Mission Accomplished

Last night I finished the book. I wasn't sure I could do it, but Ulysses by Christmas is a reality. I feel good for having made it through the book, but I recognize that as soon as I finished I immediately turned to the annotations and 2 different books of notes for clues. My ability to pronounce all of the words far exceeded my ability to understand them as grouped. In the end, however, I achieved the goal of reading Ulysses, all of it.

The End is in Sight

If you ever want to put off doing something just say, 'let me finish this sentence..." and then pick up Ulysses for the last sentence. I'm there now and will be for 40+ more pages. This last sentencesection (I can be Joycean, too) is devoid of punctuation, including apostrophes and periods. Jeepers Thats all I can say about that you can believe it you sure can Oh my goodness

I expect to finish the book tonight and then read the notes to learn what the book was about. Did I really read the book or pronounce words to myself in my head? I'll let you know once I finish the notes.

Halftime

Today I made it to the halfway point of Ulysses. I still feel like I'm slogging through the snow, uphill, but today I made it to the top of the mountain. So...I get the politics of a free Ireland; my whole life I have listened to this. In fact, I can't get behind the drink Black and Tan if it is composed as Guinness and Bass Ale. Another major theme seems to be antisemitism. Terrific, two things I understand! Right before the halfway point there were a couple of sections consisting primarily of lists. While I'm sure the annotations will explain how this was great literature, I was reminded of my writing assignments in grade school when I incorporated the entire required vocabulary list into 1 or 2 sentences. Here's one of my greatest hits:
"The pink chair sat on the red rug in a room that included..." then I would list whatever other nouns, etc. could possibly fit. Cheating or Joycean?

On and On

The calendar tells me it is December and my tabbed copy of Ulysses tells me I am in trouble. I fear I may not make the goal of Ulysses by Christmas. Four tabs down, seven to go. Those Dedalus chapters are killer or should I say "chaptersarekiller" and start crafting my own faux compound words? I know I can do this but I digressed with a detour into Stieg Larsson, so I lost a little time. Maybe if I apply myself...