Ok so I have been listening to audiobooks a lot recently durring my hour commute to school. I signed up for Audible.com (great service btw), and just recently was “recomended” by the site that I listen to Ulysses. I was wondering, how good an idea is this? I know people say that to really get Ulysses you need to read it out loud, but are there any dopers who have tried the audiobook version? Can it be followed or do you just get lost in the language (a problem I had the last time I tried to *read *it.) The book is broken into 3 packages so if I go for it it is quite an investment (both time and money) so I want to be sure that I will be able to give the book a fair shot. I “read” the Fountainhead this way, but something tells me that Joyce might be a tad more difficult. What do you all think. Joyce fans as well as non Joyce reading audiobook fans opinions are both welcome.
It’s possible that your folks are thinking of Finnegans Wake, with regard to the “absolutely must be read aloud” thing. (The Finnegans Wake CD set is actually extremely helpful.)
Ulysses? So long as it’s an unabridged reading, by all means, check it out. The worst that can happen is that some obscure jokes might flow past you (Ulysess is a book that you’ll set down a lot as little things tickle your memory, and you might want to track them down) – but I can’t see how you might get “lost” as far as keeping track of the narrative.
Some of the stream-of-consciousness sections are perfect for readings. “Proteus” and “Penelope,” in particular, are fantastic when read aloud. (Stephen Dedalus’ thoughts as he walks along Sandymount Strand near the beginning of the novel, and Molly Bloom’s incredible run-on inner monologue as she lies in bed in the final chapter.) Other chapters, such as “Circe,” which is a hallucinatory night out, set down in script form, and “Ithaca,” the penultimate chapter, and presented in the form of a delightfully clinical catechism, are probably better on the page.
My best advice: Get it on “tape” (or whatever audio medium the kids are using these days,) and fall in love with it. Then pick up the doorstop of a book again. It’ll be easier on the next go-round, I promise. 
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Larry Mudd, I didn’t spend much money for non-consumables in Paris last spring, but I did buy a copy of Ulysess at Shakespeare and Company.
Never heard an audiobook, but Ulysses sounds like it might be an excellent choice to hear being read, even if it was just to prepare you for the real thing. I found Stpehen’s parts in the book to be quite difficult, the prose is really dense in places (Larry Mudd’s example of sandymount strand is an excellent case in point), to hear that being read aloud would be helpful, and probably sound great to boot.
That said, some of the writing in Ulysses is breathtaking and probably has to be read to be fully appreciated. The last chapter, Molly Bloom’s soliloquy, is some of the most scintillating prose I have ever read, its a real kick in the pants. I’m not sure it would sound as special in an audiobook.