1930s until 1985, including the Bible and War and Peace, as well as bulletins from Europe on behalf of the American Foundation for Overseas Blind (AFOB), now Helen Keller International.

[Becky]

I got a wonderful recorded version through Audible. It was narrated by Jim Norton. For me getting the rhythm of the language made a world of difference. Like Sheila I cannot imagine text-to-speech.

[Becky]

CHAPTER 6 - HADES

So much here - hard to decide what to select! Again, if you see something particular you want to know about, please ask!

Many biblical references, and as earlier noted, people with Bloom seem to mention Jewish type references, which seems to add to the discomfort.

More characters from "Dubliners" - Mr. Power, Paddy Leonard, Grace, Fogarty, Also Mrs. Sinico's funeral is from "Dubliners"

More Hamlet references, and other Shakespearian plays.

Lots of businesses noted as the funeral drives by.

The funeral -
Lowering the blinds - Irish tradition to lower blinds during a funeral. Also to take the procession through the center of time.
Laying out a corpse was traditionally a woman's job.
Crape weepers - professional mourners who wear cheap crape.

Dignam's death causes Bloom to think about his father's suicide.

Music
"The Croppy Boy" which comes up again in later chapters, is a ballad from 1798 - during The Rising about a doomed croppy or young rebel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QMx1l...

"Has Anybody here seen Kelly? K E double l y" - Actually was ah american Adaptation from an English song, "Kelly from the Isle of Mann"
"Charley, you're my darling" - Scottish folk song about Bonnie Prince Charlie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTAyVD...

References to "Lucia de Lammermore", Handel's "Dead March" from the opera "Saul",

The chief's grave - reference to Parnell's grave

John Barleycorn is slang for whiskey

[Irene]

There are places where Bloom seems to be associated with denistry and other places where I think he is a journalist/writer. What is his profession? Why was Bloom trying to get this ad placed and why was it such a difficult thing to do? Don't newspapers want ads? Why does Steven only work half a day? Why does the book open with the three guys having breakfast and going for a morning swim when they seem to be perepheral to the book; Bloom turns into the focal point.

[Meg]

Bloom was in advertising.

Leopold Bloom is the fictional protagonist and hero of James Joyce's Ulysses. His peregrinations and encounters in Dublin on 16 June 1904 mirror, on a more mundane and intimate scale, those of Ulysses/Odysseus in The Odyssey.
Leopold Bloom's character was inspired by James Joyce's close relationship with Aron Ettore Schmitz (Italo Svevo), author of Zeno's Conscience.
Bloom is introduced to the reader as a man of appetites:
Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods' roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine.
Born in 1866, Bloom is the only son of Rudolf Virág (a Hungarian Jew from Szombathely who emigrated to Ireland, converted from Judaism to Protestantism, changed his name to Rudolph Bloom and of Ellen Higgins, an Irish Protestant. They lived in Clanbrassil Street, Portobello. Bloom converted to Catholicism in order to marry Marion (Molly) Tweedy on 8 October 1888. The couple have one daughter, Millicent (Milly), born in 1889; their son Rudolph (Rudy), born in December 1893, died after eleven days. The family live at 7 Eccles Street in Dublin.
Episodes (chapters) in Ulysses relate a series of encounters and incidents in Bloom's contemporary odyssey through Dublin in the course of the single day of 16 June 1904 (although episodes 1 to 3, 9 and to a lesser extent 7, are primarily concerned with Stephen Dedalus, who in the plan of the story is the counterpart of Telemachus). Joyce aficionados celebrate 16 June as 'Bloomsday'.

[Irene]

I read the Odyssey so long ago that I can't recall anything about it other than I don't want to read it again. LOL.
It felt as if most of the characters, particularly the females, were motivated by "appetites". I finished and felt that all of the women are basically hoars, willing to give sex for flattery, a marriage of social standing, money, etc. I did not feel as if there was any character that would have been motivated by some higher motivation of pure patriotism or compassion for the down trodden or familial duty, etc.

[Marialyce]

Well, Bloom's eating habits certainly turn my stomach! I wonder why those type foods were chosen? Irish people I know go in for potatoes, beef, cabbage, Vegetables and fish. The foods that Bloom eats are pretty repulsive (to me at least) Is Joyce trying to portray him as a free spirit or as a person who can offend others both by his eating habits and his ethnic background?

