Bloomsday

100 years ago today: June 16, 1904 was a very normal day in Dublin, Ireland for Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom.

I spent an entire semester in college reading and ripping apart (or trying to) Ulysses. I've held on to my Ulysses Annotated because I may want to dive into the book again and looking up the obscure references is fun. I enjoyed Joyce's stream-of-consciousness writing, but it took me a while to get into it. William Faulkner said it perfectly:
You should approach Joyce’s Ulysses as the illiterate Baptist preacher approaches the Old Testament: with faith.

It would be fun to be in Dublin for part of ReJoyce Dublin. I'd like to see where Bloom had his glass of Burgundy and gorgonzola sandwich. When I was there in 1999, I didn't get the chance. Instead I'll spend some time looking at the Philadelphia Inquirer's 100 Years of Bloomsday.