Why Should I Read This? Ulysses by James Joyce
“Ugh, I’d rather read Ulysses than this,” I said, turning away from my computer.
My coworkers stared at me. They know I hate the long-winded jargon that I was skimming through, but nobody commented on my reaction to it.
It might have been my monotone voice. Or maybe they don’t know what Ulysses by James Joyce is. It’s kind of an obscure book and somewhat difficult to read. If I had said “I’d rather read Moby Dick than this,” I’d probably have gotten a laugh.
Instead, I got nothing. It was that kind of day.
I should have known from the cover that this book wasn’t about Roman mythology.
When it comes to reading classic literature, there are a lot of challenges. The writing style from novels published generations ago can confuse today’s readers. Some of the books have lots of references that today’s readers don’t understand. And a lot of those classic novels are just too long for our short attention spans. Any one of those challenges can deter people like me from trying a book. But when a novel is challenging on every level, I know I’m screwed.
The worst of all of these classic novels might be Ulysses by James Joyce. I don’t know if Ulysses really is the worst of all the tough classic novels because I haven’t read most of the tough classic novels. I’ve been told it’s not fair to judge a book that you haven’t read, but I…
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Dysfunctional Literacy 