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Some say James Joyce was a genius while others say that he took the English language and jumbled it all up.I am from Ireland and I can say without a doubt that his effect on the use of language in my country has had a major impact on how I speak today.I guess what I am really asking is does an authors writing style effect your opinion of a book even if the book has a brilliant and creative story line?

My personal opinion about a book is not affected by the author's writing but I know many people that will judge an author's creativity and intelligence by their correct or incorrect use of grammar.

Joyce, like Picasso, could do the full gamut. Read Dubliners, an early collection of Joyce short stories, and you have the best-plotted narratives in full English and proper sentences you could hope for. Then he progressed to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and onwards to Finnegans Wake and Ulysses and the modernist experiments he is famous for. Similarly, Picasso's earliest works are the most accurate and detailed sketches you could desire. Only when he had mastered these did he start playing around. Seriously though, race through Dubliners for a great little set of reads.

I like Eveline from Dubliners, I wrote an essay about Eveline couple of years ago it was a real joy to analyse the story, writing. Joyce easily engages the reader and I think it's the main thing, once your imagination starts to work pretty much job is done.

Saoirse200 wrote:.....My personal opinion about a book is not affected by the author's writing but I know many people that will judge an author's creativity and intelligence by their correct or incorrect use of grammar.

Surely that doesn't apply so much today? In a broad sense, anything goes in literature, as evidenced by current award winning novels with very original styles. The modern reader has to be flexible or their reading will be narrowed.

"Mistakes are the portals of discovery" quote by James Joyce.

For me, a dedicated Joycean, I find "Ulysses" the greatest of all novels. I've read it at least 20 times and keep my Gabler edition handy for constant dipping into the book, just for fun. My favorite chapters are Proteus and Ithaca, although I also like Hades, Cyclops, and Penelope. My least fave is Oxen of the Sun.

I'm very lucky to own a First Edition, "Shakespeare & Co., Paris, 1924" which I bought at an estate sale for $20!

I regard Dubliners as a superb collection of short stories and the agony in "Araby" as amazingly brought forward.

I however judge "Finnegans Wake" as a noble but failed effort, sadly.

-- 16 Jun 2014, 12:00 --

Happy Bloomsday to all! As you may know, "Bloomsday" is the most famous date in fiction, 16 June 1904, when the novel "Ulysses" by James Joyce occurs in Dublin. So named because the "hero" of the novel is Leopold Bloom.

I celebrated early by watching the film "Bloom" -- a recent film (dir. Sean Walshdepicting the great novel. And today I'll read more Ulysses, as I'm in the middle of re-reading it anyway.

-- 16 Jun 2014, 12:01 --

Happy Bloomsday to all! As you may know, "Bloomsday" is the most famous date in fiction, 16 June 1904, when the novel "Ulysses" by James Joyce occurs in Dublin. So named because the "hero" of the novel is Leopold Bloom.

I celebrated early by watching the film "Bloom" -- a recent film (dir Sean Walsh) depicting the great novel. And today I'll read more Ulysses, as I'm in the middle of re-reading it anyway.

How are you celebrating Bloomsday?