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Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | James Joyce
James Joyce's coming-of-age story, a tour de force of style and technique The first, shortest, and most approachable of James Joyce s novels, "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"portrays the Dublin upbringing of Stephen Dedalus, from his youthful days at Clongowes Wood College to his radical questioning of all convention. In doing so, it provides an oblique self-portrait of the young Joyce himself. At its center lie questions of origin and source, authority and authorship, and the relationship of an artist to his family, culture, and race. Exuberantly inventive in style, the novel subtly and beautifully orchestrates the patterns of quotation and repetition instrumental in its hero s quest to create his own character, his own language, life, and art: to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race. This Penguin Classics edition is the definitive text, authorized by the Joyce estate and collated from all known proofs, manuscripts, and impressions to reflect the author s original wishes. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators."
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review
KMCRamsek
Pickpick

I don‘t usually read older books which made it a little hot if a difficult read. 10/10 nonetheless

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Ididsoidid
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Mehso-so

I like the concept and shifting prose of Portrait, but ultimately didn‘t find the events interesting or the writing exhilarating enough to keep me engaged and it became a bit of a chore to finish. I enjoyed all the Dublin references to think of whilst I walk around the city. 6/10

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Leftcoastzen
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#IndelibleMoments #Epiphany Joyce wrote an epiphany is the moment when “the soul of the commonest object..seems to us radiant,and may be manifested through any chance,word,or gesture.”
If you‘ve ever experienced it, you know it.And that is what a lot of Joyce‘s writing is about.

merelybookish Pretty editions! 2y
LeahBergen Love this quote! 2y
Eggs Well played 👏🏻📚👍🏼 2y
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batsy Those are some fab editions! 2y
Leftcoastzen @batsy thank you! Keepers!😸 2y
Leftcoastzen @Eggs thanks! 2y
Leftcoastzen @LeahBergen I do too! I think we are lucky to experience something like that a few times in our lives. 2y
64 likes1 stack add8 comments
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LindaLappin
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A touch reckoning with church. #SavvySettings, Day 21 #Church
@Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks ⛪️📚👏🏻 3y
Eggs 🖤⛪️🤍 3y
15 likes2 comments
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stevesbookstuf1
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Pickpick

The 2nd book in my challenge of one book per month from my Modern Library collection.

Ever read a book & listen to the audiobook at the same time? I did on this one. It's my first time reading Joyce. Not an easy read, so having someone reading it along with me helped. I also “cheated“ & watched a couple of video reviews along the way to aid understanding (and googled stuff). Ended up liking it a lot.

Full review: https://tinyurl.com/59nhjcwp

stevesbookstuf1 The audiobook, by the way, was from Librivox - the version read by Peter Bobbe. He really did an excellent job verbalizing the text, that, at times, was hard to figure out from the words on the page. Earned the almost 5 stars the recording has. He also had a slightly different edit than what I had before me in writing, which jarred a bit each time a difference came up, but they were few enough and inconsequential enough not to matter. (edited) 3y
tokorowilliamwallace Nice, a slim Modern Library hardback edition! I love the aesthetics of these editions. 3y
GondorGirl Good work! I absolutely cannot get through Joyce. I took a course on him in college and still couldn't manage. It was the only lit class I ever dropped. 😪 3y
stevesbookstuf1 @GondorGirl I was expecting it to be worse than it was, but it surprised me. 3y
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Seeking_Serenity
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Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo...
#firstlinefridays
@ShyBookOwl

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TK-421
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“Pride and hope and desire like crushed herbs in his heart sent up vapours of maddening incense before the eyes of his mind. He strode down the hill amid the #tumult of sudden-risen vapours of wounded pride and fallen hope and baffled desire. They streamed upwards before his anguished eyes in dense and maddening fumes and passed away above him till at last the air was clear and cold again.” #QuotsyJul21

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WarandWar
Pickpick

At times a tough read, the payoff is remarkable journey not just a character's life, but also their mind. It well deserves it's place as a classic.

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Bibliobear
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“I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use — silence, exile and cunning.“

Remembering James Joyce on his birthday.