I know Stephen likes Bloom, but he seems to ignore him and not welcome him into the inner circle.

[Irene]

Not only does Joyce seem to go out of his way to repulse his reader by the list of foods, but he seems to want to shock or repulse them by the amount of descriptions of bodily functions. Really what was the point of describing Bloom's trip to the toilet for a dump?

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

For me it seems like Joyce is trying to describe EVERY single tiny detail of the day, so that would include everything eaten, everywhere the characters go, the details and exact conversations of everyone they come in contact with, and details of bathroom trips.

[Meg]

I think I agree with Sheila

[Irene]

Is he trying to make a point about life? Is he trying to say that even the most ordinary things are deserving of artistic attention? that life and art are ultimately pointless? that art should mirror life more closely if it is to be authentic or honest? or...? Or is he just engaged in an experimental project of some sort?

[Marialyce]

It is like he wants to "expose" every human thought, word, action, and is not afraid to push the envelope on our sensibilities. He brings everything out into the open, our deepest thoughts, our private moments and I am still not sure that it is for aesthetic or shock value ideas.

[Cassie]

I think that kind of everyday detail is one of the tenets of modernism. This may also account for all of his uses of the "stream of consciousness" style. As Marialyce said, Joyce is exposing everything... Not that that means we actually want to know it all. :)

In a way though, that sort of crudity really is Bloom. He seems ready to chase sex almost constantly, and from his description of how much he loves kidneys to that restaurant scene in chapter 8 or 9, he really seems to like gross, or bodily, details. I have to say I almost threw up when I was reading that scene in the restaurant. I understand that Bloom was disgusted too, but it disgusted me more.

[Irene]

I have to admit that I am not geting a very nice picture of the man behind this book. I presume that a writer who puts these thoughts and obsession with appetites into the minds of his characters must have them in his head. Sex has never been foremost in my head at any point in my life. And, I truly hope that it is not what the men I interact with daily are constantly thinking about. The same goes for Joyces fixation on bodily processes of the more base sort. It is if, for all their lofty theologizing and writing of great literature, he thinks that humans are not much more than animals with large vocabularies.

[Tyler]

Please someone disagree with me if you think I'm wrong :) But I've always thought Ulysses is a story about nothing, but about everything. It focuses on the mundane and it focuses on the extraordinary, it tells little stories that no one needs to know but it tells big stories that are common for a lot of people. To me looking at Ulysses for the basic story isn't what it's about, it's all the details and the extras that make it exciting, it's the background, the history, the subtext, the references. The basic story is nothing special. When I read the book as a neurotic 15 year old I loved it because it showed that the men around me were just as neurotic and introspective as teenage girls and just as mature, I might add. But rereading parts of it now 12 years later I'm focused on what's going on in Blooms marriage and I can't wait to see whatever thinks of Molly's chapter when we get to the end. But I think it's a book that can speak to everyone in different ways. But I agree with what Marialyce said that he wants to "expose" all those thoughts even and maybe especially the ones that make us uncomfortable. But I think he wanted to do a lot more than that too...I'm just being pulled so far back into this world after so many years off and it's wonderful! Some of my favorite chapters are coming up!

[Marialyce]

I think you definitely have the concept of the book, Tyler. This is my first reading and I do feel as if Joyce has somehow crawled into the head of men, especially men, and brought forth a plethora of raw feelings.

I hope that at some point he explores women, not just the loose common types he has mentioned so far. Is it possible for Joyce to have really known women?

[Tyler]

Just wait till chapter 18 Penelope- it is the most amazing female narrative! It's another stream of consciousness chapter but from Molly's POV and it's great. I think he does an amazing job as a female voice- it's not my favorite chapter but it's in the top 5. There are a lot of unfavorable female characters to come, but I still feel those he does portray he does in an honest light of how those women would act in the time.

[Bea]

Ulysses is one of my favorite books. I don't have time to do a re-read now but I am thoroughly enjoying a podcast which discusses the text in 5-10 minute chunks. The presenter, Frank Delaney, is Irish, a Joyce lover, and a lot of fun. He won't go fast enough for your read but I highly recommend it. He's into the third chapter after 2 1/2 years or so.

