In my last TMA, to plan my essay, I decided to begin by writing out the question and then answering it with as few words as possible. Then I used the answer to plot out my plan. It so happened there were about four answers to the question, and so these answers provided me with a topic for each paragraph. The final essay was better than anything I've written so far; it was much easier to read than my last one. Hopefully, this will improve my chances of getting a good mark. Regardless of the result, I will still stick with this approach.
I've decided to reread A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and I'd forgotten how well it was written. It's quite depressing actually, reading something written so well and then trying to write something of your own. I wonder if James Joyce was ever intimidated by other writers?
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Joyce! Intimidated? Er... I doubt it. Joyce was a force of f-ing nature.
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That he was Matt
I tried reading Ulysses once and only managed 500 pages. I'm a bit disappointed in myself for stopping actually. But I hardly understood a thing that was going on. I may have to give it another try after I've finished A Portrait 
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It's a hard one that Ulysses. It makes more sense when you break it down into distinct voices. Also helps if you've read Homer's Odyssey - though I wouldn't place too much faith on even that knowledge!
Truth is, I never finished it either. It's tough going. Perhaps one of the hardest works you can read!
I'd like to throw Melville's Moby Dick into that mix. Now, I know that sounds weird. Surely, Moby Dick is so much easier than Ulysses? No... No, it's not. It might seems easier, but I swear that novel is a bastard! It folds in on itself and it is so much more than the whole of its parts: it is the parts of the whole of the parts which turn and fold inwards over a broiling wave of crushing inculcated, predefined and fated doom. I can't make sense of it, but one day I will.
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I would like to have a go at Homer's Odyssey, so will check that out.
I loved Moby Dick, and you're right in saying there's so much more to it. I loved the writing style and the imagery. It was a great read! And the mark of a good book is making you reread it in order to further understand it
What book are you reading at the minute, Matt?
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I'm currently reading two books: one novella - which is relevant to my MA (as I am, myself, writing a novella) - and a novel. The novella is J. G. Ballard's Concrete Island, and the novel is Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf. I'm also reading Pale Fire by V. Nabokov (though this is somewhat on the back-burner - being the most complex of the three).
I'm not entirely convinced I even know how to read Pale Fire! Have you tried it? It's... complicated, for sure.
Lolita is easier to read than Pale Fire. I love Lolita - it's an amazing novel. It's so well written. Excruciatingly well written! I think it is the novel 'par excellence'. The word play is astonishingly beautiful, brutal and disturbing all at the same time. If you haven't read Lolita I would encourage you to do so. Yes. it can make you feel dirty, that's true. But what is the point writing about this subject if you don't leave the reader feeling dirty? Of course, you must, indeed, for It is disgusting.
All I can say is that Lolita was a break through novel for me. It is an astounding work of Art. Astonishing!
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I haven't tried reading Pale Fire, but I'd like to. As for Lolita, yeah I have read it and I agree that it's an amazing novel. What's even more amazing is that English wasn't even Nabokov's first language. And you're right about it making the reader feel dirty.
I think Lolita is up there with The Great Gatsby and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man for beautiful prose. Those three I could read over and over.