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ValerieAndBooks
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Bailedbailed

I gave this the old college try. I really did. But just couldn‘t finish, in spite of some interesting passages. Handed it back to son just before he leaves for sophomore year (which is this upcoming weekend). He liked this one and was disappointed I gave up — but we had a good discussion about how he probably got more out of it by being able to discuss and read along with others in a class. And not every book is for everyone! #1001Books

JamieArc This is how I feel about most of Joyce‘s books. I enjoyed them, but probably because I took a whole course on Joyce. I think Dubliners is the one I could probably read and enjoy on my own. 4y
Lcsmcat I read this as a senior in high school and it put me off Joyce forever. 4y
JazzFeathers Joyce is definitely a difficult one and l do think reading along with other would help. I'm still trying to finish Dubliners. I do think he's a literary genius, but he certainly is no casual read. 4y
ValerieAndBooks Some books/authors are the type that mainly appeal to college students willing to discuss them...Joyce is definitely one. Faulkner is another that comes to my mind! @JamieArc @Lcsmcat @JazzFeathers Also might have helped if I was more familiar with the Irish history and politics often referred to here. 4y
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ValerieAndBooks
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I told son I was going to bail on this book and he was so disappointed. “Can‘t you try Spark notes online ?” Okay, I‘ll try that. But I think this puzzle has a better chance of being done soon!

At least our readalong of SK‘s The Stand is moving along well!

wanderinglynn Cool puzzle! 😍 4y
ValerieAndBooks @wanderinglynn finished the puzzle last night 😊. Still haven‘t gotten back to the book again 😆! 4y
kspenmoll Love the puzzle!!! 4y
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GoneFishing

Only God could do that. He tried to think what a big thought that must be; but he could only think of God. God was God's name just as his name was Stephen. DIEU was the French for God and that was God's name too; and when anyone prayed to God and said DIEU then God knew at once that it was a French person that was praying.

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ValerieAndBooks
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Younger son pressed this into my hands and offhandedly said “the footnotes are helpful”. So here I am 😨. Anything for him!! This was one of the assigned reads for the college class he recently finished.

#1001Books

Lcsmcat I remember reading that in AP English and swearing I‘d never read Joyce again! 4y
JaclynW I read this last year. I liked it. I did the audio so I didn't have footnotes. That could definitely be helpful! 4y
Chab256 Ugh...I read this for college and had a hard time...stream of consciousness writing doesn't tend to be my jam...good luck! 🙂 4y
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Chab256 But that is awesome you are reading for your son!! ❤️ 4y
Reggie God Bless parents who read with their kids no matter the age. I finished The Conqueror Worms gave it to my dad the start of this week and he‘s already almost done with it. It helps that we both love horror. Your son is so lucky. 4y
ValerieAndBooks @Lcsmcat I don‘t think I‘d have appreciated it either if I had to read it in high school 😧! 4y
ValerieAndBooks @JaclynW the bad thing is that the footnotes are in the back of this edition... lots of shuffling back and forth. But helpful sometimes! 4y
ValerieAndBooks @Chab256 I know what you mean — stream of consciousness isn‘t my favorite either, but so far Joyce‘s is better than other examples I‘ve read 🤞 4y
ValerieAndBooks @Reggie that‘s great you and your dad have bookish likes in common— good for discussions! And I think I‘m the lucky one — that my son wants me to read some of what he does 😊 (edited) 4y
JaclynW @ValerieAndBooks The shuffling can be a chore. But a better understanding is worth it! 4y
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qofd
Bailedbailed

It started with some promise but became more progressively rambling and with pages of religious sermonising that I lost interest and just gave up sadly.

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Bibliobear
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“I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it call itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defence the only arms I allow myself to use — silence, exile and cunning.“

Remembering James Joyce on his birthday.

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Leftcoastzen
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Happy Birthday, James Joyce ! Born on this date in 1882.

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Schlinkles
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Panpan

I‘ve not been so happy to be finished with a book in a LONG time. If this hadn‘t been for a book club, I wouldn‘t have bothered reading past the first 10 pages. Stream of consciousness has never been my thing and this just served to further confirm that.

Prairiegirl_reading My book club read Dubliners in October and most of felt the same way. Hard pass on anymore Joyce! 5y
Lcsmcat I read it in high school, and it cured me of Joyce forever. 5y
Scochrane26 I think I have this on kindle, but I may never bother to read it. 5y
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Schlinkles
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December‘s Tequila Mockingbird book club pick

I‘ve never read Joyce before. Actually I should say I‘ve never finished Joyce before. I started Dubliners once years ago and just never got into it.

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Faibka
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Late to the party but here it goes

#7covers7days Day 1

Thanks for the tag @Daisey

Daisey This is a lovely cover! Looking forward to seeing what you choose. 5y
Faibka @Daisey thanks, it‘s been fun! 5y
tpixie I‘m reading Ulysses with Friends of Shakespeare and Company Paris. Thought I should listen to this about the young Stephen D 3y
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Faibka @tpixie that is fantastic!! I hope you enjoy it :) two of my most beloved books! and thank you for reminding me about the read along, maybe it‘s time to reread Ulysses. Portrait is a much approachable read :) and yes you get a lot about Stephen‘s background 3y
tpixie @Faibka I‘m listening and loving this as a read asking for annotations I‘m loving it but unfortunately he passed away at about chapter 8 and so didn‘t finish it https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frank-delaneys-re-joyce/id377763645 (edited) 3y
Faibka @tpixie yes I loved Frank Delaney‘s podcast! And yes very sad he passed away but there‘s still plenty of material, so glad you‘re enjoying it, he‘s absolutely delightful! 3y
tpixie @Faibka yes! I‘m going so slowly listening to him, but that‘s ok, he‘s wonderful! 3y
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GatheringBooks
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#QuotsyJune19 Day 9: #Incoherent
I have yet to read this novel by James Joyce who with his stream of consciousness narration is sometimes said to be #incoherent. 🤓😍🧚🏼‍♀️📚

