Halfway through Ulysses!

I hit about 47% through listening to Ulysses, and I got stalled, big time. Part of it was catching up on the companion books that I finally got from the library, and part of it was realizing I didn't remember hardly anything from the second part (of 4) that I'd tried listening to in audio.

At least I now know I can't absorb audio books in the following situations:

• Grocery shopping (such a shame!)
• Right after work
• While working on anything else (knew this already)
• During any time my brain is spinning, like lately with the semester starting

I started to develop a routine.  Listen to one chapter in Ulysses, then read the companion books about that chapter - first Blamires, then Gilbert, then Hart/Hayman.  The only trouble is that neither the audio book nor the Kindle version (based on the public domain editions) have the modern chapters with titles.  The audio book has chapters but they are arbitrary and split by time, not contents (argh!).  So I've been juggling multiple versions of this thing, including a few online versions that have the named chapter titles. 

I'm getting closer to the chapter that every scholar talks about or alludes to - Circe.  Halfway through Ulysses, at least in the audio book, is about 1/3 of the way through Chapter 10 - The Wandering Rocks.  It is strange to post halfway through a chapter, but here I am!

What will follow are probably what seem like random observations, or little bits that stuck out to me.  I'll leave the food observations out, but I'm taking note of those to maybe make a Ulysses meal at the end.  Why not? 

"'A father,' Stephen said, battling against hopelessness, 'is a necessary evil.'"
This is from the epic chapter debating Shakespeare to infinity.  There does seem to be a struggle between Stephen and his father, and a greater separation than I remember there being in Portrait.  Of course, Stephen is 3-4 years older now, and has lost his mother in that time.

A few other things I learned about that chapter from the helper books.  Both of these observations come from the chapter on Scylla and Charybdis written by Robert Kellogg in the James Joyce's Ulysses: Critical Essays volume.  The very first sentence says:

"The soul of a city is its talk.  Whether its body is resplendent with avenues or is smudged with laborious grime the vital signs of civic life are verbal: gossip, stories, speeches, and conversations of every sort. The literary artist who would render a city must reproduce its talk. Of no city is this more true than of Dublin, and one of the rarest moments in the fictional history of human talk is 'Scylla and Charybdis,'....."

 Basically, the part I really had to slog through, the part that interested me in the least, is the very part I am supposed to be appreciating the most, according to this guy.  I think it was reading this essay that made me go back and try listening to it one more time.

I also had said I was puzzled why Joyce, over and over, calls one character the "Quaker librarian."  Apparently students who couldn't afford to go to Trinity College or some of the other universities would still meet at the National Library.  Not just students, but intellectuals of all sorts, would gather and the "Quaker librarian," Thomas W. Lyster, would lead the conversation.  Interesting.  It also makes me feel better as a reader to realize I wasn't supposed to just accept that this long, very deep, very detailed conversation on Shakespeare, etc., just materialized.  Rather it came out of a tradition, something Stephen and his friends probably do on a regular basis. 

It may still be my least favorite chapter, but I feel more approving of the young scholars.  They like to learn, and enjoy discussing their knowledge.  I really can't fault anyone for that.  And in the end, Joyce got one huge laugh out of me when Buck Mulligan is stumbling around and announces, "I smell the pubic sweat of monks!" He always manages to pull out something overly descriptive.  Or maybe that is just Mulligan's way.

It should all be downhill from here, right?  A new friend in GoodReads directed me to a very interesting blog/podcast by Frank Delaney, called Re: Joyce.  He is taking little bits of Ulysses and explaining them in detail.  The podcasts are short, but it seems like this might take years.  YEARS!  He is the most eloquent man in the world, according to NPR, so I would bet he has something to say.  I'm subscribing to see what I can learn.

The SFFaudio Podcast #123

Over the weekend, I got to hang out with the guys on The SFFaudio Podcast, a podcast devoted to audio books of science fiction and fantasy. They have been around since 2003! I learned a lot, added a lot to my to-read list, and even chattered a bit about what I had been reading lately (even the decidedly NOT sff book Ulysses). This particular episode focused on new releases, which they appear to do about once a month. They also host readalongs, story discussions, and their blog has even more content.

Do you listen to any book podcasts? Tell me more!

