Upcoming Reading Events.

I have two reading events to talk about-mainly to let you know that I'm participating, and you should too!

(I know you would think that given the Victorian extravaganza I have enough going on, but I don't).

First up is an event taking place this Saturday-Bloomsday.

Bloomsday takes place on the 16th of June every year, and is essentially a celebration of the day in which James Joyce's Ulysses is based. This Saturday a crazy group, including yours truly, is going to try and tackle reading Joyce's ramblings in 24 hours.

I KNOW, right?

But I think it should be fun, and during my one failed attempt at tackling Ulysses, I was mad that I didn't just power through. This will give me the opportunity to do so.

If you want to join in, go and check O's post for all the details. There is also a linky there so you can sign up for the insanity. And, if you just want to read part of Ulysses, or something else by Joyce to celebrate that day, you can do that too. ;)

The second big event is the announcement of the group read for the second book in the Mistborn trilogy. I joined in on the read for the first book a little late, but I flew through the book in no time. I have been anxious to find out what happens next, so I can't even tell you how happy I am to have this on deck!

What other reading events are going on that I should know about? You know me, I'm always looking for the next big challenge! :)

Book 98: Dubliners by James Joyce (Finished).

I am somewhat intimidated by Joyce. After my failed attempts to take part in the Ulysses readalong this past spring, I thought I would never gain the courage to tackle his work again. But I figured I would start small with Dubliners, a collections of Joyce's short stories. I brought it on vacation with me, hoping that reading it by the pool would help me tackle it.

But no amount of fruity drinks or pretty little umbrellas could help me read these stories. In fact, I just plain stopped reading on vacation so I could avoid Joyce. Instead, I played hours of Suduko on Homer (nookcolor). Productive? Not really.

But, once we were on the plane back to Detroit, I told myself I had to finish the stories before we landed, or else. I'm not sure where that threat was going to take me, but it worked because I finished the stories and promptly told Matt how much I hated them.

To be fair, there was one story I actually loved and two I could tolerate. But the other twelve? Awful. I had to force myself through them. And I sincerely tried. I wanted to like more of them, I wanted to appreciate Joyce's writing, but I just couldn't. A lot of the time I just had no idea what he wanted me to get from his story. I was left thinking, "Ummm...and the point was?"

Perhaps I am not intelligent enough to appreciate his genius. But I was bored. At least the 60 pages of Ulysses I read were fully entertaining and full of ridiculousness. That I could be entertained by.

I should probably talk about the stories I did like. And perhaps you can read those and skip the rest. "A Little Cloud" is about two men who were once close friends. Eight years has separated them from each other and in that time period, they have grown to be very different people. Over a small meal and a few drinks, they discuss what they've done and the lives they led. One has had adventures in places like Paris, with women and money, while the other married and has a child. Joyce explores the contrast between the two from the point of view of the man who married. I liked that after the conversation in the bar, we follow the man home to meet his wife and child. I could sense what Joyce was exploring-the difference in choice and where our choices may lead us.

The other story that I sort of enjoyed was "A Mother." This was third from the end in the collection, and by this point, I needed a laugh. And I did chuckle during this one. The mother in the story is slightly overbearing in pushing her daughter into musical society. During a negotiated concert, her daughter has not been paid in advance and the mother starts demanding her daughter's payment. This one made me laugh in the "oh I am so glad I am not her daughter" kind of way as her behavior was embarrassing. I mean, don't we all have those moments where family members embarrass us? Anyway, the story seemed much lighter than the others and I enjoyed the "break" from some of the heavier stories.

Hands down, the best story in the bunch was "The Dead," which is also kind of heralded as Joyce's best. In this story, we meet a large group of family members at a mansion for dinner on Christmas Eve. They talk, laugh, share memories and sing, but soon one family member is reminded of someone dead that they had loved a long time ago. I don't want to say anything else, but the way Joyce slowly drew me in really grabbed me. The mystery of who "the dead" was had me turning the pages in anticipation. And since this story was a little longer than the others, I felt more comfortable with who the characters were and why they did the things they did. I can see why this story has so much power and punch. I think that this story would be enough to whet your appetite for Joyce.