gradcat His work is damned difficult, that‘s for sure. ♥️ 5y
Ddzmini Hum is it weird if I understood it??? But then I‘m in my master classes for psychology 😝🤣🤣🤣 5y
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Andrea313
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#J is for James Joyce. #30JuneBooks
@howjessreads

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CoffeeNBooks
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Mehso-so

I finally finished reading this today!

Readergrrl I have never read this and always vaguely guilty when I hear that someone else has. What did you think? I‘ve read Dubliners but nothing else by Joyce. 5y
Gezemice Congrats. I have tried reading it and failed. 5y
StayCurious Unfortunately I‘m not a fan of Joyce. A university class I had went way too deep into Ulysses and ruined him for me. 5y
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CoffeeNBooks @Readergrrl This is the only book I've read of his. I had a hard time getting through it- I didn't find it very interesting. 5y
CoffeeNBooks @Gezemice It took me a really long time to get through it, because I didn't really like it. 5y
CoffeeNBooks @Stay-Curious This is the only book of his I've read. I've heard Ulysses is a tough read. A friend recommended I read Joyce's short stories. 5y
Readergrrl @Stay-Curious I‘m not a huge fan either... but my friend ended up focusing her Masters thesis on JJ after watching her professor punch a visiting lecturer in the nose (while lecturing) who made disparaging comments about JJ. Granted this was at Trinity College in Dublin!!! 😂☘️ 5y
Readergrrl @Stay-Curious My friend felt if anyone could be that passionate about an author then that author must worth the study!! 5y
StayCurious @Readergrrl wow! If I‘m ever in that neck of the woods I‘ll only say good things lol 5y
Readergrrl @Stay-Curious Right??? 5y
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Becker
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It‘s a warm spring day in my neck of Ontario and I‘m thinking green today 🎋

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Susanita
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1. Yes, mostly involving travel.
2. Yes!
3. Yes. I‘d like to visit Antarctica but don‘t like being cold.
4. I just started this and already want to bail. It‘s my own copy, though, so I‘ll pick it up later when I don‘t have library books due and fast-approaching book club meetings.
#Ireland #literaryluck
#hellothursday

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Thank you for the tag!! ❤️ 6y
wanderinglynn Thanks for playing! 🖋 6y
vkois88 Traveling sounds fun! 6y
39 likes3 comments
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drew_a._winter
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Pickpick

The Irish Catholic Upbringing... 7/10

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Cupicedtea
Panpan

Was very hard to get through!!!!!!!

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fyoDosty07

Consciousness of place came ebbing back to him slowly over a vast tract of time unlit, unfelt, unlived.

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Tiyas7
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My current read!!! And damn it's slow in pace.
Semi Autobiographical in nature, I've been engrossed in certain parts of this book so much, that it has been a hard time coming back to reality😭.....and certain parts of it, just put me too sleep.😪
Hands down one of the most conflicting/polarising books I've read in my life✋✋

#goodbookbadpacing #saynotobailing

TheEldritchProfessor Impressive! I‘ve definitely bailed on this book at least twice. Reading Joyce is like swimming through drying concrete! 6y
Tiyas7 @TheEldritchProfessor Exactly!! Those were my first thoughts. But on further reading.....Well, as I said it's conflicting😮 6y
59 likes2 comments
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smccallum
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Onwards to the next book in my road to Ulysses, I loved sections of Dubliners so let‘s see what we find here!

