What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (5 Viewers)

[Lili Marlene]

Is that all you have to say about it?

I also like to call it Uselessys.

Ehh... well it's everything everyone says it is, and more! Some of it is completely beguiling, some if just annoying, it's also hilarious, I laughed out loud many times. It was also touching and sad and gross in parts. Very often it's exasperating. Loads of it is still relevant today.

There's definitely bits that can be straight out read as they are but I wouldn't recommend anyone just approach the book overall without reading around it, despite what any Joycean scholar might tell you

It was written in a particular place and time, and while obviously it's full to the brim of clever references anyway, even the everyday stuff in it kind of assumes a certain type of knowledge (religious especially) that wouldn't be commonplace these days. I listened to a lecture series on it while reading it and also read a fair few notes and discussed it with some friends who were reading it with me. It was very much needed in my case. It would be very possible to read every word of it and for it not to mean a thing to you, if you're gonna do it you might as well look into what it is you're reading.

I also listened to it on audiobook, some people say this is a better way of reading Ulysses but, to my ears, that's only true for bits of the book. Molly Bloom's soliloquy at the end is quite accessible when listened to and particularly hard when read, lots of the rest seemed to be the opposite of this though.

Even with all that there's still huge chunks that I didn't really get at all, but at least have a idea from the notes and lectures what it is that I missed.

I figure it also gives a lot of people the wrong idea on what "literature" is i.e. that a great book must be filled with linguistic puzzles that have to be unlocked and worked out and discussed ad infinitum and anything that isn't like that is somehow lesser. This is not true at all, good writing should be approachable, or at least possible, for everyone. In fairness to Ulysses, I think it can be read by anyone, it's just not gonna be easy (for anyone).

To be honest, I read it because a) i'm from Dublin and b) I have more than one degree in literature and I was feeling guilty about it all. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as something they have to read unless they had a particular interest.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

I also like to call it Uselessys.

Ehh... well it's everything everyone says it is, and more! Some of it is completely beguiling, some if just annoying, it's also hilarious, I laughed out loud many times. It was also touching and sad and gross in parts. Very often it's exasperating. Loads of it is still relevant today.

There's definitely bits that can be straight out read as they are but I wouldn't recommend anyone just approach the book overall without reading around it, despite what any Joycean scholar might tell you

It was written in a particular place and time, and while obviously it's full to the brim of clever references anyway, even the everyday stuff in it kind of assumes a certain type of knowledge (religious especially) that wouldn't be commonplace these days. I listened to a lecture series on it while reading it and also read a fair few notes and discussed it with some friends who were reading it with me. It was very much needed in my case. It would be very possible to read every word of it and for it not to mean a thing to you, if you're gonna do it you might as well look into what it is you're reading.

I also listened to it on audiobook, some people say this is a better way of reading Ulysses but, to my ears, that's only true for bits of the book. Molly Bloom's soliloquy at the end is quite accessible when listened to and particularly hard when read, lots of the rest seemed to be the opposite of this though.

Even with all that there's still huge chunks that I didn't really get at all, but at least have a idea from the notes and lectures what it is that I missed.

I figure it also gives a lot of people the wrong idea on what "literature" is i.e. that a great book must be filled with linguistic puzzles that have to be unlocked and worked out and discussed ad infinitum and anything that isn't like that is somehow lesser. This is not true at all, good writing should be approachable, or at least possible, for everyone. In fairness to Ulysses, I think it can be read by anyone, it's just not gonna be easy (for anyone).

To be honest, I read it because a) i'm from Dublin and b) I have more than one degree in literature and I was feeling guilty about it all. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as something they have to read unless they had a particular interest.

I read a bit of it in 1998 but i left it after me somewhere and wasn't too upset about it. What I did read seemed pretty straightforward and accessible, I didn't get to any of the difficult bits. I went to a couple of lectures about it at the time and the lecturer mentioned that when Joyce wrote about your man putting the breakfast on a "humpy tray" he was indicating that your man was feeling a bit randy and wanted to ride herself. Then the word 'seashell' was mentioned somewhere and we were told to unpack it's meaning like this:

seashell = seas hell = sees hell.

Did any of your reading suggest that this was the right approach to take? Seems a bit impractical to me, life is short.

 

[Lili Marlene]

I read a bit of it in 1998 but i left it after me somewhere and wasn't too upset about it. What I did read seemed pretty straightforward and accessible, I didn't get to any of the difficult bits. I went to a couple of lectures about it at the time and the lecturer mentioned that when Joyce wrote about your man putting the breakfast on a "humpy tray" he was indicating that your man was feeling a bit randy and wanted to ride herself. Then the word 'seashell' was mentioned somewhere and we were told to unpack it's meaning like this:

seashell = seas hell = sees hell.

Did any of your reading suggest that this was the right approach to take? Seems a bit impractical to me, life is short.

I assume you didn't get to the 3rd chapter (walking on the beach)? Even the biggest genius would be lying if they said it was straightforward and accessible. It's really good though.