I feel like I should at least say that I can appreciate what Joyce was doing with these stories. They vary in character and setting, but we see a little bit of everything in them. We see the poor and the wealthy, the male and the female. We see the sense of choice in each of the stories, and perhaps a little bit of fate.

But for me, the majority didn't work for me. I had to trudge through them looking for the gems. I am hoping this won't be the case when I tackle The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, or when I work up enough courage to try Ulysses again, but at least I know now that there might be something of value hidden in those as well. I just have to dig.

Anyone else have experience with Joyce or with these stories? Am I completely off base to have disliked so many of them? Please share!

Jousting with Joyce Post 1:

I'm participating in the "Jousting for Joyce" insanity that is being hosted over at Fizzy Thoughts. For those of you who have no idea what we're doing, a small group of us (I think 12 signed up) are reading Joyce's Ulysses.

Hands down, this is the hardest thing I have ever read. I alternate thinking, "Man, Joyce must have been a genius to make so many connections to all of these pieces of history and literature," and thinking, "What the hell was Joyce smoking?"

I have found myself reading and rereading the first three chapters that make up this first post. Since Ulysses is modeled after Homer's Odyssey, which I love, I am picking up on a lot of the allusions to Homer. The first three chapters are called the "Telemachus" chapters, modeled after Odysseus' son in the Odyssey.

Stephen Dedalus is the main character that we meet in Chapter 1. He is surrounded by people who use and abuse him (or at least that is what I pulled from the chapter). This is definitely a lot like Telemachus, who is surrounded by his mother's suitors (lazy jerks). Dedalus is surrounded by the cocky Buck Mulligan, who is simply a huge bully.

Chapter two follows Dedalus to his job working at a school. He teaches his pupils and then goes to his boss to collect his paycheck. Supposedly this chapter is full of great references and lines, but I struggled just to follow along. The two of them, Dedalus and his boss, sit and chat about Ireland, and of course, the evil Jews.

Chapter three was by far the most difficult thing to read. Stephen wanders around and starts philosophizing about his life and what's going on. This is all in stream of consciousness. I think I'm pretty good at figuring out that style of writing, but comparing the way Woolf and Faulkner use this to Joyce...it is completely different. Joyce takes it to this far level. Besides that, he is filling it all with these allusions to other pieces...I found myself backtracking and rereading it. I got lost, looked things up on Google, reading summaries of the chapter online, and did a ton of research. And even when I read it again this afternoon for the fifth time, I still didn't get all of it.

I suppose what I am saying is that I no longer wonder why this novel is considered so difficult, and why people can spend months and years reading it trying to understand it.

I also understand why they make those annotated versions, so that people like me can have something to refer to for help with all of those references. I am definitely going to get one of those before I go any farther.

But I am enjoying this. And seeing how far Joyce is going to push me before I completely crack. I'll see you back in two more weeks for the next 6 chapters.

Jousting with Joyce: or Because I am Insane.

Whenever I see an announcement pop up for a readalong, something happens to me. My heart begins to pound, my fingers twitch, and the little nerdy parts of my brain begin to send off these signals that say, "DO IT" until I do. I cave in easily to my nerdy impulses.

That is my only explanation for what I am about to tell you.

You see, there is another readalong going on in February and March, and its on that lovely book we all cower in front of-yes, James Joyce's Ulysses. It is the only big scary book that I wasn't going to tackle in 2010, but since this is the year of insanity, I have decided to go for it.

I know that I will regret this decision eventually. Because not only am I starting this monster in February, I will also be finishing War and Peace, reading all of Oliver Twist, and starting Atlas Shrugged in March.

Yes, my name is Allie and I am addicted to readalongs.

There are worse things, right?

In any case the plan is to read the following parts and post starting at the end of Week 1 (the first week of Feb.):

• End of week 1: thoughts on Section 1, chapters 1-3.
• End of week 3: this is midway through Section 2, through chapter 9.
• End of week 5: thoughts on Section 2, through chapter 15.
• End of week 6: Section 3, end of book.

If you are interesting in joining us, you can head over to Fizzy Thoughts and join in! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! :)