You can listen to the podcast on you computer from Delaney's website or download the podcast from iTunes.

http://blog.frankdelaney.com/re-joyce/

[Tyler]

I'm listening to it too! Someone on here recommended it a few days ago and I love it. I'm on the 20th episode and he's only on the second page! It's great. I'm only rereading certain chunks right now, but just hearing him talk about Telemachus reminds me of why it's always been one of my favorite chapters! Good suggestion if other aren't listening to it, it's totally worth it :)

[Irene]

Tyler, What are some of those larger themes that you see in Ulysses? You said that it is about nothing and about everything. What are the universal truths that you find in this novel?

[Becky]

Tyler wrote: "Please someone disagree with me if you think I'm wrong :) But I've always thought Ulysses is a story about nothing, but about everything. It focuses on the mundane and it focuses on the extraordi..."

Tyler - I also believe you are spot on. Also Joyce was an exile from Dublin - it was a love/hate relationship as I think almost everything was in Joyce's life. He told a friend that he wanted to recreate Dublin to such an extent that it could be recreated. In a strange way too it is a love poem to his wife, because June 16, 1904 is also the day he met Nora Barnacle.

I read it for the first time last year at 56, and loved it. I find the detail, the puns, the references glorious. I love too Tyler's perspective at 15, that men were just as insecure as that she was. Literature can give us that kind of perspective.

I'm also really happy you are enjoying "Re: Joyce." Between that and listening to the audiobook, it brought it to life for me. I spent 2 months getting through it, which is a very long time for me to spend in a book, but it was really a fun experience.

[Lan]

Hey everyone. I've been wanting to read this forever, but wasn't brave enough to go at it alone. I'm late to the party, and went through the first 2 chapters tonight and hope to catch up over the weekend. Meg & Becky I'm finding the summaries and annotations to be very helpful. I checked a few books of criticism and notes out of the library. I figure this is a book i won't want to re-read, so I'm trying to dig as much out of it as possible. It's clearly slowing me down significantly, but I want to try to get something out of it & understand why people love it so much--not just read the words so I can say I read it. I'm hoping to participate more once I catch up!

[Meg]

Welcome aboard! we are so happy to have you. If you want to add anything or have questions about any of the episodes, don't hesitate!

[Becky]

Alanna! Very cool. I did the same, but now think I probably will read it eventually. If you have access, you might also consider listening to an audio book while you read. The Irish storytelling tradition and love of words came out more for me when I heard a good narrator.

[Lan]

Thanks everyone! I like to read Meg's summaries so I know what to expect, then read the chapter, then go through some of the specific references. Becky I really like the reference you're using--my library doesn't have a copy, but I ordered one on Amazon. (It's nice and organized, whereas the references I'm reading seem to jump all over the place.) In case anyone is interested if you go to this site: http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=... and click "google preview" it won't let you read the whole thing, but it will let you see the first 200 pages or so of the awesome text Becky has been using.
And thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into the audio.

[Marialyce]

Tyler, I was just wondering why you rated this book as a three. I don't want to put you on the spot, but I am very curious why you did not rate it higher.

I hope you are not offended by my asking....

[Meg]

CHAPTER 8 SUMMARY

This chapter, which begins at about 1:00 p.m. and lasts for approximately an hour, traces Bloom's movements through the center of Dublin. It starts when he observes a Christian Brother buying sweets (presumably for some of his students) and ends when Bloom, evading the approaching Boylan, turns into the National Museum to observe the anal details of the statues of Greek goddesses. In the course of his peregrinations, Bloom is handed a throwaway, a handbill (which recalls for us the racehorse Throwaway), by a melancholy-looking YMCA youth; he feels truly sorry for the ragged Dilly Dedalus (Stephen's sister); he feeds some sea gulls broken fragments of Banbury cakes, which he throws down into the Liffey River; he meets an old flame, Mrs. Breen (formerly Josie Powell); he becomes depressed (again) when a cloud crosses the sun (again); he stops into the restaurant of the Burton Hotel to eat, but is sickened by the piggish manners of the patrons and leaves for Davy Byrne's pub, where he has a glass of burgundy and a cheese sandwich; and, finally, he helps a blind youth cross a street.


In Homer's epic, many of Odysseus's men are devoured by the giant, cannibalistic tribe of Lestrygonians, and this particular episode of the novel is filled with many allusions to eating, a good number of them alluding to disgusting eating practices. The bestial actions of the customers in the Burton restaurant, for example, epitomize the analogy with their Greek prototypes.