I'd say every pun and allusion people find in it is valid and probably intended and you can spend the rest of your life finding them if you like, there's a well known podcast going through the book line by line, it's 6 years in and is maybe 1/3rd of the way through? Frank Delaney's Re: Joyce. Some people love that shit.

If you're not into it then don't bother going looking, just pick up on them when you come across them yourself; there's no key reference that unlocks and explains the book or anything.

I had a hard enough time just keeping track of what was going on and didn't have any specific interest beyond getting a good grounding in it all. I think I achieved it but I definitely would not have without all the help. At the same time, some of the people in my reading group were big into philosophy so they picked up on loads of philosophical stuff that passed me by, it was fun to hear them talk about it.


maybe some of thumped's other Joyce fans @Cornu Ammonis and at least one or two more, can talk of their experience.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

Hmmm, sounds like hard work.

 

[rettucs]

Just finished

Its no 'How Music Works', but its a long the same lines, specifically in relation to singing. It was interesting enough. If you liked Bedsit Disco Queen, then this reads almost like a companion piece to that.

Just starting

 

[Lili Marlene]

Restarting and finishing that Kristin Hersh book is on my list as well, trying to get my reading list down to zero rather than up at 9, which it was at one point.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I'd say every pun and allusion people find in it is valid and probably intended and you can spend the rest of your life finding them if you like

Joyce said something once about it taking 10 years to write so it should take a reader 10 years to go through it. My first time reading it was on a summer trip through Poland and it was the only book I brought with me. We flew into Kraków and within a day or two I had found a bookshop and bought a guide to Ulysses as I was getting out of my depth fairly quickly. I didn't finish it on that trip despite having a few long train journeys and flights.

I went back to it a couple of years later and it went far quicker and easier for me. I've read it a couple of more times since and most of it is fairly straightforward now but there are still chapters that I only feel like I have a hazy grip on, the ones in Holles St. and the brothel in particular stand out. It's like any difficult art, it takes a few goes to come to grips with. Unfortunately, because of its length, most people don't go back to it.

Just starting

Any good? I imagine it's tough going.

 

[rettucs]

Any good? I imagine it's tough going.

I expect that too. Will let you know. I expect it to be pretty bleak.

Vic Chesnutt in the button factory is still one of the gig-going highlights of my life.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Vic Chesnutt in the button factory is still one of the gig-going highlights of my life.

Mine too. Such a fantastic performance. I have a bootleg of it if you're interested?

 

[rettucs]

Mine too. Such a fantastic performance. I have a bootleg of it if you're interested?

oh, yeah, I'd love to hear that.

It was more than just the performance though. There was a lot of emotion in that room that night. I saw Jason Molina there too. Saw him outside having a smoke beforehand, and again inside. He'd played the night before. The most memorable night of back-to-back gigs ever were Molina and Chesnutt. Can't see that ever being beating either.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

oh, yeah, I'd love to hear that.

It was more than just the performance though. There was a lot of emotion in that room that night. I saw Jason Molina there too. Saw him outside having a smoke beforehand, and again inside. He'd played the night before. The most memorable night of back-to-back gigs ever were Molina and Chesnutt. Can't see that ever being beating either.

I never got the fuss around Molina but to be fair I haven't given him a fair go. Will Dropbox the Vic Chesnutt to you tonight/tomorrow. I know what you mean about it being more than performance, it is a night that still lingers on in my memory. I find it very hard to listen to the second album he did with the Godspeed/Fugazi folk, the sheer joy of that night counterbalanced by the grim reality of his life and death.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

And I've just put it on now. Already I'm totally bummed out.

 

[jimmybreeze]

Ah no way,never knew there was a Vic Chesnutt book,just ordered it,cheers lads!

 

[travispickle]

Almost finished the Tracy Thorn, Naked at the Albert Hall. Have this one lined up next -

 

[Lili Marlene]

It's a Kristin Hersh book yiz pricks,

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Almost finished the Tracy Thorn, Naked at the Albert Hall. Have this one lined up next -
View attachment 11356

Fantastic book. I shared a flat with her in 2009, around the time some of the events in the book are set. Quite a strange experience reading this.

 

[travispickle]

Fantastic book. I shared a flat with her in 2009, around the time some of the events in the book are set. Quite a strange experience reading this.

With Amy Liptrot? Really? Wow, that's mad. I'm dying to read it; have read some features on her and it sounds an interesting read. She was in Dublin recently for a literature festival, but I missed it.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

With Amy Liptrot? Really? Wow, that's mad. I'm dying to read it; have read some features on her and it sounds an interesting read. She was in Dublin recently for a literature festival, but I missed it.

Yeah, it's mad to see her all over the papers and magazines. I've been meaning to go to one of her events in London. It's a beautifully written book.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

I love that cover too

 

[travispickle]

Yeah, it's mad to see her all over the papers and magazines. I've been meaning to go to one of her events in London. It's a beautifully written book.

I don't know her but as with all these "recovery" memoirs, I hope she's doing ok and wish her well. I'm interested in reading about the Orkneys in particular.
Yes that cover art is beautiful.
I found the book hard to get hold of here; I eventually ordered through Hodges Figges and the guy hadn't heard of it but was interested in the premise, so hopefully they might order more in!