This Austin book club has been reading the same book for 12 years. They’re not even close to done.

[Allan]

This book club is reading a novel so incomprehensible they're reading one page at a time.

In 1939, Irish author James Joyce published Finnegans Wake, a piece of literature that defies comprehension.

“riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s,” it begins, “from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.”

The book starts and ends with a sentence fragment, combines multiple languages and has no clear or linear plot.

It’s a work that’s so dense, one group that started in Austin has been working on it for more than a decade.

This book club has been reading the same book for 12 years. They’re not even close to done.

The Finnegans Wake Reading Group of Austin, TX reads one page every other week.

www.texasstandard.org

@Decypher

 

[Helix]

When I saw the thread title, I wondered if the book was Ulysses. I guess that I was close. I haven't read either book. Maybe I will eventually.

 

[lynnwinslow]

This book club is reading a novel so incomprehensible they're reading one page at a time.

This book club has been reading the same book for 12 years. They’re not even close to done.

The Finnegans Wake Reading Group of Austin, TX reads one page every other week.

www.texasstandard.org

@Decypher

I had a high school teacher who published a book about Joyce so we read bits and pieces of Finnegan's Wake for class.

My current book club would all read the first page and say, "Next!".

 

[Allan]

My current book club would all read the first page and say, "Next!".

First page of Finnegans Wake...

 

[OlNate]

First page of Finnegans Wake...

View attachment 67571318

Wow... my ADHD just steel toe kicked me in the balls for even trying to read that.

I have to assume a lot of absinthe was involved in the writing of this.

 

[SNOWFLAKE]

When I saw the thread title, I wondered if the book was Ulysses. I guess that I was close. I haven't read either book. Maybe I will eventually.

Would you want to?

 

[Gaius46]

Pass. I have a hard enough time with comprehensible English.

 

[Loulit01]

Even I, a constant reader, the proverbial reader of toothpaste tubes and cereal boxes, draw the line at Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses. I'm sure they're awe inspiring works of genius, but there are plenty of others out there that won't cause me to pull out my hair. (A very good thing since I shave my head.)

Also, Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury is not currently on my TBR list.

 

[Loulit01]

Would you want to?

Many lists of the greatest novels of all time place Ulysses at number one. I feel guilty about not having read it, but I'd rather feel guilty than read it.

 

[Bodecea]

This book club is reading a novel so incomprehensible they're reading one page at a time.

This book club has been reading the same book for 12 years. They’re not even close to done.

The Finnegans Wake Reading Group of Austin, TX reads one page every other week.

www.texasstandard.org

@Decypher

I've tried... I've really tried.

 

[Allan]

I've tried... I've really tried.

My first trip to Dubin I thought I'd get in the mood by reading something Irish on the trip. I'd read most of Oscar Wilde's stuff so I picked up a book (I forget what) by James Joyce.

I settled into my comfy Air Canada seat and opened the book.

I think I was surfing movies on the entertainment system before wheels up.

 

[Helix]

Would you want to?

Not sure yet. I haven't started reading one of his books. I went through a period about a decade and a half ago when I was reading classics to expand my knowledge. I enjoyed it for the most part.

 

[Gaius46]

Many lists of the greatest novels of all time place Ulysses at number one. I feel guilty about not having read it, but I'd rather feel guilty than read it.

If you're in the mood for an easy to read classic with an Irish twist I read Seamus Heany's prose translation of Beowulf years ago and thought it was a masterpiece.

 

[Allan]

Many lists of the greatest novels of all time place Ulysses at number one. I feel guilty about not having read it, but I'd rather feel guilty than read it.

Let's start a DP Book Club to read Ulysses. We'll read one page at a time and then meet on the forum to try to figure out what the heck we just read.

At a page a week it will take us 14 years.