Ulysses

According to one travel guide, Zurich has been James Joyce free since 1941. Joyce died there.

I have had a love/hate relationship with Joyce. Loved the Dubliners, started to fight my way through Portrait Artist as a Young Man as a university literature major and ended up treasuring it.

However, Ulysses and I have never been friends. Over the years I've tried to read it several times and by page 47, I give up saying life is too short. The last time I tried was over a decade ago after going through his home in Dublin.

I have joked that my tombstone should read "She never read Ulysesses."

I should have known something was up by the twinkle in my husband's eye as I opened one of my Christmas gifts. It was obviously a book, one of several that were my gifts. Our plan was to spend Christmas Eve reading our gift books like they do in Iceland.

Egad! Ulysses. It was a used copy bought at the English Library Sale.

My husband has a great sense of humor and I think I will try to get to page 48 this time. Maybe next year page 49 and 2020 50...