Ulysses

Ulysses was the legendary Greek King of Ithaca and appeared in Homer's Odysseus, which I read. I also read the Iliad by Homer. He was brilliant although it did take him ten years to find home after the Trojan War. Alfred Lord Tennyson picks up Ulysses' life story after he returns in another poem. I read this albeit (take that Rick and Julia) many decades ago.

What I did not and will never read beyond page 28 is James Joyce's Ulysses. Even as a compulsive reader, and as an English literature major, I cannot get through it after many tries. My tombstone, were I to have one, could read "She never finished Ulysess."

And every so often I'm reminded of this breach of my literary education, like today in Monaco when I came across a statue by Anna Chromy by the same name as my nemesis novel. It is a beautiful man, muscular and gold decorated.

Maybe my enjoyment today will make up for not reading Joyce's novel. Or not!