Booker Longlist Reading - The Testament of Jesse Lamb and The Sisters Brothers

I'm taking the easy way and copying my GoodReads reviews of these two books below. Both of these were solid 3/5 stars, one because I didn't appreciate the preachy nature of the novel, and one because it was a fun and quick read but not really a genre I enjoy (so I wouldn't ever read it again).

The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When I saw the Booker Longlist for 2011, I was most excited about this book. It took a while to track it down since not many libraries in the states had purchased it yet!

I love a good dystopian novel, but I think this one is a little less than good. The premise is interesting - every human has been infected with MDS, a disease which lies dormant in the body until a woman becomes pregnant, and she dies soon after. Humanity is having to face the idea of becoming extinct, and it doesn't take long for one solution to present itself - 15-16 year olds who sacrifice their lives to become Sleeping Beauties, basically zombie-incubators for embryos that are still experimental within the time of the narration. (Zombies because the women still end up dying from the disease, not *actual* zombies).

The entire novel is somewhat of a journal written by Jessie Lamb, interspersed with accounts of her being held hostage in a room.

The story is compelling. The Handmaid's Tale meets Never Let Me Go meets, I don't know, Uglies? It does have an underlying YA feel to it, because of the emphasis on the teenage characters and their continuing interpersonal dramas, while the adults fade into the background. The way the parents are characterized is confusing, as the mother in particular seems unresponsive and untraumatized by events.

My biggest issue with the novel is how preachy it is. In the beginning you find 15 year olds waxing eloquently about how the earth will thrive after humans have died off, and mourning the devastation and pollution, which of course is unrealistic, and of course is just used for the author to make us understand how Truly Terrible this disease is. Just not necessary! A little more subtlety would have been greatly appreciated.

It happens again when the Sleeping Beauties come up, the comparison that the author draws between these young women entering into this arrangement knowing they will die and (mostly) men who do the same in entering a war. It is her argument, I'm not going to weigh in on it, but was another moment where I was taken completely out of the story because of how heavy-handed it was.

For another take on The Testament of Jesse Lamb, I enjoyed the entry over on Uncommon Reading. Suzanne captures how haunting the novel is, despite its faults, in a way I have not.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not bad, just not my thing. A romp through Oregon and California during the Gold Rush, along with the Sisters brothers, who are ruthless killers. The cover art was my favorite part. That shouldn't keep you from trying it. I think others would like it more than I did.

View all my reviews

Reading Ulysses - Getting Unstuck

There is nothing worse than rhetoric for the sheer joy of it, when it isn't your subject of interest. I've listened to chapter 9 - Scylla and Charybdis - at least three times, because I keep zoning out and thinking of other things. Anything else, really.

Blamires sums it up pretty well:

The menace is created by a wordy encounter between Stephen Dedalus and a group of talkative scholars in the National Library. Whirlpool images occur several times, associated with the swirling depths of Platonist metaphysics in which Russell and the librarians are whirled. -Harry Blamires, The New Bloomsday Book

Okay, I confess. I'm not even halfway interested in the multiple layers of meaning going on with Shakespeare, his real life, his characters and their potential real lives, and only partially interested in what this has to do with the characters in Ulysses. At this point I'm going to soldier through it and see what is on the other side.

Part of it is that my attention is distracted. Classes started today so it is hard to turn my mind off and just listen to an audio book when my to-do list is a mile long, and there are more mindless books to zip through, and I have been. This may not have been the right part of Ulysses to tackle when attacked by the many-headed monsters of my own life! At least I partially grasp that reference, eh?

One silly detail sustaining and repeaking my interest from time to time is the character fondly referred to as the "Quaker librarian." Why is his Quakerness so important that it must be always used? I'll look for an explanation of that before moving on in the text.

I'm not worried that I wont finish. Most mighty tomes have draggy parts. I keep reminding myself that at least it isn't whale anatomy like in Moby Dick!

Hugo Awards 2011

I've been watching the awards online tonight. I had made my own picks in four categories, and the Hugo Award voters agreed with one of the four.

The winners in those four categories:

Best Short Story:
“For Want of a Nail” by Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s, September 2010)

Best Novelette:
"The Emperor of Mars” by Allen M. Steele (Asimov’s, June 2010)

Best Novella (this is where I agreed):
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang (Subterranean)

Best Novel:
Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Ballantine Spectra)

Please go back to my original post to find out what I thought of the nominees in these categories. I had a great time reading everything nominated in the four big areas, although I'm not sure I'd bother watching the actual awards ceremony again.

