In a word: Moof.

Ulysses is a long book. It takes about a year to read, at least when you're trying to take classes, work, and read a few shorter books in between. But it's not at all a bad way to spend that much time.

It's been said by too many intelligent people that "The only reason one reads Ulysses is to say they're reading Ulysses." I think this comment is outrageously disparaging of the nature of literature itself. It would be no different if it were "The only reason one reads Shakespeare is to say they're reading Shakespeare", or Dickens, or Melville, or any other major author. It suggests that these authors are no better than any other random writer, and that one only reads their works for the pretentiousness. This argument is completely ignorant of the fact that these "great writers" are so named because their works are better than the vast majority of English literature! These authors wrote ambitious, innovative, rich books, and they have been read and enjoyed by countless people. They would never have lasted out of their sheer pretentiousness, or the efforts of some secret literary-cabal, or any reason other than their own merits as works of art.

So ignore these pedantic criticisms, and read Ulysses for whatever reason you want. It's difficult and it's long, but with some effort it is readable and quite enjoyable. Just remember that, as Vladamir Nabokov put it, "the good reader is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense". And lots of time.

I don't have anything to rant about right now, but I have a few random things to recommend for your consumption:

I recently spent quite some time installing linux on my new (glorious) T43, and encountered a program called NetworkManager. This is a program linux desperately needs. It handles network connections without the slightest hassle, without using the command line, without editing configuration files. It's completely antithetical to the all other networking tools for linux, and that's perfect. It's terribly buggy right now, but that should improve.

Boredom leads to violin playing. Fortunately I have Bach's Partita #2 to work on. The Ciaccona is so difficult. Go listen to it. The arpeggios are insane. I don't know how anybody manages those string crossings. My attempts end up a total mess. I can do the final page reasonably well though. Fun stuff.

Picked up a copy of Catch-22. One of the best books I've read this year. Heller's writing style is hilarious and extremely unique. If you haven't read it already, do so.

Finished reading Dhalgren. Excellent book. It's quite a challenge to read (the AHD4 is essential,) and just short of impossible to understand. The first half was great. Eventually it started to drag and repeat itself though, as mostly the same events and same reactions occurred. It would have been better without the final 150 page chapter entitled "Anathemata". Overall I still prefer House of Leaves when it comes to what-the-hell-is-this-book-about fiction.

I'm 400 pages into The Brothers K. Good book. It is getting bogged down in religious stuff at the moment, Jacob this and He that, love thine oxen, etc. The religious stuff isn't too bad, but I'd still rather get away from the piety and back to the debauchery. I need another book to read (simultaneously,) so I'll probably grab something in Madison.

The combination is great. His works always seem to take place in the rain; his characters always seem drenched in rain.

It's raining. I'm reading Dostoevsky. The Brothers Karamazov. Maybe I'm just obsessed with 900+ page books, but it's quite good. It matches my rain-soaked emotional state. I don't feel like reviewing it further, and I'm don't know my literary criticism well enough anyways. Overall, I'm enjoying it. And while I'm talking about said author, I'll mention once more that everyone must read "Notes from the Underground". It's the single greatest short story I know of.

Went to orientation. Fun time. Met some very cool professors. Classes: Chem 111, Calc II, Engr 131: Intro to programming, French 101. My wrist hurts. From Typing. I'm going to continue reading.