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Excellent.

I have read 2 Joyce biographies: Bowker's and Ellman's. In one of these there is a reference to Joyce saying he regretted making Ulysses too formulaic, and that it was too rigid in its adherence to...

Can you elaborate on this please?

That's how I feel about Finnegans Wake

How accessible/difficult is it?

Also, is it worth reading the free kindle version or should I pay?

I could probably benefit from a rereading of TBK as I was very young when I read it, but I have too many other books that must be read for the first time first!

I vaguely recall complex...

Leopold Bloom is the most complete literary character I have ever encountered.

Thanks guys, excellent info!

Would you recommend they be read in chronological order?

This has been my intention for some time. What's the best way to do this? Is there a good complete works complete with notes available anywhere? Better off on kindle or with paper?

I don't see the point in reading it cold again as I'm unlikely to pick up any additional nuances of my own accord that I missed the first time around.

Hey guys, I read Ulysses straight through "cold" and will be returning to it soon with a guide. I loved it but now I feel a guide will allow me to squeeze a lot more out of it. Any recommendations?

So is the Divine Comedy available to read in novel form just like The Odyssey?

As far as I'm aware, The Odyssey by Homer and The Divine Comedy by Dante are epic poems, correct? SO for the English speaking reader they were converted into novels? If so, did they not lose their...

I had a very similar experience while reading Ulysses the first time. I loved the opening but was feeling a bit baffled after Proteus. Then when I read about Bloom's pork kidney sizzling on the pan I...

Probably The Road by Cormac McCarthy, or Blood Meridian by the same perpetrator.

I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way about The Grapes of Wrath. I can see it's a great book, but I didn't enjoy it.

I read the Lord of The Flies and can't really remember what I...

The Grapes of Wrath. What's the appeal?

I too have a "scientific bent" but if I don't get every reference I can enjoy the work for the beauty of it's prose. Nevertheless I still understand the plot etc very well, it's just the bits and...

I'd recommend reading it without a guide the first time, and then revisting with a guide/annotations later to pick up the nuances. If you're really stuck the first time then read chapter summaries...

Well Finnegan is a diminutive of the Irish name Fionn, which means fair. The book is named after the 1850s Irish ballad Finnegans Wake. It has also been suggested hat the name is a pun suggestng the...

Well as you probably know it's Roman for Odysseus. So he called it Ulysses because it was modelled on The Odyssey. When asked why he called it Ulysses, Joyce replied: "because it is my working...

Finnegan is an irish surname, but i take it you mean what it means on a deeper level?

A fair appraisal! Never read Pynchon yet. I'd be similar to you, well read but never studied literature formally. If the pleasure of the language is enough to keep me going then I'll keep on...

Is it really that bad? I imagine the answer is yes. Just as a barometer, how much of a slog was ulysses for you?

Thanks ya I can imagine it becoming very tedious. leaning towards a cold rereading