Your Quote of the Day

The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.”
― Thomas Paine

"Any law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all."
Maximilian Robespierre

Art is amoral; so is life. For me there are no obscene pictures or books; there are only poorly conceived and poorly executed ones.”
― Irving Stone, Lust for Life

One of the songs I'm gonna sing is 'We all in the same boat brother. You rock it too far to the right you fall in the waddah, rock it too far to the left you fall in the same waddah, and it's just as wet on both sides.'”
Huddie Ledbetter

“Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.” --Will Rogers

Just don’t take any class where you have to read BEOWULF.”
—Woody Allen

Say nothing of having to figure out how to pronounce it properly, edgar!

“And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass”
― Ezra Pound

Someone once said that the classics are things everyone wishes they could pretend to have read but would rather not.

I rarely have read a book simply because it was deemed a classic. And some of those great books did nothing at all for me. Reading should be an individual adventure, at least for some of us.

I'd say for all of us, Ed.

Allowed, we have to run the treadmill that is education.

I really, really want to read Ulysses one of these days.
Don't ask me why - maybe the challenge, or something ...?
Something like seven fruitless attempts so far ....
It defeats me every single time.
But I will read it, I will!
I even bought another copy just a few months ago.
When the time is right I'm gonna do it!

I think that you might better give thought to an west-east crossing of Australia on foot, or by kangaroo, Ms O.

I was much the same as you, re Ulysses. I immediately felt great empathy with the writer, but kept getting bogged down and leaving it unread. Finally, I realized that what would work for me would be to read it through the way one plows through Stephen King's work. Ignoring the fact I did not understand many passages, I read every bit of it. Amazingly, I felt I had understood and remembered far more than might be expected. After that, I kept going back and rereading much of it and looking up history and word meanings. I have a beautiful copy in the book case and a ragged copy on my computer desk.

That might be easier, JTT.

But hang on, I just saw edgar's post!

So it is possible, edgar?
And worth the effort, too?
Thank you. You've inspired me!

So far, so good ...

Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him on the mild morning air.

~ First lines, Ch. 1

Ulysses (novel):
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ulysses_%28novel%29

Once I made my decision, I read industriously, every evening, for a long time. On the other hand, I have no intent to ever tackle Finnegan's Wake.

I do recall reading Portrait of the Artist ... many, many years ago.
I think I enjoyed it.

You'll need lots of food and of course, copious amounts of water, Ms O.