On hearing Ulysses

To help me in my quest to read Ulysses, I've checked out an audio version from the library -- 22 CDs read aloud! I'm surprised at how illuminating the audio version is, and it's definitely helping me make better progress with the book. The key reason is that Jim Norton, who reads the book, uses different tones of voices in a highly expert way. He uses a stately clear voice for standard narration; a slightly louder, accented voice for the dialogue; and a quieter, faster voice for the characters' inner thoughts. This, to me, is what makes Ulysses so difficult: Joyce blurs the lines significantly between narration, dialogue and inner thought. The audio version helps immensely in sorting out those strands. I've borrowed the Naxos audio version of Ulysses, read by Jim Norton with Marcella Riordan. On Amazon, it costs $94.49.