James Joyce Playlist

I haven't posted on Ulysses for a few days.  I'm busy catching up on the commentary reading, to get back to where I'd left off in my listening, and I will go back to it once I have.

In the meantime, I decided to try out Spotify, the newest music sharing, listening, and discovery service to the United States (it has been popular in the UK for ages). I have become a big fan of cloud music, and have accounts in Rhapsody and Mog, so was curious about this one.

Then one of my colleagues posted a link to the Spotify Classical blog, which culls out classical content from Spotify and puts it into playlists. As I scanned through recent posts, I saw one on the Music from Works of James Joyce. I was almost as happy as when I listened to Haunted while reading House of Leaves. I love when there is a connection between books and music, probably because music is almost a more familiar language to me. Those connections make both elements more memorable. I will definitely listen to this playlist from time to time as I read Ulysses!

Disclaimer: I do not get paid anything by Spotify. In fact, in the strangeness of having a free account with them, my playlists keep getting interrupted by weird commercials for music way outside the genre of the music I'm listening to.

Two from the Man Booker Prize Longlist

As discussed previously, not all the books on the Man Booker Prize Longlist are available yet in the United States, but I'm doing what I can to read what I have access to in between chapters of Ulysses.


First up - Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman, which I borrowed from a friend, who had an Advanced Readers Copy.  I really enjoyed this. Harri, the eleven-year-old protagonist, is a (possibly illegal) immigrant from Ghana, living in the projects in London. The book is full of a mixture of slang and beliefs from Ghana and his new community. Like most children, he doesn't fully understand what is going on around him, and has no grasp of the danger and violence he is surrounded by. I think that makes the story more compelling than it would be if the author hit me over the head with it.  It is his innocence contrasted to the world that makes me think of some kind of weird hybrid between Room and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.  


If the name Kelman sounds familiar, you might be thinking of James Kelman, who won a Booker in 1994 for How Late It Was, How Late, which remains one of my favorite Booker Prize winners.  As far as I know, there is no relation between the two. James Kelman is Scottish, and Stephen Kelman grew up in the projects of Luton, England (much like Harri!), according to his author profile on the Hougthton Mifflin Harcourt site.  This is Stephen Kelman's first novel, and I do hope it makes it to the shortlist.  


It was my misfortune to read an ARC of this, because I've heard that the finalized book includes a glossary of all the slang used in the book.  This would have been helpful at times.  I loved the language in it, and felt it added a lot to the dynamics between the characters, as well as instilling the sense of youth that it needs to have.  I'm tempted to add "Gowayou" to my own vocabulary.


The second selection was Snowdrops by A.D. Miller.  This is another first novel from the list of nominees.  It is the story of Nick, an American lawyer, and his four years working in Moscow, written in the form of a letter to someone he is in love with, I think we're supposed to assume a fiancee.

It is the Moscow of the 2000s, when capitalism has taken hold. The past has taught people not to ask questions and stay out of trouble, and the culture has morphed into one where if you have enough cash, you can buy anything you need. Nick sees the manifestations of this every day in his work, where they assist in business deals that are clearly at least ethically borderline.  I wonder how much of this is from the author's real experience, since he was the Russian correspondent for The Economist from 2004-2007.  (Actually, there is a minor character in the novel that I suspect is where he placed himself, the "only friend" that Nick thinks he has).

The book starts and ends with a dead body, and in between involves a bunch of scam artists and frigid surroundings.  I tend to get frustrated with passive characters, and to me, Nick could do something and doesn't, and that drives me crazy.  He seems content to watch the drama surrounding his life unfold, kind of like that paper snowflake on the cover!

I'm not much on the story, but I like the way it was told.  The descriptions of Moscow are vivid, but not in a way that would make you want to visit.  

"Russia is like Lariam. You know, that malaria medicine that can make you have wild dreams and jump out of the window. You shouldn't do it if you're the kind of person who gets anxious or guilty. Because you'll crack."

This was a quick read.  Not having read the other nominees yet, I can't make a definitive pick for who I think should be on the shortlist, but I am not sure Snowdrops belongs there.   I am not sure it has the staying power that I think Pigeon English might have.  One interesting theme in both novels is isolation and loneliness - one from being an immigrant, one from being an expatriate.  Both Harri and Nick try to become insiders in their new cultures.  One is a pushover, and one is not.