Went to Bloomsday last year, packed house, listening to some local celebrities reading from Ulysses...at some point during the evening they asked the audience (200) how many had actually read the book. Four of us put up our hands(!) It IS worth the effort. It took me ages to get past the first 100 pages. I would pick it up and put it down, defeated. Then I read a book about Ulysses called 'The Book as World' and tried again to read U. I finally GOT it. I re-read it often now, loving it more, and finding more in it, every time. Of course it helps that I've got a decent copy, green cloth-bound, 1967 edition, published by The Bodley Head. On the flyleaf it lists all the previous editions. It looks like this was the first since 1937!

Cheers,
Quokka