Suzze I read that maybe 45 years ago. Not sure if I remember it at all. 6y
Samplergal I read in college when dinosaurs 🦖 roamed the earth. I really don‘t remember a thing about it. I don‘t think that is a reflection of his writing. 😂 6y
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Leftcoastzen
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#oldcoolbooks #bildungsroman Once I remembered what that word meant I knew I had many of these.😃

LeahBergen That‘s a cool Catcher 👍🏻 6y
Leftcoastzen @LeahBergen Thx! I love it 😍 I bet Salinger hated it.😂😬 6y
jveezer What edition is that Portrait? Looks good. 6y
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Leftcoastzen @jveezer good eye! First, it has issues though , a little water damage . 6y
batsy First edition Portrait 😍😍 6y
ReadZenRites Oooh MY! What a beautiful lineup!! 💗 6y
Leftcoastzen @ReadZenRites Thanks, I love them all .love your Litsy handle!😊 6y
ReadZenRites Thanks. Yours is pretty cool too 😊 6y
Linsy Wonderful!! 🤩 6y
britt_brooke Love that edition of The Catcher in the Rye! 6y
Leftcoastzen @britt_brooke Thx!Love the older paperbacks and their covers 6y
37 likes11 comments
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actuallyalison
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Mehso-so

I would suggest reading this if you're into Modernist writing. It's certainly not my favorite book, but it had a lot of good moments. I'm satisfied having read it; perhaps I'm satisfied saying that I've read it.

I struggled to connect with the characters, but a lot of my peers didn't. Maybe it's a me thing. I'd suggest reading if you're a lit. major for sure. I could at least learn from the writing style.

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hlgreenfield
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Doing my trip of Belgium ( Brussels - Ghent - Brugge - Antwerp) and found a lovely bookshop + coffeeshop where I had to buy a book ( so I got the local Harry Potter copy for my collection and this book which I've been meaning to read for a while) I haven't read much so far, but we are having a nice break for tea and I'll try and read some more!

DGRachel Beautiful cover! 7y
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epsitawithane
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Pickpick

I enjoyed it thoroughly. Again. it's the fourth time. Academic reads. (Can't dare to read apart from college stuffs at this moment??). It has everything I look for in a non-fiction. Beautiful way of description. Characters are well conceived. Perfect way to present an almost autobiography. I love Joyce. Looking forward to read "Ulysses" too.

A must read for every Bookworm... if you still haven't.

mirellalella86 Fifteen pages left ... 😊👍 7y
epsitawithane Tell me how it was.. @mirellalella86 7y
mirellalella86 Going to finish it in the afternoon. Really loving it. @rhea_reads11 💙 7y
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epsitawithane 👍that's great. @mirellalella86 7y
mirellalella86 Finished. One of the best books I have ever read.... I may say. @rhea_reads11 📚👍 7y
epsitawithane Me too. It's become my favourite tbh @mirellalella86 7y
mirellalella86 Magnificent.... 💙💙💙x @rhea_reads11 7y
15 likes1 stack add7 comments
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charlydaws
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"The object of the artist is the creation of the beautiful. What the beautiful is is another question."

#jamesjoyce #amreading #reading

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Ericalambbrown
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Sláinte! Retiring this evening with Bushmills and a gorgeous James Joyce from The Folio Society. #happystpatricksday #foliosociety #Irish #bushmills

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Augustdana
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☘️☘️☘️🍀☘️☘️☘️ 💚💚💚

BarbaraBB Nora Webster 💚 7y
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An_Ironical_Heart.97
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"He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life."
The moment of liberation at the end.

RaimeyGallant Sorry. I hit paste and accidentally sent you my review for an airline app that has been causing me problems this morning. Here's the real message: Lovely quote! 7y
RaimeyGallant And welcome to Litsy! #LitsyWelcomeWagon Some of us put together Litsy tips to help new Littens navigate the site. It's the link in my bio on my page in case you need it. Or if you prefer how-to videos, @chelleo put some together at the link in her bio. 7y
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Jess7 Here is the link to @RaimeyGallant ‘s tips! They‘re really good for new Littens: https://raimeygallant.com/2017/10/31/litsytips/ (edited) 7y
Chelleo Welcome! 🤗 7y
DebinHawaii Welcome to Litsy!! 🎉📚👍😀Hope you enjoy it here! 7y
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Godmotherx5
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 7y
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readinginthedark
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Pickpick

Joyce is a complicated author. He knows how to transport you to an early 20th-century Ireland. This is a semi-autobiographical novel, and the reflection of coming-of-age for a boy during an important period of Ireland‘s political history=spot-on. The discussions of Catholicism, philosophy, and politics were brilliant. I can‘t say I enjoyed the whole book, but I‘m happy to have read it. I‘d recommend starting with Dubliners if you‘re new to Joyce!

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Simone_Gibson
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“I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use—silence, exile, and cunning”

readinginthedark That‘s beautiful—is it a bookmark? 7y
Simone_Gibson @readinginthedark it‘s actually the back inside flap of the book, one of the beautiful penguin classic deluxe editions ^_^ 7y
readinginthedark Oh wow, fantastic! 7y
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Faibka
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“I will not serve that in which I no longer believe wether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use -silence, exile and cunning.”

Dolly Oh, those first 11 words break my heart. Love, love, love the bookmark! 😺 7y
Faibka @Dolly 😸 thanks, I love everything kitty related 7y
22 likes2 comments