STATELY, PLUMP

Impulse-bought Ulysses to give it another try after all these years. I lost the last one in a flood; if I am to lose this copy, maybe one of the other elements would be better. Maybe earth? In the meantime I plan to read it-- to read the fuck out of it-- or else I WILL KNOW THE REASON WHY. Believe it.

I read most of chapter 1 on the train and it was pretty absorbing. More intelligible than I remember finding it, too, even though nothing after "Come up, Kinch, you fearful jesuit!" was familiar. But that's only 23 pages out of 800; I am still quite a long way from home. I don't like the way secondary sources tend to blandly reveal later narrative developments, but I should probably get in the habit of at least looking up words and places. "Ashplant" doesn't sound like it could possibly be a walking stick, and yet it is.