I read it while I was in college, but I seem to remember that it took a long time, because I was studing other things at the same time. It's on my list of things to re-read, maybe this winter. I recently read a book called The Irish Ulysses, by Maria Tymoczko. It's out of print, I think, but you might still find copies on Alibris. It was a very interesting analysis of Ulysses as a work of Irish literature.