18 January 2011

Jousting with Joyce

Chatting with Trish and Jill on Twitter can get me in trouble. I start feeling invincible and geeky and then I do something stupid like suggest a readalong for Ulysses by James Joyce. In my defense, however, these two jumped on the suggestion pretty fast. There was no arm twisting or threats or anything. Then Jason and Joanna also joined in the madness. And I just noticed that Care has also signed up, and she managed to download a copy for free!

So starting February 1, we will be reading this bane of a book, and we are asking all of you to join us in our misery fun. We will be covering three chapters a week for six weeks:
  • End of week 1: thoughts on Section 1, chapters 1-3.
  • End of week 3: this is midway through Section 2, through chapter 9.
  • End of week 5: thoughts on Section 2, through chapter 15.
  • End of week 6: Section 3, end of book
Head over to the sign up post now and together we can triumph over the mindmelt that is Ulysses!

14 comments:

  1. I started reading it two years ago and got distracted by other reads.
    If I didn't have another heaps of books to read, I would ost likely join. But Ulysses will have to wait a little bit longer for me...

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  2. Ack! Well, I'll just be standing over here and giving you a double thumbs up. None for me this time, thanks!

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  3. I think "misery" was more accurate. :D

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  4. I am not sure if I am ready to tackle this monster yet, but that's one of the things that I love about readalongs, they can really inspire you to reach beyond your comfort zones, even when you are just a bystander. I am going to be following you guys with interest, and then I will decide if this is the book for me. Thanks for sharing all the info!

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  5. Not joining but interested to see progress.

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  6. I'm definitely interested. It's just that I remember when I was in high school my mom was reading Ulysses for a class she was taking, she was also reading a critique of Ulysses...I remember every night for weeks she'd be reading after dinner and the curses were flying out of her mouth left & right. Now, my mom was a good catholic & never cursed and she was a fan of Joyce ...yes, I realize those 2 things do not go together at all! lol But Ulysses was her bane for a while!

    I have to think about this for a bit.....!

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  7. I suspect all of us spectators are going to have even more fun than you participants. Looking forward to the conversation!

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  8. Ha! it's nice to see you taking ownership for our future misery.

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  9. I will join with everyone else in watching you guys read this one. I hope it's not as bad as it sounds!

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  10. Yet another reason for me to stay off Twitter!!!

    Good luck with this ... I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole!

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  11. I'm not sure I can be included in any of the blame on this one, my dear. You and Jilly Bean did this all on your own...I was just crazy enough to agree! ;)

    Actually, I'm oddly excited about it. Thought about starting the book tonight, but then I wised up.

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  12. You guys are brave! I've never felt like I could handle Joyce, but I'm excited to hear what you all think!

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  13. Ulysses - wow! I read Portrait of An Artist in college and know from that experience that I am not up for Ulysses.

    As an FYI, author Frank Delaney has a series of podcasts on his website about the novel - might be an interesting adjunct to your read-a-long

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  14. Even if the runner was safe (which he was not) he should have called him out unless it was very obvious that he was safe. Galarraga should have had the edge just because of his performance.

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Talk to me baby!