Literature is the topic on day 2 for the weeks lesson in The Intellectual Devotional. Subject: Ulysses by James Joyce. I haven't read this book. Have you? They make reference to his use of "stream-of-consciousness narrative" and I have read another author that used that style, William Faulkner (Oprah's Book Club ;-> ). Wow. Talk about an exercise in concentration.
If you aren't familiar with this style of writing, here's an example from Ulysses:
"He is young Leopold, as in a retrospective arrangement, a mirror within a mirror (hey, presto!), he beholdeth himself. That young figure of then is seen, precious manly, walking on a nipping morning from the old house in Clambrassil to the high school, his book satchel on him bandolier wise, and in it a goodly hunk of wheaten loaf, a mother’s thought.”
Once you find your groove with the writer then it can be enjoyable, like a game. But in the beginning it was difficult for me to relax with Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying". Like I would hold my breath waiting for the end of the sentence that would never come. But it does, eventually. And you breathe, gratefully, and relax with the writing, the telling of the story.
With regard to Ulysses its last chapter has more than 24,000 words and those words are broken up into 8 mammoth sentences. whoa. Sounds like a challenge. I'll put this on my list of "Books To Read". Have you read James Joyce "Ulysses"? Did it have an impact on you? I will say, even thought reading Faulkner was a trial at times, the images that his words created have stayed with me. For better or worse ;->