Opinions?
I recently read (I'm not sure where) that a lot of scholars recommend that readers listen to Ulysses as opposed to reading it. Due to the narrator's pauses, inflections and tone, apparently readers will get a more robust understanding of the material in audio form. I currently have two credits on my Audible account and am struggling to get even a short way into the copy of Ulysses I borrowed from my local library. What to do, what to do? So... dear readers, what do you think? Do you think I'd be better off downloading the audiobook from Audible? Or should I keep trudging along with the hardcover? Stephen Fry, whom I adore because JUST LISTEN TO HIM!, seems to believe that Ulysses should be a joy for me to read. And while a lot of this challenge is about the sheer volume and difficulty of the books, much more of it to me is about having the stories become a part of you. I don't want to read these books simply to cross them off of a list... I want them to be a part of my experience and something I can think on for years to come. And unfortunately, I am apparently missing the humor and beauty Stephen Fry finds in Ulysses. That seems a bit of a tragedy to me and something I didn't want to happen when it came to this challenge... just breezing through books without any true understanding simply to be done with them. If there is something beautiful and affirming for me to get out of Joyce's work... I'd like to avoid missing that experience.
Also, if there was an audio version of Ulysses where Stephen was the narrator, I wouldn't even be asking your opinions. That shit would've been downloaded already. Because JUST LISTEN TO HIM!