I have joined Team Ulysses

Over on the dovegreyreader scribbles site she has set up a joined-up reading task titled, Team Ulysses. Basically, as of June 16, 2009, anyone on Team Ulysses is encouraged to read at least 2 pages a day of the great book in the hopes of finishing the text by the deadline date of July 16, 2010. I have joined the team and am excited about it, because I have always wanted to read the entire text. I have read excerpts from the book for a class, but have never actually been assigned to read the entire book. Truth be told, I found the idea of reading the book a bit daunting. There is so much information to unpack within the text that I assumed it would take me years to complete the book. Okay, so it would not take me years to read the book, but it would take me quite some time to really understand the book. Joyce was a literary genius who utilized everything he knew and placed it within his text, as some sort of treasure hunt; Literature within literature, with a book that is written in the literary form of "stream of consciousness". Wow! Sounds quite wonderful and rather intriguing. Also, sounds a bit scary. Of course, I realize that Ulysses is not Finnegan's Wake, which I have heard takes a lifetime to fully understand. Isn't that a bit crazy? A book that takes a lifetime to comprehend? Well, its crazy and its genuis to create a work that obsesses people for the rest of their life. I guess Joyce knew what he was doing, eh? Well, I am going to dive right in and tackle Ulysses at last. Truth be told I am happy that we have a year to read the book, because I figure that over the course of one year I should be able to understand it and explain it. Alright, well, happy reading to all. Let the reading begin!