[Becky]

Irene wrote: "Tyler, What are some of those larger themes that you see in Ulysses? You said that it is about nothing and about everything. What are the universal truths that you find in this novel?"

I can't wait to hear what Tyler has to say, but I thought I'd jump in - to me it's about loss, betrayal and forgiveness. It's crazy in that the idea - 2 men, 1 day, and the major themes are so simple, but swirling around it is so very much more. The simplicity and complexity of it is what makes me enthralled.

[Becky]

Alanna - I'm glad you're enjoying the tidbits I'm putting together. Do you see what I mean about it being so difficult to decide which to use? For me it is a book you could read countless times and glean new meaning and see new connections each time.

I've got a couple of projects I need to wrap up this afternoon, but I'll try to add in the notes later today.

[Lan]

Becky, I feel like i could spend YEARS reading and parsing this book. One of my majors at Penn was classics, & I signed up for a class called "Ulysseus & the Odyssey", I wound up having to drop it the first week because of a scheduling conflict, and I wish I hadn't. Joyce has always been a thorn in my side. The only book I've ever started and not finished in my life was Portrait back in high school. So this battle has been going on for a while. Haha. But I'm actually enjoying it this time!

[Bea]

The theme that resonated most with me was that a person can be deeply flawed and still be heroic. Joyce shows us everything there is to know about Leopold Bloom, including his most secret thoughts and desires, he triumphs despite everything.

[Becky]

Alanna wrote: "Becky, I feel like i could spend YEARS reading and parsing this book. One of my majors at Penn was classics, & I signed up for a class called "Ulysseus & the Odyssey", I wound up having to drop it ..."

Excellent! I had a hard time with "Portrait" too. If you guys think Stephen spends too much time looking at his navel, and obsessing about his mother, "Portrait" was even more. "Portrait" was Joyce's warm-up for "Ulysses".

I did read and love "Dubliners" - actually that is one I might read again soon.

[Becky]

Bea wrote: "The theme that resonated most with me was that a person can be deeply flawed and still be heroic. Joyce shows us everything there is to know about Leopold Bloom, including his most secret thoughts ..."

I love books and bios with flawed characters - for instance Churchill fascinates me for that reason.

[Becky]

CHAPTER 7 - AEOLUS

Lots of biblical references, some from Dante's inferno, and back to "Hamlet"and other Shakespearian references (Cymbeline and MacBeth) and even a nod to Dickens.

Lots about Irish politics and history which Stephen discusses with the papers editor. Bloom and Stephen have still not talked to each other.

Blackrock, Kingston and Dalkey, Harold's Cross... - these are names of tramlines and suburban communities around Dublin

E.R. - initials for Edward Rex, Edward VII of England

Alexander Keyes (the gentleman Bloom is creating an ad for) was an actual grocer

par - a paragraph

"Martha" - a light opera by a German composer.

Ireland my country - Who really qualifies to be Irish? Nannetti mentioned before was Italian born in Ireland, as Bloom is Jewish, born in Ireland. Some nationalists felt only Irish were Gaels. Some even questioned if Yeats was really Irish.

M.A.P. - popular penny weekly called Mainly About People

Lots of references to wind - whether flatulence, ill wind, hurricanes - trying to get home with the wind against you.

Characters in "Dubliners" - Lenehan, Gabriel Conroy, O'Madden Burke,

jigs - advanced alcoholism

"We are the boys...heart and hand" - 1798 Irish ballad "Boys of Wexford"

"Twas rank and...charmed thy heart" - aria from "The Rose of Castile"

cloacal - sewers or toilet bowls. The term "cloacal obsession" was from a review by H.G. Wells of "Portrait as a Young Man" saying that Joyce had a cloacal obsession.

Guinness - Lenehan makes a common pub of Genesis and Guinness - and how the Irish are to drink.

Joe Miller was a comedian in George I's reign - famous for old corny stories. "Joe Miller" is also slang for a joke.

"See it in your face...Idle, little schemer" - reference to a part of "Portrait"

Tim Kelly, or kavanaugh...Joe Brady - three members of "The Invincibles", a radical Irish splinter group with a reputation for being assassins.

The farthing press - cheap and sensational journalism

[Becky]

CHAPTER 8 - LESTRYGONIANS

References to bible, Hamlet,

Dubliner character - Julia Morkan, Nosey Flynn, Jack Mooney

Christian brother - teaching brotherhood of Catholic layman with temporary vows. Considered more common and inferior to the Jesuits.

John Alexander Dowe was a Scottish-Australian-American evangelist, Accused of polygamy.

the brewery - all about Guinness

greenhouse - slang for public urinal

skilly - soup like concoction of oatmeal and water

"twilight sleep" - slight chloroform used during child birth. Queen Victoria use of this was highly publicized (anesthesiology was being pioneered).

Mackerel - yes a fish, but slang for a pimp

hornies - slang for constables

Up the Boers - Irish were pro-Boer since they saw the South African/Boer War as another case of English suppression.

"We'll hang Joe...sourapple tree" - one of the improvised verses to the Civil War Union army song "John Brown's Body".

slavey - a maid with no defined job status

Irish Republican Brothers, Sinn Fein (We Ourselves in gaelic) - discussion of Irish underground

A.E. - penname for George William Russell who was a friend of Yeats, wrote poetry and painted, and was an editor. A.E. stands for Aeon, or the heavenly man. He was vegetarian, wore home-spun to support local Irish industry and rode a bicycle.

Shandygaff - half beer/half ginger ale - or a plain shandy is with lemon bitters (very nice on a hot day)

Up a plumtree - unwanted pregnancy

"in the craft" - freemasonry - Bloom is a Freemason

Stone ginger - non alcoholic drink

Late in the chapter - another reference to "Don Giovanni" and the song "Those lovely seaside girls" as Boylan is about to make his entrance.

[Becky]

Again - please ask if you see something and wonder what the heck it means. I'd be happy to look it up for you.

[Tyler]

Marialyce wrote: "Tyler, I was just wondering why you rated this book as a three. I don't want to put you on the spot, but I am very curious why you did not rate it higher.

I hope you are not offended by my asking...."

Lol, Not at all- there was another earlier question someone asked me that I have to get back to as well- I was out of town all weekend and haven't had a chance to catch up! I have no idea why I rated it so low! I saw that the other day and was like I should probably change that to a four.

I love Ulysses and I think it's an amazing and complex book, but the story of it is so mundane and would not hold my attention if it was just the story without the extras. But at the same time certain chapters stories are amazing and I love them individually. I love it for the research if forces me to do and the tiny little details that it has. I probably rated it when I first joined Goodreads a year or two ago and wasn't in a period where I was rereading it and enjoying it as much as I am now. I think when I'm not actively entrenched in it I don't look back on it as fondly. Does that make any sense? But I do feel totally silly that I can speak about it with such passion and yet have a totally low score- oops :)

Irene asked- what I thought the larger themes or universal truths are in this book. And the three previous times I've read it I would say it's always been different. And I expect it to be different this time as well. I really want to do this question justice and so I'm trying to think of how exactly to say it. I think the first time I read it I thought the masculinity of it was sometimes overpowering- I got such a Male sense of everything from the internal monologues, the crudeness sometimes and the brothel. The second time I read it I remember noticing all the depression, how everyone was so depressed but also how everyones behavior and thoughts made me feel so depressed. Gosh this book can be depressing sometimes, but that is why I don't read it for just the story, but prefer all the background stuff and connections everywhere. The third time I remember jumping around through it so much that I wasn't really focused on one theme. Who knows what I'll see this time but being 12 years older than the first time I read it and being married now I'm pretty sure I'll feel something totally different.

As far as universal truths- everyone dies, everyone at some point has issues because of their parents, relationships falter but can come back from almost anything, life may be mundane but it is totally worth living

Yep I think that's it :) at least for me

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Tyler wrote: "I think when I'm not actively entrenched in it I don't look back on it as fondly. Does that make any sense? But I do feel totally silly that I can speak about it with such passion and yet have a totally low score- oops :) "

Tyler, your reasons make perfect sense. If I had to rate this book right now, I would have to give it a 2-star rating (meaning it was just ok). But, I am still facinated by this book, and I will finish it, and love this discussion. If I had tried reading this book without participating in this discussion though, I'm sure I would have put the book aside after just a couple chapters. There is just too much that has to be researched, and too much that doesn't make sense without the extra research, to make in a book I would rate highly for itself.

Maybe Ulysses should not be considered a book. Maybe it should really be a college course!

[Meg]

I agree with you Sheila. If it weren't for all the add ons and the chapter summaries I don't think I would understand what is going on at all. It is extremely complex.

[Lan]

Sheila--i think I mentioned it WAS a course at my school Haha.

Course description: ENGL 365.401 Homer and Joyce,
Sheila Murnaghan profilesmurnagh@sas.upenn.edu

In his 1952 film "Voyage in Italy," Roberto Rossellini has a couple named Joyce (George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman) set out on a journey to settle the estate of their uncle Homer. This, in a sense, is also the object of this course. Reading Homer's Odyssey and Joyce's Ulysses side-by-side, we will consider how Joyce's use of Homer both defines his own project and provides a fresh perspective from which to return to the Odyssey. Both texts will be examined as works of epic scope that summon up an entire world, whether ancient Greece or early twentieth century Dublin, and as meditations on the nature of heroism, the value of ordinary experience, the relations of men and women, and the techniques and purposes of story-telling.Webmaster/Contact: help@english.upenn.edu

[Lan]

Also, I know people have talked about Delaney's podcasts, but he also has a "rap" tribute (it's cute, but not as funny as it sounds!) to Joyce on Youtube http://youtu.be/m5EeA_lbun8 There's actually a lot of cool stuff on there, including a 9 part documentary on Ulysses.

[Marialyce]

Tyler wrote: "Marialyce wrote: "Tyler, I was just wondering why you rated this book as a three. I don't want to put you on the spot, but I am very curious why you did not rate it higher.

I hope you are not offe..."

Thanks, Tyler. I appreciate you answering me. I also was away so have fallen behind in my reading, but I agree with Meg and Sheila. I would currently rate this book a 2 as well and certainly would probably have cast it aside if not for the camaraderie of reading it together.

[Irene]

I found it to be totally depressing. The characters seem so miserable, life so pointless. It feels as if the best one can hope for is a momentary relief from the shit strewn downward spiral into the grave. And, I am offended by the voices of the women. They lack any of the intellegence or interest in anything above pretty things and the security of a man in their lives.

[Becky]

Tyler - I agree it is a book that each time you read it, you'll see it a different way. I've only read it the one time, and I approached it like a college course. I had started it about 6 months before and just couldn't get into it. After having surgery and knowing I'd be off drugs, but had to stay still for awhile, I piled my iPod, iPad and research books on the bed and started quite a journey.

It is not a book I would recommend to everybody - I have books I love that I shout from the rooftops, and even though I love the complexity and layering of Ulysses, there are only certain friends I would suggest give it a whirl.

Kudos to all for giving it a go.

[Jane]

Where I went to college, they had a whole semester class, where the professor taught only Ulysses. That tells me there is some have stuff in there. I love Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but Ulysses?

[Lan]

I actually loved the Odyssey, and it made an appearance in many of my Classics classes. I also studied Latin and ancient Greek and read a good portion of both the Odyssey and the aeneid in their original languages...there's sooo much brilliant and cool stuff that doesn't translate to the English! Ulysses though, I also feel like we could spend a month on each chapter, easily! That's why it's taking me so long to catch up here--i only made it through the first 6 chapters this weekend.

[Tyler]

When I read it in school we did a chapter a month too, multiple chapters a week feels very accelerated, so since it's a reread (several times over) for me I'm just kinda picking out my fave sections to reread cause I couldn't make it through that quickly even with all my notes from previous readings.

I never read the Odyssey for school and I only actually read it on my own after college but it's one of my husbands favorite books so hopefully one day I can convine him to tackle Ulysses.

[Sheila , Supporting Chick]

Tyler wrote: "When I read it in school we did a chapter a month too, multiple chapters a week feels very accelerated...."

This is another reason why this book would only get a 2-star rating from me. The schedule Meg set up only has us reading around 70-90 pages A WEEK! That is just over 10 pages a day. If a book cannot be read and digested at that pace, then I think it is the book's fault, and the author's fault, not the reader's fault. :o)

[Marialyce]

I know I am behind, but I find the lack of chapters markings unnerving. While yes, the whole stream of thoughts and words are unnerving for some reason the lack of chapters annoys me the most.

I know i am surviving this literally on this thread and the spark notes I have downloaded. Funny think was last night I could not read because I had lost my internet connection and "needed" it to understand the "what" of what I am reading.